Yellowstone Superlatives
Yellowstone Superlatives
Recapping a jam-packed 5 days at the best stop yet.
So here I am, sitting on a couch at my friend’s place in Yakima—the Palm Springs of Washington. I’ve had a few days to recharge, grab a few showers, use a real kitchen, and even sleep on a pull-out bed; what luxury! I’ve been enjoying posting updates to this blog, but from here I’m going to make things a little more interesting.
Gone for now are the posts that tell you what I did at each stop on my trip. These are fun for me to make, but the content market these days is asking for more. Don’t worry, I’ll still manage ways to tell you what’s going on in my life and on the trip, but I’m going to try to make things more engaging, with different unique themes to each post.
I’ve had many long days on the road with nothing but music, podcasts, audiobooks, phone calls, and my own thoughts to keep me company. Content ideas are flooding my brain—some more closely related to the trip than others—and I’m excited to share them with you all.
All that being said, let’s talk about Yellowstone! What a wondrous place, my goodness. To tell you everything I did and loved at Yellowstone would take hours, so instead I’m going to sum up the highlights through superlatives!! Yes, superlatives. Think yearbooks—class clown, most likely to succeed, prettiest smile. Those sorts of things. Without further ado, let’s get into it.
Best Hike: Hellroaring Creek
Runner-Up: Trout Lake
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| Hellroaring Creek |
Due to my neuropathy, I wasn’t able to complete any hikes longer than about 2 miles. Fortunately, Yellowstone has a surplus of amazing short hikes, and shared hike/bike paths that I took advantage of.
Both these hikes were in the northern “Tower" area of Yellowstone. Hellroaring is a gorgeous stroll down switchbacks and into a valley filled with autumn colors, eventually leveling out and reaching an awesome suspension bridge, high above Hellroaring creek. It was another mile to reach the actual creek, which I’m sure was equally beautiful, but I didn’t have another long hike in me that day.
Trout Lake was an easy hike up a hill that eventually reaches a crystal clear, unbelievably still lake that reflects the surrounding mountain range as if it were actually just an insanely large mirror. Including the loop around the lake, it was about 1.6 miles total.
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| Trout Lake |
Most Forbidden Hot Tub: Excelcisor Geyser
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| Excelcisor Geyser featuring someone's insta post |
Best Hydrothermal Feature: Grand Prismatic Spring (pictured in header)
Runner-Up: Lone Star Geyser
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| Grand Prismatic Spring Overlook |
Grand Prismatic Spring is one of Yellowstone’s most popular and iconic attractions, and it’s easy to see why. I completed both the overlook trail (which I biked to the trailhead of), and the up-close boardwalk trail. Both were pretty mind bending, just admiring the wild and vivid colors. The coolest part about this Spring is that the colors change, depending on time of day and the season, so it may be different every time you go.
I LOVED the Lone Star Geyser bike/hiking trail. The actual trail took you into the wilderness along a river and gave some nice viewpoints into valleys that I imagine would have wildlife if you went at the right time. The destination has some more parts of the river to explore, and if you’re there at the right time, you can see the geyser go nuts! I was lucky; I had been there probably a half hour when I started to head back. But as I was leaving, the thing started bubbling up and exploded! It was super neat to view up close, and I even got misted with the spray from it.
Goofiest Geyser: Lone Star Geyser
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| I mean, just look at this goofy gal |
Best Wildlife Experience: Bison crossing
Runner-Up: Grizzly Snack Time
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| Billy the Bison running away from me |
If you’ve been to Yellowstone you know that Bison are everywhere. This isn’t hyperbole, they are literally everywhere you look. By themselves, in pairs, and even herds in the hundreds. It’s really quite an awesome sight, and among the most iconic aspects of Yellowstone.
My favorite bison encounter came on a bike ride to the Grand Prismatic Spring overlook (one of my faves!). As I got going on the trail, I realize the bridge I needed to cross over ‘Ojo Caliente’ was occupied by a bison, and another close behind. I pull over to the side of the bridge to give them space to cross. The first bison paid me no mind and kept moving down to the river. The second one—I’ve named him Billy—had stopped in its tracks. He seemed very hesitant, as if danger was lurking on the other side of the bridge. But it was just me. Slowly, Billy takes a few gingerly steps towards me. I’m starting to get curious what the hold up is. I’m well guarded behind a rail, so I’m not particularly worried about my safety. A few steps later, he bolts! And he was booking it. I thought he might be charging me at first and flinched a little, but quickly realized he just wanted to pass. Billy runs toward his friend, and it dawns on me that he was scared of me! Funny, right? I was the rat/cockroach to this massive 700-pound gentle beast.
Another super cool wildlife encounter was my first Grizzly Bear sighting! It was across the river, snacking on a bison he had seemingly just hunted and killed. I wasn’t able to get a great look, since it was so far away and I lost my binocs, but still was awesome to see.
Geyser that looks like it had too much Taco Bell: Mud Volcano
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| Mud Volcano |
Best Area of the Park: Tower
Runner-Up: Lake Yellowstone
This one was tough; so many parts of the park have awesome views and unique features that are impossible to fully explore in 5 days. But when it came down to it, Tower outclassed everything I saw by sheer volume. Both of my favorite hikes were in Tower, the drive is stunning all the way through, iconic Lamar Valley provides excellent wildlife viewing, on top of just being super pretty, and the crowds were present but not overwhelming; everyone was chill. On top of this, I couldn’t even see parts of this area, like Tower Falls and Mount Washburn, due to road closures! Guess I’ll just have to come back? I don’t make the rules.
