Yellowstone

Driving from the South Entrance of the Park to the West that first evening gave us some idea of what a huge place it is. And as we drove, we planned the next thirty-six hours, determined to see as much as was possible

So we were up early the next morning and in the Park before 7.00a.m.. Within fifteen minutes we had spotted the first elk in the meadow

Needless to say, the plan wasn’t always fulfilled: we found things we hadn’t expected to see and we missed a few we’d intended to see. But in the overall scheme of things it really didn’t matter. There were sights to impress wherever we looked!

As we followed the Snake River through both the Grand Teton Park and Yellowstone, so we now seemed to see the River Gibbon wherever we went and our morning started with a visit to Gibbon Falls just as the sun began to peep over the mountainside.

From there we headed to the park’s version of the Grand Canyon and Inspiration Point

Seemingly endless deep gorges with just a glimpse of the river at the bottom or in a waterfall. Simply stunning and well worth the short ‘hike’ to see.

The same has to be said for the various volcanic springs dotted around the Park. Standing at one of the overlooks I was amazed to hear one visitor say to her guide, ‘but there is no volcanic activity here now, is there?’. His response was ‘Plenty!’ which I thought pretty restrained!!!

Our first proper visit to one of these areas was to the Mammoth Hot Springs which reminded me very much of a German/Austrian – or even English – spa town. But in none of those have I seen the spectacle of the spring as I did here:

Because the boardwalk was unsafe at some points we were not able to go to the top so set off to Grand Prismatic Spring. It was here for the first time that we were faced with the crowds that we had been warned about at this time of year: there was a queue for the car park. We decided to go back and discover a little of the small town where our hotel was and take advantage of having a shorter drive the next day meaning we could visit those busy areas before the crowds arrived.

The evening in West Yellowstone was relaxing, eating waffles and crepes in a shop run off its feet with business from both locals and tourists and it was good!!

Another early start and we were in the Park by 6.30 having checked out of the hotel . We headed directly to Grand Prismatic Spring and were not disappointed:

Had we had time, we would have lingered longer but there was still more to see before we left Yellowstone. We had promised ourselves a visit to Old Faithful. Remembering the long delays for roadworks, I had become a bit dubious about going that way but we did and had no reason to regret it.

The second eruption we saw was much less impressive and we were glad not to have had to wait for it.