On your way to Yellowstone
We left for Yellowstone early in the morning because we had a very long drive ahead of us. It took us more or less 5 hours to reach the Western entrance of the park. Upon arrival, we first purchased our park pass. We knew in advance that it would be impossible to visit the entire park in the few days that we had available (900,000 hectares is a lot), but this was ok, it was a reason to return another time.
Due to the rain, our picnic turned out to be a picnic in the car. So what? We were in the most beautiful National Park in the world. Rain or no rain, we wanted to enjoy it! It was my second visit to the park so I already knew what to expect. But also this time the forces of nature never ceased to impress.
Lower and Midway Geyser Basin
After lunch we began our discovery of the park. Today we were doing the route via Madison to the ‘Old Faithful’. Normally this would take about an hour, but with all the stops that we had planned, it would certainly take much longer. We started with the Firehole Lake Drive and stopped at the Firehole Falls. So glad that we could stretch our legs and even better, it stopped raining !
Then we went to the Fountain Paint Pot area, the most colourful part of the park. Here we followed an 800 meter boardwalk trail that passed fumaroles, mudpots, hot springs and geysers. The different colours of the mud (red, yellow, pink, brown) came from the various stages of the oxidation of the iron.
Next stop, The Grand Prismatic spring, the most spectacular spring in Yellowstone. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful ? But you do not want to fall off the boardwalk because the temperature of the water is 87°C.
Enough sightseeing for one day. We were ready for check-in at our accommodation. We had booked 1 night at the Old Faithful Inn. The entrance with the grand lobby and the fireplace created an amazing atmosphere. We had dinner at the restaurant and this was OK. All in all, a great day !
