20-23 July 2017
We spent 2 days in Logan on our way. Saw Pirates of Penzance, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Madama Butterfly. Great restaurants…bluebird cafe (trout and very authentic English chips) and tandoori oven. 
On the way to the campground, we stopped at Gibbon Falls and then at Norris Geyser basin. Steve was amazed by the different thermal features. This was his first time seeing Yellowstone which was really fun for me too. 
We camped at Canyon campground Saturday night which is a very cool forestry place and we enjoyed except for the prolific Satan flies (mosquitos). It was also very cold. 
We opted not to stay a second night and do a whirlwind tour of the park on Sunday. First a very steep hike down to the brink of Lower Falls and then overlook views of Upper and the whole canyon. It’s one of my favorite places. 
Next was Firehole Lake loop with a great cool boiling pool and the lake that was fed by a geyser. Cool enough to put your foot in but too hot for a full-on submerging. 🙂
The parking was full at Midway Geyser basin so we parked way down the road and walked in. Grand prismatic spring has the most beautiful colors of all but was hard to see well without hiking up the mountain which we didn’t do. Excelsior Geyser is a really big spring that had huge explosive events in the past but is currently inactive. 
Old faithful required a long wait in the sun. I went to check out the Old Faithful Inn which is really cool. Cool geyser but too far away to really fully enjoy. There was a crazy guy who went down off the boardwalk and was drinking out of the runoff from it. A ranger came and shooed him off. 
Our last stop in Yellowstone was a picnic area next to the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake where we took our tuna sandwiches and ate on the cool black sand beach. Had the place to ourselves. 🙂
We drove out of the park past the regrowth from the big fires that I experienced as a teenager. You could see the old tall dead trees with all the newer growth below. 
Steve was blown away by the Tetons. So incredible, especially with Jenny Lake in the foreground. 🙂
Drove home through Jackson and Soda Springs, a really interesting little place with a natural source of carbonated water and the coolest geyser. It goes off every hour on the hour and it’s not scalding hot so you can just walk right up to it. We caught it at sunset so that was extra cool. 
TaylorHaps 
You must be logged in to post a comment.