Yellowstone Adventures - Discover Yellowstone National Park

Introduction.

Yellowstone National Park is a geological marvel, a nearly intact ecosystem, and a mountain wilderness for wildlife. It was the first National Park and attracts over 3,000,000 visitors each year, half of which visit in July, August, and September. Yellowstone's beauty is both spectacular and subtle and includes geysers, hot springs, mud pots, fumaroles, travertine terraces, waterfalls, and lakes. The park encompasses craggy peaks, alpine lakes, deep canyons, and vast forests. Reports say that 99 percent of visitors see only 1 percent of the park. This post is intended to help you break those percentages and explore and enjoy a variety of different areas.

To me personally, Yellowstone National Park is the ultimate experience. In my words, almost everywhere else you have been, the earth is clothed. In Yellowstone, the earth is naked. If I had to respond to a question that someone could only visit 1 national park, which one should it be, it would be Yellowstone.

General Logistic Information.

Yellowstone National Park is in the northwest corner of Wyoming. There are 5 entrances to the park from the south, the west, the north, the northeast, and the east. This provides many options for access, regardless of your starting point. The roads are typically open from April through October, though you certainly need to check on conditions if your are planning your trip on the outer edges of this time frame. There are 9 lodges operated within the park along with 12 campgrounds. There are also other services for supplies and gas.

Yellowstone is made up of a number of different sections, and I suggest you plan your trip accordingly. In other words, I believe it is best to focus on a certain area, visit the locations that interest you there, and then proceed to the next area. There can be a great deal of driving if you do not plan your attack.

In our case, we stayed outside of the west entrance, outside of West Yellowstone in Idaho. With all the options that are available, I will not venture to recommend where you should stay as my suggestions below will have you hitting many different physical sections of the park. Unfortunately, that means there will be some days where you will be doing a lot of driving.

Note: While I do recommend you focus on one area/region at a time, the order below is based on the route we took. Point is, the order of these sections is not important nor intended to imply any prerequisites.

Yellowstone Adventures:

• Based on arriving through the south entrance, we decided to spend the day in the southern section of the park and the Lake area.
• Here you can stop at the Lewis Canyon Overview, take some pictures at Lewis River Canyon, and visit Lewis River Falls, which is about 30 feet high.
• Next drive north where you will cross the Continental Divide and head to West Thumb Geyser Basin.
• This Yellowstone Adventures item takes you on a nice trail through the basin which takes you down to the lake level.



• For us, this was our first up close view of geysers.

• Back on the road, head north towards Lake Village.
• In this area, we visited the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, also known as the "Buttercup Bohemoth". This is a great location just for the historical experience and we were able to grab some to-go lunch for moving on.
• After a picnic lunch at Fishing Bridge, there was a short 1/2 mile hike on Pelican Creek Nature trail.
• Next is a hike to Storm Point Trail, a 1 1/2 mile trail that takes you along Yellowstone Lake. Unfortunately, part way to the lake the trail was blocked by a small heard of bison. With input from the Park Rangers we decided to not tempt nature, and retreated for other activities.
• Before heading to our accommodations in Idaho, we made the stop at Lake Butte Overview. Here you view Lake Yellowstone with the Grand Teton Range in the distant background.

• As always, as the day grows later, you can expect to see abundance of bison and elk along your drives.

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A new day with focus on Midway Geyser Basin and Lower Geyser Basin.

• First stop is the trailhead for Grand Prismatic Spring. Here you will take a boardwalk trail, pass over the Firehole River, and eventually get to Grand Prismatic Spring.

• While simply getting to Grand Prismatic Spring is a great experience and great view, we had done some additional research, trying to find the location that gives you the view which is seen in the most popular magazine shots of this location.
• For this unique item on the Yellowstone Adventures list, drive south from the parking area from Grand Prismatic Spring to Fairy Falls Trail. Go 1 mile along the trail where you will see a multi-colored stream rising from Grand Prismatic Spring on the right. There is an unmarked, unofficial trail on your left, where you will have to scramble up the hillside. After making this climb, you will get the view that most people do not know about nor get to see in person. It will be worth your effort.

• Next, take the Firehole Lake Drive, which is a 3 mile loop.
• Here you will view Great Fountain Geyser and White Dome Geyser.
• At the next stop, take the 1/2 mile boardwalk hike for Fountain Point Pot Nature Trail.
• Along this walk you will pass Silex Spring, boiling mud pots, Red Spouter Geyser, and Spasm Geyser among a large number of dead Lodgepole Pines.
• Drive to Firehold Canyon Drive where you will stop to see Firehole Falls.
• In this area you even get a chance to either wade in, or take a dip at the Firehole swimming area.

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• The next day was our attempt to view the Druid wolf pack in the Lamar Valley area. Since the word is that you need to be there early in the morning for the possibility of spotting any of these incredible creatures, we decided to spend the previous night in Gardiner, MT, which is just outside the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park.
• Entering the park, you pass through the Roosevelt Arch, dedicated to President Roosevelt for naming this the first National Park.
• It is approximately 40 miles from the north entrance to Lamar Valley, and as indicated, you probably want to be there by 6:00am, if not earlier. Once you pass Tower-Roosevelt, you are getting close. The best area, at least for potential viewing, is between Slough Creek and Pebble Creek campgrounds. There are a few roadside pullouts, and you will see other cars there in the early morning, for the same purpose. You should not be expecting that you will get a good or relatively close up view of the wolves, but many of the regulars in this area will have scopes, and I found they were very willing to let us take a look, for some long range viewing.
• After hopefully getting a view of some of the Druid wolf pack, drive west back to the Tower-Roosevelt area. Take the road south from Tower-Roosevelt for the 1 mile roundtrip hike to view Tower Falls. In this same vicinity, go to the hike for Lost Lake where you will also get the opportunity to see a petrified tree.

