Day 68 to 73 Yellowstone NP, WY 3

(TA) Yellowstone, where to begin?! The place is huge and has A LOT to offer. Of course here are the geothermal springs, here they come in all shapes and sizes from tiny little holes in the ground puffing out a bit of steam to the world famous “Grand Prismatic” and “Old Faithful”. Then there is the wildlife… From chipmunks and ground squirrels to Bison and bears. Of course you have to add in the mix thousands of tourists a day and the fact that the park is HUGE and you will understand why it takes a week to scratch the surface.

Overview of the Yellowstone NP (2,219,823 acres) or 102 kms long and 87 kms wide

Some sites are very popular and easily accessible, like “old faithful” which attracts hundreds of people waiting for the geysers eruption, other sites require a bit of effort to get to, like “the Lone Star Geyser” which takes a 40 minute hike to reach and as a result you can enjoy the place with a handful of other active members of society.

Old Faithful geyser in action

Grand Prismatic spring viewed from an undisclosed location (note the many tourists on the other side!)

Mud pools in Fountain Paint Pot basin

Lone Star Geyser 2 miles hike from the main road that can be viewed away from the crowds

Morning glory pool, near Old Faithful

Bison stopping traffic is a common occurrence in the park

Up high in the Beartooth mountain range

Plenty of snow left above 3000 meters!

Friendly bison walking by

Big Horn Sheep crossing the road and hopping the fence

Boar Black bear crossing a creek near the Tower Falls junction

Sow cinnamon black bear and her 2 cubs

TA

(Zoe)

Yep -I absolutely loved Yellowstone, being a nature and animal lover, this place is a haven. Only the traffic wore our patience near the end! The first full day

Day 1- in Yellowstone was dedicated to checking out the East entrance road, where we were lucky enough to spy a ram Big Horn sheep up close, walked right by us !! Alot of the road wound by the lake which was nice, thermal vents dotted around near the lake shore. We also checked out ‘Old Faithful’ this day, the most famous geyser in the world. There were lots of other thermal vents, springs and cones you could walk to from there. Then set up camp in Madison for the duration of our stay.

Day 2 was an (easy) hike up to Lone Star Geyser, then checking out the many, many short hikes to thermal attractions in the upper and lower Geyer basins. Took a full day! 

Day 3 – Ride out to Bear Tooth pass through Lamar valley, a good wildlife spotting hub. We spotted two black bears near the road, a male trying to win over a female, on the ride back.

Day 4 – Early start to check out Grand Prismatic Spring before the crowds, the most famous and by far the largest hot pool in the park. This involved hiking to and undisclosed location for a decent view, as from the boardwalk was pretty average. We also checked out the Artists paint pots, mud pools splattering up hot mud, and several  other small geysers do their thing, and a large ‘hot spring’ lake. These involved one way loop drives and short hikes along boardwalks. We had a melon for lunch while watching a large bison herd from the edge of a meadow.

Day 5-we drove the Northern Loop and visited Mammoth Hot springs, some very impressive terraces formed by the hot mineral rich water cascading down limestone. We saw the Cinnamon Black bear, feeding on the meadow while her two Cubs played up a pine tree. So adorable to watch! Eventually she came back to the tree, called them down and they scurried down the trunk and followed her away. Elk were everywhere in Mammoth Hot springs, so that meant slow traffic! On the drive back to camp we stopped in  another high meadow and spent at least an hour chatting to some wildlife photographers waiting for a Grizzly bear known as ‘Quadmom’ to come out. Unfortunately she didn’t, but I found the wildlife spotting rather addicting and fun.

Day 6- Involved me getting up at 5:30am to ride to Hayden Valley in the hopes of spotting a wolf, something I hadn’t yet seen. When I arrived at the lookout It was fully fogged over, so chatted to a German traveller we had hung out with two days ago. Lots of local enthusiast with their spotting scopes were already there, and I got lucky enough to see a wolf no more than 20/30m from the road, which is quite rare. For the middle of the day we both rested, then headed out early evening to Lamar valley, where we saw a wolf eating a bison carcass through a spotting scope, as well as two black bears on a hill, a sleepy yearling grizzly, and some Bighorn ewes with their lambs running through a steep gorge. A great last day !

Some terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs

A lone female wolf close to the road

Spot the sleepy wildlife!