Yellowstone National Park Photo Diary + Travel Guide

Alright we’re back with our second National Park of the trip. As I said, we flew into Kalispell, MT on Wednesday, September 23rd, and explored Glacier National Park until leaving Saturday, September 26th. The drive from Glacier NP to the Yellowstone area was about 6.5 hours. We ended up deciding to make a stop in Missoula, MT to eat lunch + explore, which added a little bit of time to our trip.

Let me tell you, after THE HIKE (if you read the Glacier blog you know what I’m referring to – if not, I’ll direct you HERE), we were all so sore and tired Saturday. My knees you guys. I feel 80 years old saying that but I also am missing part of my meniscus in both knees from old surgeries, so they were SORE the day after. Anyway, we packed up and left our AirBnb Saturday around 11 to begin our drive to the Yellowstone area. Our Yellowstone Airbnb was actually in Idaho, but we’ll get there.
Our first stop after leaving was Flathead Lake, which is just about an hour south of West Glacier. Flathead Lake is gorgeous and MASSIVE. We could see it when we flew in to Kalispell!

From there we drove on to Missoula (second largest city in Montana), ate a big brunch/lunch outside at Hob Nob and then walked around for a bit to stretch our legs and see the downtown.

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After spending a little time in Missoula we got back on the road to head to our next Airbnb, located 20ish minutes outside West Yellowstone in Island Park, ID. It said it was a cabin but really more like a trailer cabin. It worked well for what we needed though! The only downfall was the wifi was totally out the entire time we were there – which threw a bit of a wrench in Artur + I’s remote working plans. Thank goodness for hotspots.

We had 2.5 days at Yellowstone which I thought was plenty of time! Yellowstone is more of a “drive, stop, explore, then drive, stop, explore” park versus a hike for the view park. Because of this, it’s definitely accessible and easy to see majority of the park in a few days. I will admit I did zero research before we got there so the plan was to kind of wing it.

First full day in Yellowstone:

Day One Highlights:
— Gibbons Falls
— Norris Geyser Basin
— Mammoth Hot Spring Terrace
— Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
— Dinner at The Buffalo Bar in West Yellowstone (decent bar food)

We woke up, got ready and drove into West Yellowstone. We had breakfast at the Running Bear Pancake House and walked around the little town. Our waitress recommended we head to Norris Geyser Basin so we did. From the West Entrance our first stop was Gibbons Falls (right off the road, super easy access). We then headed North toward Norris. Where they have a visitor center, a museum (closed) and the Norris Geyser Basin. The Norris Geyser Basin is massive – there are actually two loops you can walk – we did both. Straight up these were the stinkiest geysers. SO BAD. So cool to look at but I actually got a headache from the smell! The first two photos below are Gibbons Falls, and the rest are from both loops of the Norris Geyser Basin.

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After exploring Norris we drove North to Mammoth Hot Springs, stopping to enjoy the view a few times along the way. Yellowstone is VERY accessible. Above is a photo of a boardwalk in the Norris Geyser, but the Mammoth Hot Springs Terrance, Grand Prismatic Spring and West Thumb Geyser Basin had boardwalks as well. Some stairs were involved but overall it was very much a walk + not a hike. You definitely do not need to be an athlete to explore Yellowstone.

Yellowstone has essentially two loops you can drive – an upper and lower loop. Naturally we disregarded the loops and just drove around based on what we wanted to see, what roads were closed and when Artur needed solid wifi for a meeting haha. The road was closed between Canyon Village and Tower-Roosevelt while we were there so we did miss out on Lamar Valley and a few things between Canyon and Tower-Roosevelt.

Mammoth Hot Springs terraces are at the top of the park (upper loop) and they truly felt like we were on another planet. Just look at the next 4 photos…

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We finished up our first day in the park with a bang and visited the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (the two photos above this). The only word I have to describe it? EPIC. Absolutely EPIC. I truly just stood and stared, trying to take it all in. If you look closely you can see the boardwalk down there in the first waterfall photo – we didn’t end up going to the lower viewpoint but it is an option!

Day two in Yellowstone:

Day Two Highlights:
— Old Faithful
— West Thumb Geyser Basin
— Yellowstone Lake
— Fishing Bridge
— Mud Volcano + Dragon’s Mouth Spring
— Hayden Valley and my favorite – the bison
—Dinner at Bullwinkle’s in West Yellowstone (was good!)

Quite frankly, Old Faithful was a bit…underwhelming. Yes, seeing the geyser erupt was cool but there are SO MANY OTHER AMAZING things in Yellowstone I’d see it and move on, personally. Speaking of amazing things, West Thumb Geyser Basin is literally on Yellowstone Lake. Which, fun fact, Yellowstone Lake is the largest lake at high elevation (above 7,000 ft) in North America. And she is STUNNING. Such a gorgeous lake.
I’d recommend downloading the Yellowstone app – it it full of useful information: what to see, guided tours, geyser eruption predictions, road closures, etc. Works even when you don’t have service!
Anyway, please enjoy the below views of the geyser basin, the beauty that is Yellowstone Lake and…an elk butt 🙂

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We finished day two in Hayden Valley. We were driving out and I was a bit bummed we didn’t make it to Lamar Valley for animal watching and then we happened to come across 50 (ish) bison crossing the stream, climbing up the hill, crossing the road and heading into the valley. They were so close to us and I was WAY TOO EXCITED. Straight up, I think the bison were my favorite part.

Final half day in Yellowstone:

Day Three Highlights:
— seeing a fox outside our AirBnB
— “shopping” in West Yellowstone
— the sign picture!
— Grand Prismatic Spring + Midway Geyser Basin
— Lewis Falls

Tuesday was our final half day at the park so we got up and out of the AirBnb, Brendan and I walked through shops in West Yellowstone while Artur was on a meeting, and then we ventured in! Grand Teton National Park is directly south, so we drove through the park and hit a few more views before driving right into Grand Teton.

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We visited the Midway Geyser Basin and Grand Prismatic Spring on our way out and both were pretty awesome. This boardwalk was a bit busy, so I wore my mask during part of it along with plenty of other people. Yellowstone was the hardest park to socially distance at (truly due to the nature of the drive, stop, explore versus hike situation), so I just kept my mask in my pocket and wore it when an area got busier.

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Lewis Falls was an unexpected detour (aka we saw it from the road and pulled over) and our final stop in Yellowstone. After the cold, wet weather at Glacier National Park, our sunny days at Yellowstone were downright wonderful. The mornings and evenings were definitely cold, but the blue skies in some of these photos….perfection.
As I said before, I felt that 2.5 days in Yellowstone was plenty to both see the downtown and explore the park. You can of course make it longer, do more hikes and venture further off the paths, but we saved that for Glacier and Grand Teton.
If you’re still here thanks for reading! Would love to hear if you’ve been to Yellowstone and what you enjoyed.

If Yellowstone is on your bucket list, pin this post for later!
xo, Maddy

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