Yellowstone!

We had the best weekend! 

It started on Friday morning when we drove to the airport. We were travelling with just a backpack each and Mitchell's crutch. We parked in the airport car park, and pulled up next to a car decorated just like Lightning McQueen! 

The guy driving the shuttle took pity on Mitchell and let us get on the employee shuttle, so we made it in great time for our flight. We changed in Phoenix, Arizona, and then flew over the desert to Idaho Falls, Idaho. 

We picked up the rental car, which turned out to be a Toyota Prius hybrid which was fun to drive. It was a lot quieter than our car and had all sorts of features like a touch screen and reversing camera which was new for us. We started driving about 6:30pm and stopped at a small town for groceries and to pick up a subway for dinner. It was then on to the park! 

It took another two hours to get to Yellowstone National Park, and we passed through the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming on our way. Once we entered at about 9pm, it was still almost light, but as we drove through it went completely dark. There were still piles of snow between the trees in patches and the roads were very dark and very empty. 

Snow!

We arrived at our hotel lodge after an hour through the park, and checked in for the night. Breakfast the next morning was in the lakeside restaurant through the trees. Luckily we were in the closest lodge so Mitchell could hobble over easily.

Our first stop for the weekend was the Yellowstone classic, Old Faithful! There was a short loop around the geyser and it was already getting busy first thing in the morning. We did the loop and saw some small pools, and just as we were getting back to the start, Old Faithful started to erupt. We watched and got some pictures as it went up and steam poured out.

Old faithful

When it was finished, I went for a longer walk, and Mitchell stayed by the visitor center. I'd not gone far down the trail, when I saw my first bison! It was just one, munching some grass by the boardwalk. It was very big and hairy, but didn't seem too bothered by the people around.

I passed a lot of other geysers, some small, some big, some which had built up a large deposit and earned names such as castle geyser or grotto geyser. 

The end of my walk was some prismatic pools, the largest being called morning glory. They were very pretty and were blue in the middle and yellow on the outside, with the clearest water inside. 

On the walk back, I saw two more bison walking around the area. They both crossed the boardwalk, and the second one tripped a little as it stepped on and made a very embarrassed huff. This area was called the upper basin and was a flat grassy area surrounded by pine trees, and had a river running through it. The geysers made steam everywhere and it looked positively primeval. 

We had our lunch here (we'd bought a loaf of bread and jar of Nutella to sustain us for lunches for the weekend) and then went to visit the gift shop. We then sat and waited for Old Faithful to erupt again (which it does every 90 minutes or so.)

We then went for a drive to see the great prismatic spring, but there was so much to see on the way! We did a little drive which had several stops on the way. There were some geysers and pools and one lake which was so steamy it fogged up Mitchell's glasses. This was a great way for Mitchell to see lots of stuff without him having to walk very far. 

We then made another stop at the fountain paint pots. This was a short walk around some hot springs, including a couple that were more mud than water and made delightful blooping sounds. One had small bubbles popping up through a mud pond, and another had one big bubble erupting over and over again, but again through mud which was very satisfying to watch.

We then made our last stop of the day at the great prismatic spring. This was another short walk, and the excelsior crater next to it was so steamy we could barely see where we were going! The entire pool was steaming and with the cold air, we ended up pretty damp.

The actual prismatic pool was hard to see with all the steam from this angle, but we could see how big it was and all the yellow algae on the side.

With hoofprints

On the way back to the hotel, we saw some more bison, which was good as Mitchell hadn't seen one yet. 

That evening, we went for a little walk to the lake by our hotel, and it was very pretty in the fading light. We went for dinner at the restaurant, which we were very ready for after our big day, and ate tofu and chips with crushed peas and avocado dip. 

The next day, we started with a long drive through the other side of the park. We passed through Hayden Valley which was known for being where the bison herd together. Before we even reached there, we saw people stopped at the side of the road, and pulled over to see what was happening. It was an elk! It had small fuzzy antlers and was eating grass by the side of the road. Mitchell got some photos from the passenger seat, and we were quickly back on our way. 

We drove around the lake for a while and through forests, looking out for more wildlife. We were driving along when we saw a sign for mud volcanoes. These were fast becoming Mitchell's favourite things so we stopped to explore. These geysers and springs were very stinky! The whole area smelt like sulphur and there were lots of springs giving off more stinky steam. Our favourite one was a fumerole called dragon's mouth, and you could see why. The amount of steam pouring out of the cave made it look just like a dragon's mouth. It also rumbled and sounded a bit like a dragon too.

Our next impromptu stop was called calcite springs and was a river cutting through a valley (made of calcite). We also saw a couple of sheep on the other side.

We also stopped off at a viewpoint of a snowy mountain. The drive up this side was very twisty and at some points the road did not extend any further than the lane, with a sharp drop to the side. That was fun to drive along, and we eventually reached our main stop of the day. 

Mammoth Hot Springs is a whole area of springs which have deposited large amounts of minerals and overflow with water at certain points of the year. The water comes and goes though, and when we went there wasn't much water, but the springs themselves were still very impressive. There were layers and layers of white calcium deposits, all built up so much it looked like someone had created a fountain out of white and orange pots and let water flow down over them. 

