Go above and beyond the bucket list at Yellowstone
- Claire Ottaviano
- Aug 20, 2016
- 4 min read
If you are taking a trip to Yellowstone National Park your only plan should be to make no plans at all.
You can plan to take a hike, see cascading waterfalls and the depths of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and you can even plan when Old Faithful geyser will erupt bursts of boiling water high into the sky.
You cannot plan the moment a mother bear and her cub breeze past you, you cannot plan when two elk, antlers as big as tree branches, will stroll through your empty campground for a private viewing.
Only when you leave yourself open to the wonders of Yellowstone will her grand surprises leave you wanting more.
We entered the park from a charming town called Gardiner nestled in the north-western corner of Montana and Wyoming where we parked our caravan in a primitive campground with a view of the mountain tops and made our way into the park.
A small distance inside you will find yourself at Mammoth Hot Springs, aptly named for its large collection and variety of pooling hot water that bubbles to the surface from deep underground, walk the upper and lower boardwalks of the springs or take the upper driving loop and stop in-between the two levels.
We arrived late in the afternoon and it was perfect timing for wildlife watching so we headed for the Lamar Valley where we watched herds of Bison casually grabbing their evening meal from the prairie below us.
Wolves are often spotted here but as they are nocturnal it really is a special sight to see them. Look for wildlife watches with spotting scopes, it is a good sign there are some around.
Day two proved to us that no amount of planning could have brought us what we sought most, a close up encounter with a bear.
We had planned to drive south to see the Old Faithful Geyser, one of the Park’s most popular attractions, but we left late, got delayed by roadworks and made two unscheduled stops at Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Geyser Basin and would not make the round trip.
Instead we spent longer at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, taking the time to hike the 328-step staircase down Uncle Tom’s Trail to the bottom of the falls and then to marvel at the grandness of the Canyon at Artist’s Viewpoint.
I had also planned a hike up Mt Washburn from a more northern route but as we approached from the south I followed signs to the southern trail up the mountain. The four-hour return hike led us 10,000ft into the sky and ended at a fire tower with uninterrupted views of Yellowstone as far as the eye can see. The interpretive centre at the top points to key locations and gives history and information about the historic volcanic area.
If we had taken my planned route, or left earlier and gone to Old Faithful I would not have been there for the moment that quite literally brought me to my knees, my partner and I dropped silently to the wildflowers, only the bees buzzing around us as we stayed motionless after spotting a small blob, a running teddy bear in the shadows of the valley below us.
We held our breaths for 20 minutes and were rewarded when mumma bear followed closely by baby bear emerged from the foliage.
I thought we could not get any luckier, but over the next two hours the pair ascended the slope ever closer and closer, getting a mere 20 metres from us. By this time a crowd of about 100 had gathered, not so quiet anymore as the air filled with cries of “a bear, a bear!”
We did not stop talking about it the whole way back to the caravan.
Day three, exhausted, we managed to pull ourselves up early and made the two-hour drive through the Park to Old Faithful geyser. The road down is dotted by numerous hot springs, being early in the morning the cool air against the hot water sent plumes of steam all around us. The drive itself was extraordinary but nothing could prepare us for the Prismatic Hot Spring.
Spanning 110m across and 40m deep the minerals and bacteria in the spring makes it a 70 degree Celsius it's usually covered in steam.
We did not quite beat the crowds for the predicted 11:00am eruption of Old Failthful but we got front row seats non-the-less. Old Failthful is one of the most predictable geographical features on Earth to predict erupting every 35 to 120 minutes. Cameras around us were held poised at the ready until they got that prized shot of the earth liquids skyrocketing into the blue above.
Upper Geyser Basin has the highest concentration of geyers in the park with 410!
We were surprised as we walked the basin's 3-4km of trails by the beauty of deep blue boiling pools and the bubbling breaks in the earth’s crust.
Another bewildering day over but one more to come.
The Yellowstone River does not disappoint water sports enthusiasts with several companies offering mild to adrenalin punching rafting tours. We booked in the night before for the cheaper 9am early-bird wild water rafting tour. (Today was also our FOUR YEAR anniversary everyone :-)
Excitingly for us we were placed at the very front of the raft the following morning with four other paddlers and an instructor.
We spent the next two hours battling raging currents and cruising on calmer waters learning about the river from our knowledgeable guide.
We were even delighted with the sighting of a Bald Eagle and Osprey at the water’s edge.
There is no better way to finish off a few days at Yellowstone than relaxing those tired bodies with a dip in the boiling river. Yellowstone does not banter around when naming attractions. The boiling river lives up to its name, fed by the nearby Mammoth Hot Springs, you can not enter the river itself, instead you sit where the snow-melt fed waters of the Yellowstone River meet the boiling river, cooling it to a comfortable bath temperature.
All this in four days and all it will cost you is the park entry fee.
We have a National Park’s Pass which for a reasonable price of $80US gets you access to all National Parks in America, after visiting Zion, the Grand Canyon, Glacier and Yellowstone National Park it has paid for itself twice over.
If you've read this then I don't need anymore convincing about Yellowstone National Park
JUST GO THERE
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