Week 57, Part 1: Yellowstone National Park
Bears and (baby!) bison and geysers oh whoa!
Hello, hello, and welcome back to another update on our grand adVANture! It’s hard to believe it’s been 57 weeks since we sold our house in Austin, Texas to travel full time! And it’s hard to believe that we made it to Yellowstone National Park at last. It’s a dream come true!
This week we stayed at the Indian Creek Campground, and next week we’ll be at Lewis Lake and Slough Creek Campgrounds. Can’t wait!
Before we jump into the recap I thought I’d share a few random facts about Yellowstone:
Yellowstone is the world’s first national park — the one that started it all! According to the park website: “On March 1, 1872, Yellowstone became the first national park for all to enjoy the unique hydrothermal and geologic features. Within Yellowstone's 2.2 million acres, visitors have unparalleled opportunities to observe wildlife in an intact ecosystem, explore geothermal areas that contain about half the world’s active geysers, and view geologic wonders like the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River.”
Yellowstone is BIG! We consider Big Bend National Park in Texas at 801,163 acres our “home” park and have probably been there around 40 times — so we’re used to long driving distances, but Yellowstone is a whole other level of BIG at 2,219,791 acres!
J found this map of Yellowstone with drive times to get between places to give you an idea of the scale, but that’s only if you don’t encounter a bison jam! (That’s when the bison go out on the road and hold up traffic. I kinda think they are people watching, ha!)
Popular destinations in Yellowstone are super crowded. There are way more people here than what we’re used to! (Understatement of the year.) The guides that say to bring your patience are no joke. Check out the park visitation stats if you’re interested. The flip side of the park being so highly visited is that I know many people that have been here, including my dear Aunt Freda (my Grandma’s sister) and my Uncle Delbert (my Grandpa’s brother). It’s so cool to walk in their footsteps -- makes me feel close to them. Leave me a comment and let me know if you’ve been here too!
One more thing I wanted to mention: this post is a long post since I have so much to share! If you’re reading this via email it might get cut off. If that happens, click on over to view it on the website.
Now let’s get to the recap!
Sunday: Travel from Grand Teton National Park to Yellowstone
Sunday morning we set an alarm for 5:35 am, but we were so excited about the day’s adventures that we woke up before it went off at 5:15. As soon as we woke up we just had to take the five minute walk from our campsite at Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park to say farewell to Jackson Lake and these amazing views (catch up on our adventures in the Tetons in last week’s post):
Just so beautiful.
After a quick breakfast we hit the road — but we didn’t get far until we had to stop on our way out of the park when we saw the tiniest baby deer! So darn cute!
We made it through the South Entrance to Yellowstone around 7:30 am and headed over to Old Faithful.
Old Faithful (3x in one Day!)
This was one of those moments where I got a little teary — I can’t tell you how many times I dreamed of being here and watched it erupt via the park webcam!
The webcam doesn’t capture the sound of steam and water, the smell of sulfur or the oooohhhs and ahhhhhs of the crowd, tho! What an experience to finally be there.
We walked around the geyser basin to see more of the sights, and it was so dang beautiful.
Unreal colors and textures abound!
We saw Old Faithful erupt again after watching Grand Geyser (more on that below), for eruption #2 on the day.
Then we went back to the parking lot and ate a quick lunch, and as we headed back we saw eruption #3!
This one was way more crowded, but no less exciting.
Grand Geyser
As we were walking around the basin we saw a crowd gathered at Grand Geyser, with a sign saying that it might erupt between 9:30 and 11:30. It was around 11, so we decided to hang out and see if it would erupt. Just as we were about to give up it did!
It lasted a long time — we’re guessing it was about 10 minutes! Whoa!
Just so impressive!
Then we walked around the geyser basin some more — I couldn’t stop taking photos — can’t post them all, but had to share Heart Spring for my friend Sally. Hi, Sally!
Firehole Canyon and Falls
After leaving the Upper Geyser Basin we headed over to Firehole Canyon — so beautiful!
Artist Paint Pots
Then it was on to the Artist Paint Pots — anytime there’s something with “artist” in the name we just have to stop.
Loved all the colors here!
Fox!
As it started getting later in the day we saw more wildlife, including this fox at an overlook:
What an expression — doesn’t he look like he’s up to something?
Black Bear! (Eating…flowers!?!)
Then I spotted a dark shape close to a pullout and so we had to stop — and it turned out to be a black bear! We could hear him moving through the brush and chomping on…flowers!
I never knew bears ate flowers before!
I was really glad we were in the van because this was a BIG black bear! Jason said it made him nervous even though we were in the van — felt too close for comfort!
It was a pretty magical experience — we were the only people there for a while and only one other car pulled up behind us at the overlook the whole time the bear was there.
Heading to Camp
We were getting tired by this point so we decided to start heading for camp.
The valley looked so beautiful as the sun started going down.
Bison!
This big guy was on J’s side of the van so I grabbed a quick photo as we drove by. There were people behind us and no pullout so we couldn’t stop, darn!
Elk!
When we were almost to camp there was an elk herd on my side of the van put still no pullouts — but I still took a photo out the window to mark the occasion.
We finally made it to camp around 10 pm.
What an awesome first day in Yellowstone!
Monday: Lamar Valley
We decided to sleep in after the long day yesterday and then head out to Lamar Valley to try and spot wildlife around sunset. We got super lucky!
Moose!
We didn’t get very far from camp when we spotted two moose!
We watched them through binoculars for a while, then headed down the road.