We went for a little walk and saw a couple, and then we sat by the car for lunch. After eating, I went for a longer walk and Mitchell had a nap in the car. There wasn't much more to see as there was very little water, but I did see one very impressive spring, and an elk in the forest. I did pass the tiniest geyser though, which was shooting out about as much water as a drinking fountain, and a very tiny bubbling pool which could have been made from a footprint. 

Having woken Mitchell up, we started driving again, but before we reached our next stop, we saw a big waterfall and pulled over to have a look. 

The photographer

The photograph

We also saw several bison that day, some very close to the road, some further away, but so many that we eventually didn't bother slowing down to look at them, but would just shout and point before returning to our conversation. 

Another quick stop was nymph lake, which was just a very pretty spot to stop and get a picture or two (and have a snack).

Our last official stop of the day was the Canyon village area. There were two enormous waterfalls which cut through the 'Grand Canyon of Yellowstone'. We started at the top of the lower falls, and I walked all the way down to the brink where you could watch the huge river tumble over the edge. It created so much spray and it even made a rainbow appear. 

Can you spot me?

We then drove a little further on to the base of this waterfall and got a great view of it from the river. Mitchell came with me to here, and then I went down an extra path through some trees and following a creek to get an even better view. 

I left Mitchell on top of this hill

We then drove further along the river to the upper falls, which were also amazing, but by this time we were both very tired and slightly overwhelmed with everything we'd seen already this weekend, so we didn't stay too long to see them. 

As we were driving back to the hotel (which was over an hour away), it started to rain, and as we drove further into the rain cloud, it got heavier and heavier and thunder and lightning started flashing across the sky! It was a little scary, but also very exciting. We made it back ok, and immediately went down to the lakehouse for dinner. This was a more casual eatery than the restaurant and we could actually see it from our hotel room. They served tacos, so we got a pile and ate them overlooking the lake. It cleared up and we watched the sunset before heading back to the room. 

Monday was our last day, but we still had more to see before we went back to the airport. We started at West Thumb which was very close to our hotel. It was another series of geysers and pools, but right next to Lake Yellowstone, and in the morning light, all the mist from the water was very pretty (and a bit stinky). Mitchell took the short route and I took the long one. I didn't see much more as none of the geysers were erupting at that time, but I did see a pool called abyss pool which was so deep I couldn't see the bottom. 

As I got back to the start of the trail, Mitchell took me to the other side and showed me two elk which had turned up, just a little ways away from the path! 

And a bunny

Our next stop was somewhere we'd already been, but from a different perspective. We went back to the great prismatic pool, but this time we stopped at a different car park and I took a hike up to be able to view it from above. I got an incredible view, and the colours were amazing. It's a huge lake, and the blue is so bright it almost looks artificial, but is actually coloured by cyanobacteria. Around the blue is a rim of bright yellow and orange, caused by algae. 

That big plume is what we walked through on Saturday

After this, we went to go and find a picnic spot for our last lunch in the park. We'd been so busy the rest of the weekend that we'd just stopped wherever we'd been to eat, but this time we actually went in search of one of the many picnic areas the park has to offer. We found one a little way down the road, and pulled in for our sandwiches. It was very quiet compared to all the car parks, and we had a little picnic bench to sit on, surrounded by trees. We kept an eye out for Yogi bear, but luckily he didn't come to steal our picnic.

Lunch eaten, we still had some time, so we decided to take a longer route out to see one final waterfall. On the way, we were driving through a plain and saw a huge herd of bison. Previously, we'd only seen three or four at a time, but this group had at least twenty. 

We found the drive which took us to see the waterfall, which was very nice, but underwhelming after seeing all the gigantic waterfalls the day before. We did drive past a tree which had an osprey nest in the top, and while we weren't allowed to stop and take pictures, we did see a little head poking out from the nest which was exciting.

At this point we decided to call it a day and start heading back to the airport as we had a long drive to do. We were driving through the park still, when we saw a group of people gathered by the side of the road. We slowed down, but couldn't see what it was they were looking at, and we'd seen a lot of people stop for a single bison at this point, so weren't too bothered about stopping, when Mitchell suddenly realised what it was they had all seen. It was a wolf! It was small and grey and vanished into the trees before I could see it. That was very exciting and we were very happy to have seen it as we weren't sure we would see any bears or wolves this weekend!

We drove on a bit further, and saw another small traffic jam ahead, very close to the entrance. I was trying to see what was causing it, when I saw a small bear run across the road! It ran across about three cars in front of us, but luckily the traffic kept moving (although very slowly) and we were able to see it through the trees on the other side of the road and Mitchell had a great view to film it from the car window. It was quite small, (but not a cub, it had probably recently moved out to be on it's own), and it was a brown bear, so we were lucky it wasn't fully grown as the grizzlies can be so dangerous. 

So it was a doubly exciting last hour in the park! We drove the three hours back to the airport through the countryside, and while we didn't see any more wildlife, we did have rain, sun and hail on our way back. We also only used about three quarters of the tank in our Prius, despite driving nearly 600 miles that weekend. 

When we returned the car at 4pm, the airport was only just opening up for the day. Idaho Falls Regional Airport only has six gates! We dropped off the keys and then took a picture with the stuffed moose in the entrance. Our flights home went smoothly and we got home just in time for bed. A very busy weekend, but quite possibly my favourite so far!

I put all of the videos we took into this little video so hopefully you can get a better idea of what it was like to be there!

All our love,

Emily and Mitchell

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