September 2019

We love, love, love Yellowstone National Park! In addition to amazing scenery and unique features (like geysers and steam vents) it also has abundant wildlife.

Even though Labor Day is in the past and the kids are back in school, we knew that the park would still be crowded and were advised the best time to go was early morning. So we bought some breakfast danish at Mountain Mama’s the night before, got up at 6am, made a couple of thermoses of coffee and left for the park in the dark. As we entered the park the sun was just coming up and it was 35 degrees…a beautiful morning.

We accessed the park at the West Entrance with the ultimate destination of Lamar Valley on the northeast side of the park, since that’s where we were told the animals were. Within a few minutes of entering the park we saw a couple of elk by the road and then saw another one about an hour later. We passed through Madison, Norris and Canyon Village on the way to Lamar Valley. At one point we saw this huge solitary bison right next to the road munching on the grass!

Near Canyon Village we took the North Rim Drive to view the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

At our next stop someone noticed that one of our tires was low on air so we had to backtrack about 20 miles to a gas station with air. It turned out to be a good thing because after we got air we saw this bear right next to the road. He was hanging around in the bushes and then he walked across the road right in front of us. So exciting!

After we saw the bear we headed east into Lamar Valley. The first animal we saw was a Pronghorn which resembles an antelope. The adult males live solitary lives during the summer.

Deeper into Lamar Valley we spotted the bison…huge herds of them by the hundreds. There were a few stragglers by the road but most of them were pretty far away in the distance so we watched them with binoculars for a while and then headed towards Mammoth Hot Springs.

The terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs look like sculptures and are formed by travertine (calcium carbonate) which the hot water brings to the surface from beds of limestone. The features are constantly changing since vents are opening and closing all the time. I walked the wooden paths around the lower terraces and then we drove around the upper terraces.

 

After that we headed back to the campground.

The next day we decided to enter the park in the evening to see what that was like. This time we headed towards Hayden Valley in the southeast to see if we could spot any wildlife there. On the way we stopped by Lower Geyser Basin.

And then we drove on to Old Faithful for a quick stop. See the picture of Old Faithful Lodge and one lonely guy waiting for Old Faithful to erupt. We didn’t hang around for the event because we have seen it before and there was wildlife waiting for us in Hayden Valley!

Just after leaving Old Faithful we came upon this elk by the side of the road and then she crossed the road right in front of us.

Next we passed by Sulphur Caldron, the stunning Yellowstone Lake and then spotted the bison herds. So awesome! We also saw a small herd of elk, with a bull elk watching over his harem, but it was too dark to get any good photos.

We had to take one more trip into the park so we got up early again on Saturday morning and made a beeline back to Lamar Valley. It was another beautiful, cool morning as we watched the sun rise.

Next we spotted a coyote hunting in a field and then another Pronghorn.

As we continued down the road suddenly there were bison all around us! Next to the road, in the road, everywhere!

 

We finally had to turn around because the bison were causing such a traffic jam!

On the way back home we spotted two more bears, both along the road. So cool!

So I think you can see why we loved this park. If you like to see wildlife like we do this is the park for you! Next we are off to the neighboring Grand Teton National Park and I can’t wait to see what we find there!