Park 24: Yellowstone National Park, WY:  We set aside two and a half days for Yellowstone and needed every minute to begin to appreciate its 2 million plus acres.  We entered through the west entrance and drove directly to the Canyon Village area to check into the “frontier lodge” where we had a small cabin for the first night. Our second night was a small splurge in a lakeside room of the historic Lake Yellowstone Hotel along with dinner in the dining room overlooking the lake at sunset. 


Spacious frontier cabin rooms

Up close and personal with bison

Yellowstone’s history began only a blink of an eye ago in earth time, about 640,000 years, when a cataclysmic eruption left a 45 by 30 mile caldera, a collapsed crater, similar to Crater Lake and Santorini, but much, much larger.  What remains are hydrothermal areas teaming with hot springs, boiling mud pots, fumaroles, and geysers.  What is amazing, though, is the plant and wild animal life living in these extremes.  In our walks and drives, we encountered bison, elk, deer, antelope, mountain sheep, and bears - several times rather close! 

On the brink of Lower Falls

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
and Lower Falls

Yellowstone’s 142-mile Grand Loop Road forms a figure-8 with roads from the five entrances around the park intersecting the Loop. The highlight of the north loop is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River with its Upper Falls (109 ft drop) and its Lower Falls (308 ft drop).  The park has trails that take you to the brink of each fall for a dramatic and breathtaking view.  Further around the north loop is Tower Fall, Mammoth Hot Springs, and Norris Geyer Basin.  No extended hikes were done our first full day because of the raw, wet weather.

Old Faithful

We awoke our final day in the Park to bright sunshine.  We drove the south side of the Grand Loop past Lake Yellowstone and over the Continental Divide twice to reach Old Faithful and its geyser basin.  During the day we were fortunate to see Old Faithful erupt three times from differing viewpoints around the basin.  The three mile boardwalk next to Old Faithful took us weaving through the world’s greatest concentration of hot springs and geysers.  We visited more geyser areas on the south loop and late in the day were astonished to catch the Great Fountain Geyser erupting (approximately once every 11 hours) simultaneous with the adjacent White Dome Geyser!



Great Fountain Geyser eruption

White Dome Geyser eruption

We completed the Grand Loop and proceeded to the south entrance for the short drive to Jackson, WY.  Fortunately for us, our first glimpse of the Tetons was at sunset – but that’s a story for another day!

5 o'clock rush hour! Look carefully!

Odometer:  10,783 miles.