We made it! We finally arrived at Yellowstone National Park. Neither Scott nor I had been here before and we were super excited to see all the beautiful natural wonders that were in store for us during our visit. We entered at the East Gate and we were planning a counter-clockwise journey around the park. We tent camped and moved camp every day.
The first thing that we saw after entering the park was a Moose! He was drinking water from a stream and we saw him from behind. I took a couple of pictures, but they didn't really turn out. We assumed we would see more moose, but it turned out this was the only one. If we had known how rare it was to see one, we probably would have worked a bit harder to get a better picture.
When we entered the park, my excitement was lessened slightly over concern about the weather. We spent a lot of time studying historical weather data and planning our trip for a time when it would be comfortable to be tent camping. Historically, the second half of June sees highs in the upper 60's and 70's and lows around 40 degrees F. This was the weather I was prepared for. However, that was not our forecast. Our first night in Yellowstone, the forecast was for SNOW! Oh dear.
This was the scene as we drove towards our campsite at Bridge Bay. All I could think while looking at this was "we are sleeping OUTSIDE"!
Of course, we stopped to play in the snow! What else was there to do? We embraced it. Scott reminded me that our gear (sleeping bags) were rated for much colder weather than we would be facing. We would be cold, but not dangerously cold. I was convinced that we would be the only people in the campground. Surely we were the only people crazy enough to go tent camping in a snow storm.
We came upon a herd of buffalo. It was magical to see the buffalo through the snow. Spring had already arrived in Yellowstone, so the flowers were in bloom and the grass was green. A late spring snow is gorgeous!
After setting up camp (we weren't the only ones!) we went for a hike to see the Natural Bridge. The snowflakes were large and fluffy and we tried to catch them on our tongues. On this hike, I realized that my clothing was not appropriate for the cold temperatures. It was 29 or 30 degrees.
Natural Bridge (in the snow).
Our first night was as cold as we feared, but we managed okay. After our hike, Scott made dinner over the campfire (while I waited in the car). The campsite was gorgeous. Next to us was a field of yellow flowers. We were tucked into a group of trees and felt protected from the wind. After dinner, I went to bed. I was cold. I put on double layers of PJ's, double socks, my hat and took my fleece into the sleeping bag with me. I closed the drawstring around my face and found a warm and comfortable spot. It was 6:30 PM. Scott stayed up with the kids and they had fun with the fire and the snow. He was amazing. He was understanding about my dysfunction at temperatures below 35 degrees. I didn't complain, but I wasn't helping either. This far north, the sun wasn't down until about 9:30 PM. Scott and the kids were up until about 8:30 or 9:00.
In the morning, my hero made a big fire and got the coffee made before I ventured out of the tent. We all slept well and we were warm enough. Our first stop after packing up camp was to the gift shop. Our neighbors at the campground had some awesome warm jackets that they bought at the shop and told us they were on spring clearance for a great price. Scott and I each got one and we also all got wool hats. We were all much warmer and ready to face the day. The high was about 41 degrees.
We drove from Bridge Bay to Canyon Village. Along the way, we stopped often to see different sites. We visited the Mud Volcano and Sulfur Cauldron.
This site is named Green Dragon. I loved the green coloring around the outside of the cave. It has boiling water in the bottom and a constant stream of steam coming out of the cave. So awesome! I love seeing thermally active areas.
We saw another herd of buffalo. We got very close. It was fun to see the baby buffalo too!
The gorgeous Hayden Valley!
After setting up camp at Canyon Village, we headed off to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. I was excited to see it and it did not disappoint!
This picture was taken from a place called Artist Point. In 1872, painter Thomas Moran painted a picture of the falls in The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone that was used to convince the US Congress to start the National Park program and name Yellowstone as the nation's first national park. This spot is famous because in 1883 Frank Jay Haynes named this spot as the location from which Thomas Moran painted his famous painting. It was later found out to be untrue, but the name stuck.
We hiked Uncle Tom's Trail. It's a very steep but fairly short path that allows you to see the water fall from both the upper and lower view points. The kids practically ran down the path. It was a great way to get all of their wiggles out! However, they were not big fans of the going back up part. There were stairs made from metal grate, so you could see through them and all the way down. Wyatt was not a fan and he cried the entire way up. Poor little guy! We made it though.