Bison, Baby Bison, and More Bison!
We hit the bison jackpot! We’re guessing we saw over a thousand bison. And babies!
We learned so much about bison since we’ve been here at Yellowstone. From the park website:
Yellowstone is the only place in the United States where bison (Bison bison) have lived continuously since prehistoric times. Yellowstone bison are exceptional because they comprise the nation’s largest bison population on public land. Unlike most other herds, this population has thousands of individuals that are allowed to roam relatively freely over the expansive landscape of Yellowstone National Park and some nearby areas of Montana. They also exhibit wild behavior like their ancient ancestors, congregating during the breeding season to compete for mates, as well as migration and exploration that result in the use of new habitat areas. These behaviors have enabled the successful restoration of a population that was on the brink of extinction just over a century ago.
I felt so lucky to get to see them.
I couldn’t stop taking photos! (Are you surprised?)Here are just a few favorites:
What an unforgettable experience.
We made it back to camp around 11 pm, exhausted and happy. I dreamed of bison.
Tuesday: Mammoth Hot Springs
The next day we woke up early so we could get a parking spot at Mammoth Hot Springs. I’d heard it described as an inside-out cave — and can confirm it was true!
We got there around 7:30 am and snagged a parking spot, then headed out to explore. Our plan was to eat breakfast when we got back — little did we know that would be a while!
There are so many cool formations, hot springs, and fumaroles.
Just so amazing.
It’s hard to show the scale of this special place in photos.
The running water makes the rocks sparkle and glisten in the sun.
Just wow.
We learned that the trees died when the water from the hot springs shifted and expanded it’s range, and the trees took up minerals from the water, bleaching the bottoms of the trunks and making it where they could no longer take up water. The trees harden and take a long time to decompose.
We also saw killdeer — including babies! — and a gopher snake. We weren’t expecting to see either of them there.
We walked over to the Mammoth Springs Visitor Center so I could stamp my sketchbook — more on the sketchbook later — and also checked out Mammoth Lodge, where we saw this photo-on-canvas of an elk at the hot springs — whoa!
By this time we were super hungry since we hadn’t had breakfast yet. We checked the map for a picnic area and decided to head to Montana for brunch!
Brunch in Montana with Town Elk
Jason found a picnic area near the Roosevelt Arch at the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park at Gardiner, Montana and it turned out to be even better than expected!
First we drove under the arch:
And then when we got to Arch Park there were elk having brunch too!
They were pretty relaxed — it was cool to have brunch with them!
According to the park website:
The arch became known as Roosevelt Arch after President Theodore Roosevelt, who was vacationing in the park, spoke at the ceremony to lay the cornerstone in 1903. The arch is inscribed with a phrase from the legislation establishing Yellowstone National Park: "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people."
I got a little teary reading that inscription after everything that has been happening to the Park Service. (Find out more at More than Just Parks.)
Then we headed back to the park after checking on the webcam to make sure there wasn’t a huge line.
Blacktail Plateau Drive
The park was getting really busy by this time so we tried to think of somewhere to go that wouldn’t be too crowded. We decided to do the Blacktail Plateau Drive since it looked interesting — and we’re so glad we did!
We double checked to make sure that it was allowed, and we hiked up a hill for a better view and to stretch our legs — and what a view it was!
The yellow flowers are Rocky Mountain dwarf sunflowers (Helianthella uniflora), and the bright magenta ones are Sticky Geranium (Geranium viscosissimum). Just so beautiful.
Then J spied a piece of obsidian — good eye! We think it looked like it had been worked.
We carefully put it back where we found it.
Petrified Tree
Then it was on to the Petrified Tree — we’ve seen plenty of petrified logs in our travels, but never a tree that was still standing!
We learned from a sign that it was a petrified redwood tree — which blew my mind! We also learned that there used to be two more petrified trees nearby, but that bits and pieces of them had been stolen until they were gone — which made me mad. :(
Bison + Bear Jam!
Then we got back on the road again — only to get stuck in a bison + black bear jam!
The bison was on one side of the road — relaxing in the woods and I think most people didn’t see him. I took this photo as we drove by from the van:
Unlike the bison, the black bear was out in the open — and people were acting crazy!
Here’s a super zoomed in/cropped photo:
People were stopping their cars in the road, jumping out and taking photos. A few people even started walking towards the bear until a ranger yelled at them. It was chaos.
And it all made me super uncomfortable.
I felt even more grateful for our experience seeing the bear earlier with just us.
Calcite Springs
Our next major stop of the day was Calcite Springs - a really neat area with those classic Yellowstone views:
Upper Mammoth Hot Springs Drive
A storm started rolling in and we decided to head back to camp. Since we were going past the drive to Upper Mammoth Hot Springs we decided to spin through and caught this dramatic view:
We made it back just before the storm — whew!
Another unforgettable day in Yellowstone.
Since this post is so long I decided to split it in two — stay tuned for the rest of the week!
In the meantime, here’s a little preview from a hike we did right from camp on Saturday:
I’ll leave you with more bison friends. Thanks for reading! — Lisa, Jason, Walter-the-Van, and the bison
I absolutely love this!! You’ve gained a new subscriber all the way from Aotearoa New Zealand who is living vicariously through these posts 😍
This was a fabulous post, Lisa - thanks so much. I adore Yellowstone. When i visited, i had hoped to see the Lamar Valley wolves, but alas no luck. Perhaps i'll get back again … your post is a great reminder. And it brings into bright light the reasons for keeping our national parks safe from commercial (and government) predation.