Worst Area of the Park: Mammoth Hot Springs
I hate saying any part of Yellowstone was bad, but I just didn’t enjoy my experience in Mammoth. The area seemed to attract the worst type of Yellowstone tourists - disrespectful and clueless. I had to tell a woman to get off the thermal crust surrounding a geyser; she “didn’t see” the signs that were plastered everywhere telling people to stay off. On top of this, the lodging, restaurants, and visitor center all seemed out of place at a National Park; they inexplicably had replaced the native grass & plants with the only turf grass in the whole park. And the area was super congested every time I went through it. Mammoth's main attraction—its thermal features—can be found elsewhere in the park, and better. So yeah, Mammoth Hot Springs: would recommend skipping.
Best Place off-the-beaten-path: West Thumb Area on Lake Yellowstone
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| Picnic Spot at West Thumb |
I spent a lovely afternoon here with a camp chair, a book and some snacks. Really nice surrounding area to explore, and secluded by Yellowstone standards.
Best Bike Ride: Lone Star Geyser
Runner Up: Fountain Flat Drive
Coolest Sunrise Experience: Steaming Springs on the way to Lamar Valley
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| Passing through steam at 6:30 am |
I had been at the Lewis Lake campground for 4 nights. It was a great site but not the best location. It took about an hour and a half to get back to each night, and would take 3 1/2 hours or more to get to the other side of the park. So I decided to find a new campsite. From what I saw, Slough Creek and Pebble Creek—both in the northern part of the park—had been filling between 8 and 10 am each day I was at Yellowstone. So I planned to get up at 5:30 am, and I’m not a morning person, mind you.
Although my plan didn’t exactly materialize—both sites were full when I got there at 9 am—I was treated to a super neat sunrise experience. I drove through a bunch of geyser basins, including Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic Spring, as the temperature was hovering in the mid 30s. This produced some spectacular views as the pretty sunrise colors filtered through the steam given off from the thermal features.
Best Sunset: Old Faithful Overlook
Runner Up: Hayden Valley
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| Friendly Folks at Old Faithful |
If you know one thing about me, you know I love a good sunset; runs in the family. I’ve made an effort to find the best of the best sunset spots while on this trip. Yellowstone had many places to look for a spectacular sunset, but 2 stood out above the rest.
I went to Old Faithful around 6 pm, intentionally. I wanted to avoid the midday hordes of tourists, and I’m glad I did! When I arrive, I quickly learned that I just had missed an eruption, about 15 minutes ago. Old Faithful erupts every 90 minutes, so I had some time to kill. I wanted to watch from the Overlook anyways, rather than the crowded bleachers right in front, so I start that way up the hill behind old faithful.
Just as I near my destination, I take a wrong turn on the trail and run into a group of 20 year olds setting up hammocks. I end up chilling with them for a couple hours, learning a bit about their lives and what they’re doing. They work at the lodge/restaurant in Old Faithful Village, through a program that placed them at participating National parks for a few months, and after this they were all going to Death Valley for a bit. Pretty cool! Our spot doesn’t actually have a view of the geyser, and eventually I realize I’ve probably missed the next eruption. Ah well, I was just going to check the box anyways, and check out the sunset view we got.
Hayden Valley is like the little brother of the famous Lamar Valley in that it’s a great place to watch wildlife, but closer to my campsite. Seeing as sunset is among the best time to see wildlife, I go through here 3 separate times on my way back to camp. Not only do I get some great wildlife stories (Grizzly havin a snack!), but I also am treated to some gorgeous sunsets over the valley.
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| Hayden Valley after Sunset |
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| Brink of Lower Falls |
Runner-Up: Lewis Falls
Brink of Lower Falls is a short-ish hike to a spectacular and well worth your while overlook of the waterfall and Canyon. The view of the holds the current title of phone background. It’s one of my favorite photos from all the trip; I just stare at it from time to time. Lewis Falls is on the southern end of the park, near my campsite. It was one of the first sights I saw when I got to Yellowstone, and the first time I realized I was about to have a special experience.
What I’d like to go back for: Lamar Valley at Sunrise
Runner-Up: Norris Geyser Basin
Yellowstone takes up 1/5 of the state of Wyoming by land area. It’s the largest National Park in the lower 48 states. Naturally, I wasn’t able to see everything I wanted to. I went through Lamar Valley plenty, but unfortunately was never able to get there for sunrise, which I really wanted to. The closest campsite I could find had to go through a highway that was closed until 7 am, so it was impossible for me to get to the park if I tried. I passed through the Norris Geyser Basin a couple times, and it looked really neat. I would think it would be another great experience to go back for.
I’m 1000% certain I will make it back to Yellowstone at some point in my life. Who wants to come?? But truly, this is a beautiful place, with a wide variety of activities, sure to have something for everyone. It’s my favorite stop of the trip to date, and I can’t wait to go back with others and do all the things I missed!
Next up I visit Glacier National Park. I forgot my phone for large parts of this and there wasn’t as much for me to do as it’s very much a hikers' paradise, so I may not make a blog post. Not to worry, this next post is going to be very fun (at least for me).
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