Yellowstone Canyon / Geyser Basin

North Rim Yellowstone Canyon

We entered the east side from Cody and drove to the Canyon Village area of Yellowstone where this magnificent waterfall and canyon presented the fir big WOW.  North Rim Drive is busy, but cars come and go quite often.  If the lot was full, parking alongside the road went for quite awhile alonging one to walk back toward the trails.  We headed east on the North Rim Trail doing the Canyon Look Out point and Yellowstone Waterfall raging.  The yellow and red coloring produced by the sulphur and other minerals and the steep eroded cliffs are incredible to take in.

The Red Point Trail cut-off allowed us to descend to see the falls from a lower vantage point.  Proceeded back up and continued east on the North Rim Trail to the Grandview Lookout. Time to find our campsite at Canyon Campground after such an awesome view of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

South Rim, Artist Point

The Upper Falls are a bit wider than the Lower Falls and one can see the bridge where this Great Yellowstone Canyon can be crossed.

Artist Point looking down on the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone – the yellows, whites, rust and tans, even green – the dramatic cliffs and jutting rocks that are on view from the path along the Canyon and down to the rushing river below which is only interrupted by the upper and lower waterfalls.  

It is truly one of the top dramatically beautiful places in the world and our favorite of the two sides.  So many incredible overlooks.  There was another parking area at the end, but we opted to take the first one so we could hike along the Canyon for a bit. Good thing no Edge Police were around.

Lily Pad Lake Trail continued as Artist Point disappeared.  It was filled with yellow lillies – not like Beaver Pond at Mammoth Springs that had no beaver life clues that we could see.  The only problem is we heard moose like lilies and there was not a single one!

This hike came with its very own set of bubbling mud pots and fumeroles,  as the lodgepoles disappeared and the once upon spewed mud that had turned to gravel was the path.  There is so much thermal activity even high upon the cliffs here in Yellowstone.

Clear Lake was just that – so blue and inviting, but the weather was perfect for hiking and we were not even warm.  A welcome sight after the bubbling mud.

Bear time as we approached the end of the loop, and he crossed our trail. 

 Luckily,  we saw him well in advance, but so cool to see in the wild as he munched on the fauna and up the hill he disappeared.  We saw Canyons , a clear blue lake, lily pads, thermal features and wildlife on this 5 mile Artist Point to Lily Pond to Clear Lake Hike  

Paint/Ink Pots

More colorful bubbling, hissing and boiling to be seen at this one mile boardwalk. Mud pots are really interesting. 

This time a lovely deep rust color in the mix just like an artist’s palette.

Beryl Springs

Another along side of the road boiling phenomenon – What goes on under Yellowstone is a amazing. 

Old Faithful

Old Faithful – to celebrate 250 years of the USA – this was our fireworks!  We have so much to celebrate in these years thanks to the wisdom of our Constitution writers.  We have grown in so many ways that so many have come here from so many places in the world to thrive and contribute. 

The adjoining Yellowstone Lodge is pretty incredible with its rustic beam construction of several stories that look down on the lobby. 

The Upper Geyser Basin Area is huge and Old Faithful is the  closest Geyser from the huge parking area.  Although Grand Geyser is supposed to be larger, we observed it from a distance and it did not seem that way on this particularly late eruption.  The trail all around the geysers are completely exposed with lots of boardwalk and cement – really not very pleasant walking as far as we were concerned. For this reason, we will leave with only Old Faithful in our memory of Geysers 

We have heard now from several people that they intentionally bring their firework fraidy cat dogs to National Parks during the 4^th.  We didn’t hear one little boom, but we played music with Kris, a Mandolin Player and had a really nice evening by the fire.  John is starting to rub off on me and I slept until almost 10am. 

Midway Geyser Basin – Prismatic

Old Faithful Drive brought us to the Midway Geyser Basin where the first big non-bison traffic jam was experienced as people wanted to get in the parking area. 

We bypassed for this reason, but on the way back to our campground, it was not jammed, so we stopped and did the boardwalk view of Grand Prismatic Spring which empties into the Firehole River making it a bit warmer that would be otherwise. 

More crowded boardwalks of bubbling incredibly colorful water features.   

Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, West Yellowstone

The grizzly bears were out when we got there in the afternoon, actually there were a bunch of kids hiding bear treats in the rocks.  After they were safely led out of the area, two grizzlies, one of whom was named, Bo (he didn’t play guitar though) were allowed to find the food, wander around and take a swim.  We got to experience this safely on an observation deck that was some 100 feet away. Much less stressful than the last one we had experienced on the hiking trail near Artist Point.

Our last hope to see a Wolf – we came back at 6:30pm hoping that they would be more active.  One even howled for us and they were so beautiful and this pack looked a lot like huskies.   I think her name was Bridger because as described she was light in color.  Wolves were introduced back into Yellowstone over the last 30 years after nearly becoming extinct,  and somehow this pack came into captivity at the Discovery Center.

The Discovery Center was a highlight when coming to West Yellowstone for the grizzly and wolf experience.  It is a not for profit museum.  We also saw Eagle, Red Tail Hawk and cute little River Otters. Tickets are good for two days and there are guided programs available.  There is great cell coverage from the parking lot and my 400 photos went to the cloud – most places in Yellowstone have no cell service except by the larger visitor centers. 

