Leaving the Black Hills we were excited for our next adventure, we were headed to Yellowstone. We left our campsite shortly after waking up as we had an all day drive to the park, which is located in the far northwestern corner of Wyoming. In no time at all we were out of South Dakota traveling west. Almost immediately the landscape changed dramatically. Gone were the hills with the massive Ponderosa pine trees and in its place were large rolling hills with ranches dotting the landscape. The first few hours of the trip took place on a small 2-lane road going through small and smaller towns. We then hopped on I-90 for a few hours before hopping off again on 2 lane roads for the rest of the way. Eventually we made it to Cody, the eastern gateway to the park. We slowly drove through the town. It was by far the most western themed town that we had come across as of yet. We were not stopping in Cody though; we were driving straight on through to Yellowstone. From Cody we drove through Buffalo Bill State Park to the eastern entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
With the entrance in sight we spotted our first big animal. There was a buffalo just hanging out by the side of the road. We both exclaimed in unison, as this was very unexpected. We didn’t think we would see much until we were in the park but here it was, just hanging out. We passed the buffalo, went through the park entrance and up and over the eastern mountains in the park. An hour later we were on the shores of Yellowstone Lake and at the Fishing Bridge RV Park, our home for the next 5 days. It was a long drive for the day but we were happy to be in Yellowstone.
The next day we woke up ready to explore. For those that don’t know, Yellowstone National Park is huge. The park is 3,472 square miles. This is 63 miles north to south and 54 miles east to west. Also most of the roads in the park have a maximum speed limit of 45. Most of the time though there are so many cars on the road there actually going 45 mph probably isn’t going to happen. So saying all of that it is a big park that takes a long time to get places. Our first stop for the day was the visitor’s center close to Fishing Bridge on the eastern side of the park. Here we got an idea of exactly what we wanted to see and learned about the area of the park that we had driven through the day before where a forest fire had taken place years before. From the visitors center we drove to the Lake Lodge before going to our first natural site, The West Thumb Geyser Basin.
The West Thumb Geyser Basin is one of the smallest thermal areas in the park but it was Julie and my favorite area. It is located on the shores of Yellowstone Lake and has it all, from hot springs, pools, mud pots, fumaroles and lake shore geysers. Our favorites were the hot springs, which look like super blue deep pools. Since it is a thermal area in which the water temperatures are 200 degrees plus the park has boardwalks to walk around on to peer into the pools and the lake. We strolled around looking into each area so happy we had made it to this remote corner of Wyoming. Being in this little area was why people make the long journey to see Yellowstone.
Next up for the day was to see world famous Old Faithful. Old Faithful may not be the biggest geyser in the park but it is one of the most consistent and above all the most accessible. The drive from West Thumb to Old Faithful took a few hours of driving slowly through beautiful parkland, over mountains and through valleys. Compared to the eastern area where we were staying the western area around Old Faithful was much more crowded. Finding a parking spot was a bit difficult as there were hundreds of cars, buses and RVs. The area near Old Faithful has a few park hotels, general stores, restaurants and a gas station. We finally found parking and walked over to the Old Faithful visitor’s center. Walking in there is a sign telling park visitors when the estimated next eruption will happen. Eruptions happen ever 90 minutes or so. The park rangers have it down pretty well though and give you about a 20-minute window or so to when they think the next eruption will happen. We had about 40 minutes until the next eruption so we wandered around the visitor’s center learning all about the how and why geysers do what they do. A few minutes before Old Faithful was supposed to erupt we walked out near the geyser. There are benches for hundreds set up in a semi circle around the geyser but those were full by the time we got out there so we set up shop next to a couple and their dog who were in the edge of the forest. Almost exactly to the minute of when the rangers said that the eruption could happen, it erupted. Water spewed up to around 180 feet for about 5 minutes. It was really pretty neat. Our favorite part was when the wind picked up and soaked people at one edge of the semi circle.
When the eruption was over we wandered over to Old Faithful Inn. The inn was built between 1903 and 1904 and is the largest log structure in the world. It’s pretty impressive. We walked into the main lobby and looked up. From the middle of the lobby you can see straight up 4 stories which is pretty impressive considering that the building is over 100 years old and just made of wood. We made our way up to the 2nd floor bar and split a beer on the patio, which overlooks the front of the building and all the way over to Old Faithful. After finishing the beer we decided that it was an excellent first day in the park and drove the hour plus back to Fishing Bridge and to the RV park.
The next day we woke up to another beautiful Yellowstone day. Today was going to be fun as we had set up a horseback-riding excursion around noon. As we had some time before we stopped at what is called “The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone”, which was on the way. While the Yellowstone version of the Grand Canyon is much smaller than the actual Grand Canyon it is just as impressive. We drove over, found parking and went on a small hike down to a large waterfall on the northern end of the canyon. It was spectacular. The water dropped a few hundred feet into a canyon. The rocks on either end were a combination of colors from greys to reds and browns. It was quite the site to see.
Next up for our day was our horseback-riding excursion. After signing our waivers and going through a short how to ride class we were paired with our horse and hopped on. The group was made up of around 20 people ranging in age from 10 to 60. We rode along a trail over a small mountain with one ranger leading the group and another riding toward the end of the group making sure no one fell behind. At one point a buffalo came walking toward the group and one of the rangers rode over and was able to get the buffalo to walk the other way. The trail led over the mountain, through a forested portion then through a meadow and headed back towards the stables. When we were close to the stables the group stopped for a moment. During this stoppage Julie’s horse was ahead of mine, my horse snorted and hers reared up and tried to kick mine with both legs. Her horse missed mine but managed to make direct contact with my right shin. I’m not sure how many people reading this have been kicked by a horse but it doesn’t feel very good. One of the rangers came over to check on me to make sure that nothing was broken. Then he radioed in for an ice pack to be ready when we arrived back. Once we got back and I got off the horse I was finally able to see my injury (I was wearing jeans so I wasn’t able to see it until now.) I pulled up my pant leg to see a 3” by 2” area bloodied and puffed out like a large bump. When it happened I didn’t think it was that bad but then again, it was a horse that kicked me. I received some first aide at the stable before signing an incident report before we went on our way.
After a long lunch where I tried to figure out if I had actually broken anything or if it was just a bad bump (nothing was broken) we headed over to North Geyser Basin. This area was similar to West Thumb although on a larger scale. This area had boardwalks similar to West Thumb so we took a long hobble around looking at the springs and mud pots again. From there we drove a short distance to arguably the 2nd most famous sight in the park, which is Grand Prismatic Spring. Many of you have probably seen pictures of this without actually knowing it. It is a huge blue spring with algae colors of yellow, red and orange around the edges. It was actually hard to see the whole spring from the ground as it’s so large but it was still neat to see it as I had seen it in pictures, online and on TV for years. After spending an hour there we decided that our 2nd day had been pretty good too (minus the horse incident.)
Next up…we spend a few more days in Yellowstone and take a side trip to Montana!
