Day 1 – Arriving from Cody
After a 1,5 hour drive, we arrived at the Park and were welcomed by a bison (or American buffalo). We saw him coming towards us, on the road. To get some good pics, we got out of the car – as the bison was still a few tens of metres away from us. As he was starting to come closer, we got back into the car and drove passed him.
We started exploring the park with a walk. It was quite chilly, so that was the ideal way to warm up. The Storm Point Trail is a 3km loop, starting in an open field, passing Indian Pond and the entering the woods. We were so hoping to spot our first bear, so were really quite and constantly looking around, listening at something moving. And yes, we saw something… a squirrel…
In the evening we had a drink and played a game at the Lake Lodge, which is really cosy with the fire place and all. Great end of our first day.
Day 2 – Coyote wakeup call
Lower Falls – morning exercise
What better way to wake up than in a cute wooden cabin in the woods.. No, not in the creepy way… It was cold that morning, but we didn’t care. As we saw an amazing sunrise over the lake – before getting our breakfast – we walked towards the lake first. While walking we heard a kind of whining noise. We first thought it was some kind of bird – as we couldn’t really place the sound – but then we saw some people pointing at something in the grass and we realized it was a coyote! The first one we saw in the wild… check!
After breakfast, we drove to Canyon Village (only about half an hour drive), to check out the Lower Falls. The trail down is about 300 steps, taking you 150m down into the canyon. Arriving at the platform, you can see, hear and feel the power of the waterfall. Be aware that the trip back up is quite strenuous, considering you have to get the 300 steps back up. And in the morning it can be quite slippery, so take it easy.
Mammoth Hot Springs
After this morning workout, we drove about 1u15 further to Mammoth Hot Springs. When saying Yellowstone, this is the first image that pops my mind: the various limestone terraces. Apparently about 2.000 litre water is flowing out of these hot springs every minute, taking about 2.000 kg limestone up, which make these terraces changing form constantly. The different colours of the terraces are caused by algae and bacteria living in the hot waters. If the water flow would stop, the colours would disappear and end up in a boring grey colour.
We gazed upon all that beauty (taking the rather unappealing scent with it) from the Lower Terrace Interpretive Trail, which is a bit more than 2km up and back. It’s a very easy trail, with wooden walkways. At the end of the walk, you enter an observation platform from which you can see the Canary Spring and New Blue Spring.
Norris Geyser
After lunch at the Terrace Grill, we drove from Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful, making some stops along the way to check out a whole bunch of other geysers on the Back Basin Loop trail, witnessing some spectacular eruptions.
Old Faithful was our last stop of the day. Afterwards my bestie and I relaxed at the lodge, while my hubby went for an evening walk and spotted some deer. Still no bears, though…
Day 3 – Upper Geyser Basin
A few more hikes on our last half a day in Yellowstone… We saw the oldest geyser – Castle geyser, a few more bisons (of course) and a footprint (or paw print) of a bear… We heard people saying that a bear and her cub were being seen earlier that morning – damn, we just missed that…
We ended this great visit by saying our goodbyes to our bison-friends and this natural beauty.