SD/ND/MT/WY Monday June 17, 2019

Today has been LONG.  We got up at 5:30, ate a very good breakfast at the lodge then got in the car a little after 6:30 for the 1.75 hour drive to Old Faithful.  We got to the Old Faithful Lodge around 8:30 and took front row spots to watch her erupt at a little bit after 9:00 am and only a few minutes past when she was predicted to erupt which is basically every 90 minutes.

From there we drove clockwise back to see the Grand Prismatic Spring via the Fairy Falls trailhead, a little trick I read about on the internet the night before.  You get a high vantage point to see the pool rather than walking directly up to it.

We continue north and took a right to drive Firehole Lake Drive where we saw Great Fountain Geyser.  It wasn’t erupting or anything but it was cool. 

Then we stopped by the Firehole River picnic area so that we could put our hand in the river to see if it was hot – which it was not. 

We kept driving clockwise until we came to a complete stand still.  No one was moving.  After sitting for a very long while, we finally determined that a herd of bison were blocking the main road so we pulled off at the Gibbon Falls picnic area and made PB&Js for lunch.  By the time we finished up the bison had crossed and the traffic had let up. 

I’d read that we should stop at the Norris Geyser Basin but we didn’t – maybe another day. 

We stopped next at the Canyon area and took the Brink on the Lower Falls Trail to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and see the falls.  It was stunning – the hike was steep coming back up but it was short.  And I think that was the prettiest part of the park. 

We drove north to see the Tower Falls and that was nice but you couldn’t really get close enough to appreciate it.  But the drive was pretty – about 19 miles one way.  Then we stopped in the general store but didn’t really get anything. 

We drove all the way down to the southern entrance, passing by Yellowstone Lake – which is huge, and stopping at the Grant Village Visitor Center to get our passbooks stamped and to buy magnets and hat pins. 

We left the park around 5:15 or so and got pictures in front of the south entrance national park sign.  There were tiny bugs flying all over the place! 

It was a short drive from there to Grand Tetons. 

We checked in around 6 pm (you don’t go through a visitor center or ranger station – you just drive straight in.  We got a cabin at the Colter Bay Village and it’s fun but it’s pretty damn dumpy.  No coffee pot, no blow dryer…nothing.  We drove to the little general store to get some things for the next two mornings’ breakfasts and lunches then we drove over to the pizza restaurant, had dinner and drove back to the cabin. 

Lucky for us, our cabin shares a wall with the “guest lounge” that has wifi so right now we’re all four sitting in the lounge on our electronics.  Not a lot of color commentary today in this post – it was a fun but long day and Yellowstone is somewhat overrated.  But we’re just getting into the Tetons and the drive it was spectacular.