Then, back to camp, dinner and bed. I have to note that the campsite facilities (bathrooms) are really nice. They were heated (thank you!) with flushing toilets too. There was also a separate room with large sinks for doing dishes. In Yellowstone they take the bears very seriously. You're not supposed to have food out in your campsite if you aren't actually eating it. You're not allowed to do dishes in your site. We didn't have any problems with bears, but I did expect Scott to carry the Bear Spray with us everywhere!
Our next day was spent driving from Canyon Village to Mammoth Hot Springs. We made stops along the way... We saw Tower Falls and the petrified tree. We saw more wildlife. Bison of course (there are so many!), elk, deer and even a wolf! The wolves in Yellowstone are very special.
Here's an amazing 4:30 minute video about how special the wolves are.
For lunch, we stopped and had a picnic beside a stream. We tried putting our feet in the water, but it was SO COLD! We could only barely touch the water with our toes and then we had to take them out.
Isn't this amazing!! I LOVED Mammoth Hot Springs. These gorgeous pools had me captivated. We hiked all around it and saw it all.
I think the colors are magical. Wyatt speculated that this yellow color in the rocks must be how Yellowstone got its name. The different colors are created by different bacteria that live in the warm waters.
There were elk everywhere in Mammoth Village. On this night, we stayed in a hotel outside of the park. All of the rooms were sold in Mammoth and the campground did not have reservations available. I figured after a couple of nights camping, we might be ready for a shower and a clean soft bed. We exited the North Gate and stayed in Gardiner, MT.
On the next day, we drove from the North Gate to Madison. Our big stop was to see the Norris Geyser Basin. Before we got to Norris Basin, we stopped at Sheepeater Cliff, Obsidian Cliff and we saw a grizzly bear!
We were driving along the road and we found a spot where tons of cars were stopped and there was a ranger there. We asked what was going on and he told us there was a grizzly in the area. Of course, we found a spot to park and hopped out to find the bear! We found him and I got tons of pictures. He was pretty far away (good for safety). We watched him play around these trees for at least 20 minutes.
Here is the gorgeous Norris Geyser Basin.
We hiked around the entire basin. It was a warmer day! (Finally, we don't need our big coats and hats!) I was totally captivated by the magic colors.
This is the Vixen Geyser. When we first walked by, it looked like this. Just a hole in the rocks. However, just after we passed it, it erupted! So exciting! We ran back and took a seat on the path and watched the entire show. We were the only people on the path at that time, so it really felt like it performed just for us.
My favorite hot pools were the ones with the deep red/orange and the brilliant green/blue. The day was mostly clear with a few clouds. It was really beautiful to see how the colors changed when the sun suddenly went behind a cloud and then came out again. So magical.
We finally made it to Madison and set up camp. We had some time to relax at camp and the kids played in the trees and rocks. I think Madison was my least favorite campground of all that we had stayed at on this trip. Mostly, we stayed at tent only sites (no RV's), but at Madison we were in an area that allowed both tents and RV's. The sites were very close together and there were only a few trees in our site. Lucky, there was a place where we could set up our hammock!
Next, we headed south from Madison. We took a short little drive off the main path on Firehole Road. Wow, so beautiful. We saw the Firehole Falls. It was kinda just on a whim that we did this little drive and I have to say AWESOME. So, if you are planning to go to Yellowstone NP and you will be near Madison, take this little drive! It's worth it!
We passed through Lower Geyser Basin, Midway Geyser Basin and Upper Geyser Basin. Whew, that's a lot of geysers.
Our major destination of the day is Old Faithful Geyser.
So beautiful!
This is my favorite picture of a hot pool from our trip.
So crowded! It was a Sunday, but we were starting to feel a little overwhelmed by all of the other tourists in Yellowstone. The cold weather earlier in the week kept some people away, but now, it was quite warm and it was the weekend, so there were a lot of people out enjoying themselves here. Our plan was to stay at Grant Village this night and then drive to Grand Teton National Park the next day. Grant Village is the largest campground in Yellowstone and we were not excited to encounter more crowds. So, we decided to skip it and head out to the Tetons.
