Visiting Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is the oldest and the most famous park in the world. It is situated in the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. It’s huge and covers an area of 8980 km². The park is situated on a volcanic plateau, the biggest attractions are geysers, hot springs, mud volcanoes, waterfalls and of course wild animals.

Tourists usually have to divide their limited time into various attractions, It was the same in our case, we could only devote two days to visit the park. The park is far from everything. The nearest big city where we can land and rent a car is Salt Lake City and so I recommend doing it. We traveled from Las Vegas and the road took us two whole days because it is 840 miles long. Driving through Idaho, we can admire such views.

Idaho Road

Passing the eastern gate of the park, you enter the so-called Grand Loop Road. This is the main route along which most of the park’s attractions are located. The route has a shape similar to figure eight and is divided into eastern and western loops.

Individual attractions can be separated from each other by several dozen kilometers, so is better to visit the park by car. There is no park bus here, as it usually happens in other national parks. The park even has its own radio station that broadcasts up-to-date information. Before setting of, you can find useful information about the conditions in the park (eg. road accessibility) here

Yellowstone Lake

Driving along the lake we will face the choice which part of the southern loop we want to see first. If we go right, we will find West Thumb Geyser Basin, where we can admire dozens of colorful hot springs. If we turn left, we will go towards the Grand Village and the most famous geyser in Yellowstone, named Old Faithful. On the way we pass the picturesque Isa Lake.

Isa Lake

Yellowstone National Park-Upper Geyser Basin

This place has the largest concentration of geysers in the world. The largest of them Old Faithful throws hot water over 40m in the air. It is the most popular geyser in the entire park. It’s eruptions take place regularly about every hour. Estimated eruptions of this and other geysers can be found at the nearby Visitor Center. If you want to take a good observation place, you have to be there at least half an hour before the next water spurt. There is also a promenade leading to several smaller geysers.

Old Faithful Geyser

Old Faithful Geyse

Miles north of Old Faithful there is Black Sand Basin, one of the most colorful places in the entire park. It is a cluster of geysers, underground rivers and multicolor lakes.

Black Sand Basin

Sunset Lake

Black Sand Basin

Yellowstone National Park-Norris Geyser Basin

This, in turn, is the hottest cluster of geysers in the entire park. There is the highest active Geyser in the world, Steamboat Geyser. During the largest explosion, it ejects water at a temperature of 92 degrees Celsius to a height of 90 meters, but usually throws water at 12 meters.

Norris Geyser Basin

Animals in Yellowstone

During our two days of sightseeing in the park, we had no luck. We met Buffalo , some kind of deer and one wild coyote. Was it a coyote in 100%? We are not sure, because all animals in the park besides Buffalo avoid contact with people. They can usually be observed from a very long distance.

Lamar Valey and Hayden Valey are the best places for observing wildlife in the park. However, these are very extensive valleys, you have to have good fortune and hawk eyes to observe anything. Unfortunately, apart from the previously mentioned animals, we only observed crowds of people with binoculars and half-meter lenses, with such equipment you can probably see more

Lamar Valey

Hayden Valey

Hayden Valey

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

This is a place that you can not avoid visiting Yellowstone. It is a symbol of the park, viewpoints are located along its edge, and the most-known Artist Point is at the forefront. The best-known trail is the Uncle Tom’s Trial, leading to the place where the Lower Falls waterfall can be seen up close. It is not easy one to get there, we have to go down 150m down, and over 300 metal steps twice.

Lower Falls

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park-Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park-Mommoth Hot Springs

It is a complex of travertine terraces created as a result of the extraction of hot water from local hot springs. This water carries with it calcium carbonate which settles on the rocks creating these unusual formations. The most impressive part of the terraces is Palette Srping. It is a multicolored hill covered with terraces. Terraces can be visited on foot while walking wooden footbridges. Unfortunately we have been chasing time and it was not enough for a deeper tour.

Yellowstone National Park-Mammoth Hot Springs

Mommoth Hot Springs

Mommoth Hot Springs

Devil’s Thumb

Accommodation in the Park is expensive and you have to book it at least a few months in advance. The second option is camping at the campsite, but you must remember to protect all food overnight in suitable containers so as not to lure bears. Park temperatures can fall to zero even in the summer.

Food and all other products are very expensive in the Park. A better solution is to look for accommodation in towns around the Park. We slept in Livingston. It is about an hour’s drive from the North entrance to the park. Thanks to this we are in the State of Montana and we can feel the atmosphere of the real Wild West.

Livingston Montana

It is an area where we can find several mouths of hot springs and a mud volcano. All springs can be visited by walking along several miles long hiking routes, mainly made up of wooden footbridges.