Our Grand Tour

We set alarms to wake up early to avoid the Yellowstone crowds, but it turns out that the cold weather woke the kids up first. Mary said it was freezing in the tent and came in the van at about 6:30am. We’re going to have to make some different sleeping arrangements tonight to keep the kids warmer and more comfortable. It wasn’t dangerously cold or anything, but without Wifi we couldn’t check weather forecasts and weren’t wearing as many layers and things as we would have had we known how cold it would get at night. It was SO HOT during the day so we weren’t prepared for such a cold night. I don’t know exactly how cold, but I would guess in the 40s maybe?

Anyway, since we were staying at this site for another night we didn’t have to completely pack up everything, and it was pretty easy to get rolling on the road again so we were pulling out of the campsite a little before 7am. I’m starting to forget to record mileage and travel times, but I did write down that we drove past Roaring Mountain at 7:18 pm and the mileage was 147622, so that means we traveled 395 miles yesterday, total mileage 1533.

Early morning mist while driving through Yellowstone. It was hard to tell what was from the rivers and what was from hydrothermal activity!

Our first destination was Fountain Paint Pots. We arrived at 7:55am and had no trouble finding a spot right away, and while there were other tourists there, I wouldn’t say it was crowded. Since we had left in such a hurry from the campsite, the kids were still in pajamas and hadn’t used the bathroom or eaten breakfast yet, so we spent some time taking care of that business and it was almost 8:30 before we actually walked around the boardwalk and saw the thermal features here. It was a short loop, about a half mile walk, with some really cool things to see.

Somehow didn't get any pictures of the "paint pots" (mudpots), but I did get this video:

Our next stop was the Midway Geyser Basin, home of the famous Grand Prismatic Spring. We pulled in at about 9:00 am and it was already pretty busy. We had to wait a few minutes for a parking spot, as there was a bit of a traffic jam to get into the parking lot. (In retrospect, we got there at a fine time - we drove past later and it was terrifically crowded with cars having to park far far from the parking lot and the boardwalks very crowded compared to when we were there.)

Small traffic jam waiting to get into Midwest Geyser Basin parking lot

Mary recreating a photo from her friend Elise - their family traveled  to Yellowstone a couple weeks ago and we had the idea for them to do the same poses at iconic spots along the way - can't wait to put together a side-by-side album of everything!

Our best photo of the Grand Prismatic. It was so foggy with the colder air.

Overflow from the hot springs pouring into the river

We could see some people at an overlook on a nearby hill getting what looked like a great aerial view of the Grand Prismatic, and decided to try to find out where that hike started and how long it was, maybe we can fit it in later.  **EDIT: this overlook is reached by parking at the Fairy Falls Trail Parking Lot and hiking along the river. The trail is fairly flat but apparently very steep climbing up to the overlook. Fairy Falls is further down the trail. Something to add to our bucket list for another trip!

Next stop - a must see - Old Faithful. The timing here worked out pretty good too - we found a parking spot right away, and when we arrived saw that Old Faithful was next predicted to erupt in about an hour. There was also, conveniently, a Junior Ranger Program talk beginning just then, so we sat down for that in the shade and learned some facts about the park and the animals that lived there. This was a requirement for the kids to get their Junior Ranger badges so it was nice to cross that off the list while we were waiting for the geyser. We walked over to the Old Faithful boardwalk while it was pretty crowded, we still found great spots to watch the show.

Huge crowd watching Old Faithful

The Junior Ranger booklet had the kids time the length of the geyser eruption and predict the next one, and then compare it with the ranger’s prediction - and they were only one minute off!

We got more ice for our coolers (very expensive ice, but necessary if we didn’t want our food to spoil!) and had some lunch in the van. So far we’ve been almost exclusively eating meals prepared from grocery store food that don’t require cooking, and avoiding expensive restaurants. We’ve also been boondocking or camping instead of using hotels, which saves a lot of money on lodging. I’ll try to report on our total trip expenses at the end of the trip.

We then decided to check out the other geysers in the area, in fact right in the field behind Old Faithful!  The boardwalk around O.F. continues and snakes past dozens of smaller geysers, and even some larger ones.  Grand Geyser was predicted to erupt between 11am and 1pm, so it was over an hour late. We waited around for a while but since we had other places we wanted to stop, we moved on. We ended up seeing the eruption from afar, while we were heading back to the van.

Being spasmodic at Spasmodic Geyser

Video of "Pump Geyser". Apparently there are something like 900 geysers in the world, and over 500 of them are located in Yellowstone!

