We were in the Park for two days, July 17th and 19th. This is not nearly enough time to explore, but we felt like we were able to hit at least some of the highlights. Having been warned by every website we read that Yellowstone is a zoo in the summer, we were prepared to sit for hours in the world’s most scenic traffic jam. Happily, we discovered that one of the only places this really happened was around Old Faithful, which we did not visit.
On day one, we hiked in 2.5 miles to see Lone Star Geyser. Lone Star is comparable in size to Old Faithful, but erupts only every three hours. By sheer luck, we arrived 20 minutes before an eruption. We saw it with maybe 20 other people. It really is true that if you want peace at Yellowstone, just get a quarter of a mile from the parking lot.
Then on to Grand Prismatic Spring, which we can’t possibly describe. It’s a combination of geothermal energy and optics. We saw the basin (which was in fact a zoo) on day one.
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- Grand Prismatic from ground level
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- Grand Prismatic Spring from Fairy Falls Overlook
We then turned south along the lower figure eight road and saw the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone from Artist’s Point. We finished with an unforgettable park experience – a bison traffic jam.
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- Yellowstone Grand Canyon, lower falls
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- Wooly roadblock
For more photos, including geyser video, go here..
To preview from our current vantage point at Glacier National Park, I think we’d say that Yellowstone is full of oddities – spectacular, but otherwordly.