Prismatic Outlook and Fairy Falls Trail

The Prismatic Overlook Trail is the busiest we’ve experienced and is a cutoff from the Fairy Falls Trail.  So might as well do it together.  Our day was a bit cloudy so colors are a bit subdued compared to the photos we had seen or what we saw from the boardwalk. I think sun really makes a difference because Ink Pot was so much more dramatic as was the West Thumb Basin.   Fairy Falls was graceful as it starts as a single long strand and then radiates to a wide intricate veil of falls 

We met a nice young man Garrett on the trail with whom we walked and talked. After the super crowded Prismatic Loop, Fairy Falls was much less crowded and the height and gracefulness of the stream on the top as it simmered and divided at the bottom was truly beautiful.  We were tired and decided to hit up the huge Old Faithful Parking Lot with reception and a nap.  Old Faithful. 

Yellowstone  Summary

After spending a total of 10 days in Yellowstone we were a bit yellowstoned out.  There are so many geothermal features everywhere that they became a bit monotonous, although were so intriguing especially at first.  The Artist Point Trail and North Rim Canyon Features were our favorite, and just so incredibly awestriking of all times.  The West Thumb Basin followed by the Ink Pots were favorite thermal features except for the awesome geyser eruption of Old Faithful in celebration of 250^th USA Birthday. The entire cement/boardwalk wander ways of the Upper Geyser Basin seemed hot and monotonous.  Maybe because we saw the West Thumb Basin first, but also because it had the backdrop of Yellowstone Lake and the breeze, making it a better experience than seeing Prismatic or Geysers on the flat boards of monotonous light colored gravel for miles.    Our favorite Mud Pot was the one we found on the Thumb Overlook Trail because we weren’t expecting this hole in the ground to be bubbling after we had hiked a mile up a hill.  This area had a Natural Bridge which we also were able to hike up on it – no other natural bridge we had seen thus far allowed that! Bison strutting down the road are a thing and our bear siting on the trail at Artist Point was quite exhilarating.  The Fair Falls trail was also beautiful.  Mammoth Hot Springs Area was my least favorite area with the Terraces being really the only thing there, although we had a delicious Bison Burger overlooking the River.  Gardiner, the gateway town,  was a good 20 minutes and we had been spoiled by having only In-Park campgrounds, but loved the cell and electricity of Gardiner Sun Outdoors!  Yellowstone crowds were certainly a thing, but the Old Faithful Area was a well prepared machine with lots of parking and an exit from the Grand Loop.  We did not find eating, places or general stores to be very crowded at all all over the park – not that we ate out much. Most slow downs were bison or wildlife viewing related. 

Yellowstone Campgrounds

Canyon Campground

Conveniently located to the Canyon Area which was a favorite of Yellowstone.  Was able to bike to the Visitors, Pizza, Restaurant and General Store Area.  Highlight was meeting the Cose Family (Michelle, Peyton, Pierce and Mylie) I had discovered them on the first night after our drive from Cody.  Pierce is and incredibly articulate and well behaved  6 year old who has been blind since birth,  along with his 2 year old curly blond, blue eyed sister.   We had a small bit of cell service here and a bit more near the visitor center.  W-Fi at the visitor centers is not non-existent, but there was a shower house here – no such luck at Madison Campground.  

Madison Campground

Nice large campsites a bit less lodgepoled than Canyon.  No showers, but the camp store for firewood and essentials was nice.  Many paths to the Firehole River for a walking.    

West Yellowstone, Wyoming Gateway

The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center was a highlight of the area, but we also had some of the best ribs at the Firestone BBQ Restaurant.  You could even get quantities of brisket or pulled pork if you want to take some home.  The Yellowstone Brewery had a white Stout that was super good too.

Cody, Yellowstone Gateway

Cody is a gateway town to the east entrance of Yellowstone.  It was named for Buffalo Bill Cody who led quite a colorful and eventful life.  Although he had done everything from being a decorated soldier, scout, to leading famous people through the western frontier, he got the namesake Buffalo Bill because he gained fame because he killed so many Bison to support the feeding of all the railroad workers.  His various jobs gave him the material to tell stories about the mysterious perils of the west including Cowboys and Indians.  A writer started using them in his comic books and eventually convinced Bill to perform to live audiences.   The public was enamored by these embellished stories of cowboys and Indians tales. Bill went through many partners and co-stars in these wild west shows.  They would eventually be sought after in Europe and he even performed before the Queen and other dignitaries in Europe.  By this time he was world famous and he sought a town to settle down hence the town Cody.  Here the Buffalo Bill museum of the West has many artifacts and writings from his life, but we had to listen to “Legends of the Old West” Podcast to get an understanding of how all the different jobs, undertakings, and fame came together.  The museum lacked a cohesive timeline so to speak – A movie depicting his life would have been helpful, but this may have been that historians disagree – there was much embellishment that seemed to go hand and hand with Buffalo Bill Cody, but he certainly did quite a variety of things before becoming famous on the stage.   This podcast was really good and we will go back and learn about Billy the Kid who may or may not be why Cassidy Arch in Capitol Reef National Park was named – would highly recommend it. There were lots of interesting artifacts in the museum, a rapture center,  as well as a collection of thousands of firearms throughout the existence of time.

Ponderosa Campground was a perfect in-town (tight) campground to charge up and enjoy walking to the best wood fired pizza at Trailhead Bar and Grill . The Buffalo Bill Museum of the West was also within walking distance and even got a load of laundry done.

As we drove out of Cody, we stopped at the Buffalo Bill Damn area and the canyon was beautiful along the Shoshone River  Big Horn Sheep sent some rocks tumbling down the steep hills in the roadway.  There were several campgrounds (Lakeshore) close to the river, but the highway ran parallel as well, and would most likely have been less than peaceful.