Yellowstone- Day Four

    Yellowstone. It is an adventure like no other. I think of what is said of Disney World being the most magical place on earth; I think you could say Yellowstone is the most adventurous place on earth.

          We started our morning by pleasantly waking up in a warm pop up camper. We were worried about it not being warm enough for Yellowstone nights, but turns out the gas heat and warm bodies did the trick. I cooked breakfast on the stove, and we loaded the suburban for the day. The day was supposed to consist of hiking up to the overlook at Grand Prismatic Spring and seeing the Old Faithful area. That changed because of an app I purchased prior to coming. It was highly recommended that we purchase the Gypsy App for this trip, and let me tell you – DO NOT COME ON THIS TRIP WITHOUT IT! It is spectacular! It really is like having your own personal (very knowledgeable) tour guide in your car with you. We learned lots of interesting tidbits about the park and made stops we normally would not have made.

          We started our tour at the Boiling Mud Pots and Dragon’s Mouth. The boiling mud pots are literally what the name implies. They are   pots of mud….boiling. Since you don’t normally see ginormous pots of mud everywhere……boiling, it is quite a sight. Across the street from the mud pots is Dragon’s Mouth. This is honestly one of my favorite stops in Yellowstone. You walk up to a hot spring that is coming out of a cave. The cave has roaring, boiling waves and steam pouring out of it. On top of that it roars like there is a dragon living in there, waiting to come out! The sound is incredible! Of course, there is the stench of sulfur, so it makes it seem more believable that there possibly could be a dragon in there.

There is also a small hike up the mountain alongside this area that we did while we were there. There is a lake at the top that was produced when a hot spring exploded out of the water, shooting pine trees in the air. It was very picturesque, and the walk wasn’t too bad, although we could tell our lungs are not used to hiking 8,000 feet in the air!

          Our next stop was Gibbon Falls. It is a seemingly small creek that pours over a cliff side in ribbons of a huge waterfall. There seems to be no way for that small of a creek to produce such large quantities of water, yet it does. We took a little side hike and followed the creek back into the meadow. The meadows are all golden with the colors of September. It makes the water contrast a beautiful blue as it winds through the meadow. The boys were in need of running off some energy, and this was the perfect opportunity for that. They sped along the trails as we tried to keep up. 

       Our Gypsy guide, who we named DeKarl…... I know…….suggested a short detour through a meadow that bison frequent. It was definitely worth the detour as the bison were play fighting, running, and even coming close to the cars for some great photo ops. In fact, Elijah and I were out taking pictures at one point when Dan had to move the car forward and left us when the bison started running in my direction. I have a super big healthy fear of the wild animals of Yellowstone, and very quickly, and calmly, freaked out running for the car. Apparently, Elijah shares this fear with me, and with sudden eight year old speed and agility, caught up with Dan and dove in the car before I knew what was going on. Fortunately, I also made it in alive.

          Two other detours we took were Cascade Drive and Firehole Drive. Cascade drive is a short detour that not a lot of people take. It’s a very narrow, one way road going down to Cascade Falls. The falls were worth the detour and slower traffic. Firehole Drive goes along Firehole River and Canyon. We stopped at the falls to eat a picnic lunch, and let the boys do some rock climbing. We met a woman who fell down the canyon 20 years ago. She slipped and fell 60ft. and lived to tell about it. If you see the canyon, you would be amazed! The Firehole Falls are gorgeous! It was a perfect picnic spot.

          We finally made it to what was supposed to be the first stop of the day! Three years ago when we were here, I was disappointed when we went to the Grand Prismatic Spring because it looked nothing like the aerial pictures you see everywhere. The reason for this is that the boardwalk to the spring is ground level, and the spring is so large that you can’t see its full beauty from there. It wasn’t until later (and too late) that I found out there is a hike to an overlook. I wasn’t going to miss it today. We walked the boardwalk first, and enjoyed the bright orange ground and the various blue pools that surround the spring. There is a river running below this area where the hot springs pour into it. They are steamy and warm and look like small waterfalls running in everywhere. We got a few pictures here, and then headed for the trailhead to the hike. I would say it is about a mile to get to the top of the overlook. Again, our lungs reminded us that we have less air than normal! Oh, it is worth it though!! The views were just like the pictures! The deep blue middle and orange sides, with white steam rising up are truly a sight you might never see. We took far too many pictures before we headed down.

          Our last stop of the day is the most iconic spot in Yellowstone – Old Faithful. We did not have to wait long for the eruption and enjoyed being sprayed as the geyser shot into the air. Another geyser was going off behind Old Faithful, and made for some great pictures! We met a fun couple on the boardwalk who had met in Yellowstone at 18 years of age. They have now been married for 53 years and are back in the park as employees. They were gracious enough to take our family picture while Old Faithful was putting on his show.

          We finished the day with souvenir shopping and dinner at the camper. We are now enjoying a campfire and will start fresh in the morning.