Yellowstone National Park

Wyoming! State number 4!

We have arrived in Yellowstone, first ever National Park! This is where it all started, and with good reason! We came in the north entrance to the park and stopped at the Albright Visitor's Center. We talked with some of the Rangers and got an idea of the best way to see the park in a day. With their help we decided to go in a clockwise direction around the park, hitting some of the highlights along the way.

We started with Tower Falls. Let me just say right now, while Tower Falls might be awesome, now is not the right time to visit. There is an overlook of the falls, but you can't see it very well, and the trail down to a lower view of the falls is currently closed. We didn't stay there long. There were more exciting things to see ahead!

Our next stop was Yellowstone Falls! Whatever failures Tower Falls had were made up for by the awesomeness of Yellowstone Falls. We didn't spend too much time on the upper falls, the main attraction for us is Lower Yellowstone Falls! The falls is over 300' high and drops into a beautiful canyon of yellowish rock. There is a trail that goes to the top of the falls accessible from the north rim that has a decent view of the falls and canyon (be aware, the trail is steep!) and is worth checking out, but if you really want a good view of the falls, head to Uncle Tom's Trail. If the first trail is steep, this one is arduous! There are over 500 stairs on the way down. And on the way back up, which turns out to be a lot more difficult... but the view at the bottom is incredible. We took lots of pictures!

View from the top of Lower Yellowstone Falls!

An overlook on Uncle Tom's trail.

Next on the list was Old Faithful! We stopped at the Sulfer Cauldron on the way, which was cool, but not worth too much time.

Gotta love sulfer.

To be fair, Old Faithful wasn't all that exciting either (it didn't erupt while we were watching. How rude.) But the other gysers there were indeed awesome. And some of the thermal pools were spectacular! We were lucky enough to see Grand Gyser erupting as we approached! We saw several other smaller gysers as well! We stopped by Morning Glory Pool, which had the beautiful deep blue center, and reddish/brown edges. We made our way over to the black sand basin to see some of the other pools there as well.

Morning Glory pool!

When we got back to Old Faithful (which still didn't erupt for us...) we spent some time exploring the lodge there. It is an incredible building, everything appears to be made with natural wood pieces, but all seem to fit in their assigned place to give the finished product a very cozy feel, even though the building is enormous.

Since our next stop was Grand Teton, just to the south, we were hoping to leave out the south entrance, but it was closed due to a fire, so we headed out the west entrance and looped around to the south, ready for our next adventure!

Personnel:
The rangers were very excited to help us find the locations we were looking for, and had good insight on which roads would be best for driving, and which ones would be better avoided due to slower traffic conditions in the park.

Climate/weather:
The day started off quite warm, which was nice at times, but when you are climbing 500 stairs can be somewhat less welcome... As the day went on more clouds rolled in and we even had a thunderstorm (which may have started another fire, but it was hard to tell.)

Facilities/signage:
As this is one of the more visited parks there were lots of signs everywhere. The entrance sign was also quite well done, definitely one set up for pictures. The restrooms were clean and well stocked with TP, although again some were out of hand sanitizer.

Hiking trail experience:
We got to experience several trails in this park! The first one was the trail down to the top of Lower Yellowstone Falls. The trail was well kept and there were quite a few good views from the trail. The trail is very steep though and can take awhile on the way back up.

The 2nd trail was Uncle Tom's Trail which goes down to the other overlook of Lower Yellowstone Falls. The trail itself didn't offer many particularly amazing views, but the view from the overlook at the bottom was well worth it! The climb back up had us breathing hard and our legs shaking a bit, but it was worth the pain.

The last hike started from Old Faithful, then out to Morning Glory Pool, over to Black Sand Basin, then back to Old Faithful. The first part of this hike was filled with gysers, hot springs, and beautiful thermal pools. The trail was pavement or boardwalk the whole way, and each feature was labeled. Well worth it.

The hike out to Black Sand Basin was less feature rich and more about the peaceful solitude. We saw 1 other couple on that portion of the hike. There were a few gysers and springs, and part of the trail was gravel, but it was nice just to walk quitely together. Black Sand Basin had some fun features and pools as well, but the sun was below the hills when we got there and we couldn't see the beauty there as effectively. Unfortunately it was getting late, so we walked back to Old Faithful along the road, which wasn't ideal but was quicker.

Driving Experience:
The drive through Yellowstone wasn't bad, we saw a bit of wildlife (heads up, everyone will stop or slow when you see 2 bison cruising along...) but it wasn't the spectacular views of Glacier or North Cascades. Most of this park is experienced once you are outside the vehicle in our experience.

Camping:
We stayed just north of Yellowstone on a pullout by the river. It was gravel, and there was a lot of traffic in the morning, but it was a nice spot overall. There are quite a few pullouts that could probably be used, but be aware that this is still bear country, so good bear practices are definitely advised.

Hammockability:
Parts of this park would work for hammocking, but mostly the area around the lake in the South. Not as good as the other parks we have been to so far.

Scenery:
The scenery here is good, but in a different way. No towering mountains here, instead you have the amazing view of the falls, the surreal gyser fields, and the beautiful thermal pools. Still a beautiful place, but less about the panormaic scenery and more about the specific scenery.

Food options:
There are towns all around Yellowstone, and there are places in the park to get food as well. There are also lots of places to stop with picnic tables and bathrooms if you want to bring your own.

Yellowstone was a lot of fun! Our favorite part (by far) was the lower falls, but walking through the gyser fields and seeing them erupt is also a really cool experience. It almost feels like a different planet! It is also worth it to at least walk through the lobby of the lodge at Old Faithful, such a cool building. Seeing it in Winter is something we have added to our to-do list!

Next up, the Tetons to the south! Looking forward to more mountains!