• Proceed with your drive west to Mammoth Hot Springs.
• Here you can visit the Albright Visitor Center which contains a museum section and includes information on Fort Yellowstone, where the U.S. Army lived when the managed the park area.
• This is a nice little town area where you can visit some shops, grab something to eat, check out the lodging options, view some of the local elk that frequent town, and get gas if needed.
• Then the "must stop" item off the Yellowstone Adventures list is the Upper and Lower Terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs. The terraces are made of dissolved limestone which is continually deposited as the hot springs water cools when hitting the air.
• There are boardwalk paths through and around the terraces that can take up to 2 hours to cover. Areas certainly worth a look include Liberty Cap, Palette Springs, Minerva Springs, and Canary Springs.

• This one is not for everyone, but personally I could not pass it up. Drive north towards Gardiner about 2 1/2 miles looking for a parking area by a sign that marks "the 45th parallel" (the spot that is halfway between the equator and the North Pole). Take the Boiling River hike about 1/2 mile where the Gardner River meets an underground boiling river.
• Getting in the river can be quite cold at first, but find your way to the middle point and you will experience a comfortable blend of temperature. Remember, if you stray one way or the other, you will be in very cold water or very hot water, literally.

• Dried and back on the road south towards Norris Geyser Basin.
• Along the route, make the turnoff for Sheepeater Cliffs, an amazing collection of hexagonal basalt columns, stop at the turnout for Willow Park for some possible moose sightings, and watch for Obsidian Cliff off the left side of the roadway.
• Norris Geyser Basin is said to be North America's most volatile and continuous active geothermal area. It is basically divided up into 2 areas known as Porcelain Basin and Back Basin.
• Take the walkway through Porcelain Basin going counter clockwise. Along this path you will visit Black Growler Steam Vent, Ledge Geyser, Whirligig Geyser, and then work your way back to the Norris Museum.
• Then take the walkway through Back Basin where you will visit Emerald Spring, Steamboat Geyser, and Echinus Geyser.

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• A new day was targeted at Canyon Country.

• Make the typical stop at Canyon Village and the Canyon Visitor Education Center.
• Based on the setup of the roadways, we started with the North Rim Drive.
• We started off by taking the 3/4 mile hike down to the brink of Lower Falls, which is a 308 foot drop, twice the height of Niagara Falls. This item from the Yellowstone Adventures list gets you right to the brink of the falls and a view the plunging water with the canyon below. There are many points of interest along the North Rim Drive however areas that I would strongly recommend include Inspiration Point, Glacier Boulder, Grandview Point, and Lookout Point.
• Next, take the South Rim Drive. Along this portion, there are 2 spots that must be visited.

• First is Uncle Tom's Trail: .

• Here you are able to view both Upper and Lower falls. The real highlight is taking the steep decent (actually 328 metal steps) that descends three quarters of the way into the canyon and gives you great views of Lower Falls.

• The other stop in this area and one of the most popular and photographed locations is Artist Point. Here you will get a wonderful view of the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone" and Lower Falls. This stop should not be missed.



• Destination for the final day in Yellowstone National Park was the Upper Geyser Basin which contains the largest concentration of geysers on earth.
• Stop at the Visitor's Center near Old Faithful to get the predicted geyser eruption times for the day.
• Take the approximate 1 mile long trail (easy in effort) and plan to pass and stop by at Castle Geyser, Daisy Geyser, Morning Glory Pool, Fan-Mortar-Spiteful Geysers, and Chromatic Spring.

• Then take some time, and a rest, and sit for the eruption show at Grand Geyser, which can reach as high as 200 feet. Check for the predicted eruption time for this one, as it is well worth observing.

• While probably everyone the visits Yellowstone sees the eruption of Old Faithful from the benches on the boardwalk, there is another alternative if you are willing to do some physical work.
• Another non-typical item from our Yellowstone Adventures list is to take the hike to Observation Point, which climbs about 250 feet in elevation.
• Plan your timing so that you will be at the top of Observation point prior to the predicted eruption time.
• Enjoy the view, that will be different from what most visitors end up seeing.





• Once the Old Faithful show is over, it is back down to the boardwalk / trail for some more viewing. Go by Pump Geyser, Sponge Geyser, Doublet Pool, the Lion Geyser Group, and Beehive Geyser.
• Make sure to stop in to visit the Old Faithful Inn, one of the largest log structures in the world, and a real experience to see. You may even want to grab an ice cream cone at the nearby Hamilton Store.

• Of course, there are infinite more places to see and activities to enjoy in Yellowstone National Park. I believe the suggestions above will give you a great experience, but whether you follow my advice or not, make the effort to visit Yellowstone.
• And even when you are leaving, keep your eyes open for scenes that you just don't get to see everyday.