MIKE AND JESS' TRAVEL DIARY
Grand Tetons and Yellowstone Trip
Day 4 - June 2 2022
We had booked our entire stay in the same campgrounds, deciding not to move and camp in Yellowstone but instead to drive to Yellowstone when the weather was good. The weather was perfect, so we woke up early and drove into Yellowstone National Park. Along the way, there were some beautiful waterfalls and pullouts.
Old Faithful erupts roughly every hour and we saw by the park’s signs it was due to erupt within 15 minutes of pulling into the park. We figured it would be less busy in the morning, so we started our time in Yellowstone watching Old Faithful. There were not many people first thing in the morning, so we got front-row seats.
We continued on along the footpaths towards the Morning Glory Pool, marveling at the blue pools and smaller geysers on the way.
Walking around the footpaths, you can’t miss the Bison napping and grazing nearby. I was terrified of getting anywhere near them, so when we had to walk, even a long distance from one, I would rush through to give as much distance as possible. They are so huge!!
After walking around in the sun and doing some wandering in the Old Faithful Visitor’s Center, we were ready for some lunch. We decided to go to a picnic area near a creek. Along the way, we found a herd of Bison and paused for some time to watch in awe.
We decided to try to tackle the bottom half of the Yellowstone “figure 8” road and do the North part on another day. As we drove North, we hit the Gibbon Falls and cut East on Norris Canyon Road, stopping at some beautiful viewing pullouts.
We stopped at the Artist Point for a small hike and some photos.
As we drove south on Grand Loop Road towards home, we had Lake Yellowstone on our left and we decided to pull over at the Lake General Store (which happened to be closed) and found some bathrooms and beautiful views of the still, vast lake.
We finished the beautiful drive down to the campground, shocked we had spent 14 hours driving and sightseeing. Yellowstone was even more beautiful than we had imagined and we were so looking forward to going back to see Mommoth Springs and the Lamar Valley.