Land of Liberty Explorers

Overview

Yellowstone National Park is America’s oldest national park – established in 1872. The park sits on top of one of the largest volcanos in the world. The volcano is responsible for creating the park’s famous geysers, hot springs, mudpots, and fumaroles. Over half of the world’s geysers are located in Yellowstone National Park! Yellowstone is also famous for wildlife. We saw lots of bison, grizzly bears, and elk on our trip.

Waterfalls

We entered the park at the West Yellowstone, Montana entrance. Firehole Falls and Gibbon Falls were two of our stops as we headed toward Mammoth.

Firehole Falls

Firehole Falls is a 40 foot waterfall on the Firehole River. The falls is easy to access from a small parking lot nearby.

Gibbon Falls

Gibbon Falls is an 84 waterfall on the Gibbon River. It is an impressive stop on the road between Norris Geyser Basin and Madison Junction.

Artists’ Paintpots

The Artists’ Paintpots trail was our first stop at one of the park’s geothermal features. It was interesting to see the colorful mud bubbling and boiling – and occasionally shooting into the air! The trail is just over a mile long, combining boardwalk and dirt path as it works its way through the colorful area.

Norris Geyser Basin

Norris Geyser Basin is the hottest basin in the park! The landscape in this basin is otherworldly. The tallest active geyser in the world – Steamboat Geyser – is located in Norris Geyser Basin. It was quite active on our visit, as were a number of smaller geysers along the boardwalks. We were mesmerized walking through this basin and seeing eruption after eruption.

Grizzly Bears

On our way to Mammoth Hot Springs, we saw a mother grizzly with her cub foraging for food. Grizzlies can weigh up to 400 pounds and are recognizable by their shaggy appearance and the hump above their shoulders. We loved seeing these impressive creatures!

Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs is large complex of hot springs on a travertine hill in the northern section of the park. The historic Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel is nearby in the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District that also features Fort Yellowstone. The elk were abundant in the Mammoth area.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

The Grand Canyon is one of Yellowstone’s most famous features! The canyon is 24 miles wide and up to 1,200 feet deep. It is capped off by the enormous Yellowstone Falls. The upper falls is 109 feet tall and the lowers falls is 308 feet tall. The lower falls is the largest waterfall by volume in the entire Rocky Mountains. We enjoyed viewing Yellowstone Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from the viewpoints located up and down the canyon. We also spotted an impressive osprey nest along the canyon wall.

Bison

Yellowstone is the only place where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times. Males can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds, while the females are significantly smaller at only 1,100 pounds. They are commonly seen in Lamar and Hayden Valleys, but judging by the droppings we saw around the park, they go just about everywhere!

West Thumb

West Thumb is an interesting geyser basin located on the shore of Lake Yellowstone. Its most famous feature is probably Fishing Cone, a geyser located right on the lakeshore, used in the late 1800s to boil fish. A large otter entertained us by diving into the lake and playfully swimming by the shore.

Old Faithful

Old Faithful is the most famous geyser in the park. Its erupts regularly every 44 minutes to two hours. When it erupts, it can shoot up to 8,000 gallons of water up to 160 feet high. Old Faithful’s eruptions last between 90 seconds and five minutes. There are a series of bleachers around the geyser, but we thought the best view was from Observation Point. The Observation Point Trail is a 1.9 mile out and back trail that leads up a series of switchbacks to an overlook of Old Faithful. We saw a curious marmot during our hike to the top. Observation Point features a nice view of the geyser and nearby Old Faithful Inn.

Because of the geyser’s predictability it became the focal point for Yellowstone tourism. The Old Faithful Inn, Visitors Center, and other buildings nearby make up the Old Faithful Historic District. We loved staying at the Old Faithful Inn, especially since we could both see and hear the geyser erupting from our room. For more information about the inn and our stay there, click here.

Upper Geyser Basin

While Old Faithful is the most famous geyser in Upper Geyser Basin, there are many more geysers and hot springs worth visiting. A well maintained boardwalk leads from Old Faithful down into the basin. There are four predictable geysers in the basin – Castle, Daisy, Grand, and Riverside. Riverside Geyser’s eruption is memorable. The geyser is located on the Firehole River, and its 75 foot high eruption lands in the river.

In addition to geysers, the upper basin features some beautiful hot springs – we loved colorful Morning Glory Pool.

Biscuit Basin

At Biscuit Basin a .65 mile loop trail meanders past geysers like Black Pearl Geyser and Jewel Geyser and hot springs like Black Opal Pool and Mustard Spring. Sapphire Pool is a favorite spot in this basin.

Grand Prismatic Spring

Located in Midway Geyser Basin, Grand Prismatic Spring is a must see Yellowstone attraction! It is the largest hot spring in the park and the third largest in the world. Microbial mats are responsible for the vivid colors for which the spring is famous. The center of the pool is actually sterile because of the extreme heat.

Midway Geyser Basin’s other large thermo feature is Excelsior Geyser. The large, blue geyser dumps 4,000 gallons of water per minute directly into the Firehole River.

Lower Geyser Basin

Lower Geyser Basin’s geothermal features are less concentrated than Upper or Midway Basins. At Lower Geyser Basin, we hiked past Great Fountain Geyser and the Fountain Paint Pots.