We read that the west entrance is busiest between 8-11am and that animals are most often seen in the evening. Since the park is open 24 hrs, we decided to sleep in and make a good breakfast. After packing up, we entered the park around 12:30p and there were no lines at all. We were surprised and packed with food/water for a full day. Here are our adventures in order...
*Twin Ribbons Trail along the Maddison River (1 mile loop trail)
*Saw our first Bison along the Madison River
*Saw our first spring called Terrace Spring
*Gibbon Falls Trail to the waterfalls
*Beryl Springs
*Artist Paintpots (1 mile trail) through wet meadow on a boardwalk. We saw hot springs, mud pits and small geysers. This was my favorite with the mud pit even having Bear tracks around it.
*Norris Geyser Basin (2.5 mile loop) including the upper porcelain basin and lower back basin. We saw 14 geysers, 8 springs, craters, vents, and caldrons!
*Uncle Toms's trail (1 mile) that took us to the Grand Canyon falls
*Grand Canyon of Yellowstone which was bigger than I expected. I was astounded at how steep it was and the river flowing on the bottom was beautiful. The sides of the canyon showed so many layers of colors as well.
*Our next adventure led to Hayden's Valley. We instantly began to see animals in the fields. The first thing we came across was Elk. When we stopped to watch 2 of them in the grass, we noticed a Bison on the other side of the road. A mile or so up, we were able to see a herd of Elk and 7 Bison. The weather was perfect and being surrounded with beautiful skies, green fields, and God's creatures was breathtaking.
*Right at dusk we made it to Mud Volcano (.75 mile hike) around several mud pits, geysers, and the cave with steam looked like a Dragon's Breath. As we came across the last mud pit, we walked past Bison on a hill to our right. They truly look like calm creatures.
*Finally, on our way driving out, we passed a Bison right along side us. She was one of the highlights of my day!
Cade said his favorite was getting to see all the wildlife, specifically bison. He thought it was so cool to see one walk RIGHT NEXT to his window going down the street! Caelin said her favorite parts of the day were the wildlife (the Elk) and the mud pits. I think she wanted to get in the mud pits, lol. Charles enjoyed the wildlife most of all as well. He enjoyed seeing the Bison and how they were bigger than he thought. My favorite part was the Artist Paintpots and Hayden's Valley at Sunset. The animals really come to life around this time.
Total steps for the day was 22,478 and 10.7 miles.
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