This one is called Castle Geyser. It was scheduled to erupt in the middle of the night, around 11pm

We left Old Faithful at about 3:15 pm. Turns out everything in Yellowstone is a LONG DRIVE from place to place, and we have to go at kid pace (which translates to SLOW pace), so we realized that we were not going to be able to fit in all of the things we wanted to see in our short time in the park. The kids were really wanting to “swim” in Yellowstone Lake, so we decided to pull into Grant Village where there was a visitor center and lake access. They turned in their booklets and got their badges, and we also spent a short time at the lake where they all dipped their feet in the extremely cold water (average temperature is 41 degrees year-round!), and played in the black sand. The kids were reluctant to leave the lake, but we really wanted to see the canyon before sunset, so we dragged them away just before 5pm.

Getting sworn in as Junior Rangers

We have been seeing bison in the distance several times, which was a goal of mine, so yay! The kids really wanted to pull over and take a photo, but there hasn’t been any great opportunities for that. Driving through the Hayden Valley at about 6pm we saw one far in the distance and pulled over for photos anyway, even though it was really far. We picked up a pair of binoculars before the trip and they have been coming in handy, so we all took a turn looking at the bison through the binoculars. We have seen lots of elk in the park, and also some bighorn sheep and prong horn deer.

Another elk sighting! We've actually seen lots of these on the trip so far. Still on the lookout for a moose and a bear. (hopefully at a safe distance, from inside the van, nowhere near where our campsite is!)

One bison, in the distance!

We got to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone a little after 6pm and started out at the parking lot for Uncle Tom’s Point. Unfortunately steps down into the canyon were closed - apparently needs some repairs - but we had some great views of the Upper Falls.

Katy saw this marmot while walking along the rock wall

Deer sighting!

Photo by Joe

We decided to drive around to several different parking lots and lookout points around the North and South Rims of Yellowstone Canyon to get different looks at the Lower and Upper Falls. It was incredible. Joe said this was his favorite part of Yellowstone. First we drove over to Artist Point. A ranger had recommended a great short hike here out to Point Sublime, but we were running out of daylight and didn't have time.

View from Artist Point

Next stop was Lookout Point. Joe and Mary and Joey did a hike down to Red Rock Point for a closer view of the falls. It was a very steep trail down into the canyon with lots of steps, and at the end of the day Katy and Lily were just too pooped. So I stayed at the top of the canyon with them and we ate crackers with spreadable cheese while looking at the falls instead.

View from Lookout Point while the others were down below

View from Red Rock Point while the others were up above

Last stop was Inspiration Point. There was a quote here from Nathanial Langford, who recorded his experience on this spot while on an 1870 expedition: "Standing there or rather lying there for greater safety, I thought how utterly impossible it would be to describe to another the sensations inspired by such a presence. As I took in the scene, I realized my own littleness, my helplessness, my dread exposure to destruction, my inability to cope with or even comprehend the mighty architecture of nature."

View from Inspiration Point 

We stayed until the sun set over the canyon, and left about 8:15 pm and went driving into Canyon Village to find a bathroom. It was quickly getting dark and we knew it was going to be very dark by the time we got to our campsite, so we took advantage of the running water and flushing toilets and daylight and got everyone ready for bed before the long drive back to the campground. We left at about 8:40 pm and pulled into our campsite at about 9:20pm and were glad we had the idea to get ready for bed in Canyon Village.

I thought we were just going to go to bed - everyone was exhausted after a very long and full day of walking, sightseeing, sun, and driving around Yellowstone, but the kids were adamant that they wanted another campfire. So we built one up and sang campfire songs and had snacks.

Then it was time to snuggle in and hope to stay warm on what looked to be another chilly night. We have one sleeping bag rated for cold weather, so we unzipped it and laid it out over the bed in the van. Mary, Joey, and Lily squeezed in under a sheet, cotton blanket, and the warm sleeping bag. We also made sure they were dressed in layers and had headscarves on. We put Katy in the hammock in the van, dressed in layers, and wrapped up in her sleeping bag.

Joe and I slept in the tent. We each slept on top of two self-inflating camping mats, which was actually quite comfortable and it didn’t feel at all like sleeping on the ground. We also had our nice memory foam pillows from home. I had the second warmest sleeping bag, and bundled up as much as I could before climbing in. Poor Joe volunteered to use only a warm weather sleeping bag. He tried to wrap up in more than one, but it didn’t really work that well. Good night, and cross our fingers we stay warm enough! It was about 10:45 pm by the time Joe and I got everyone tucked in, put out the fire, and climbed into the tent.