Weather forecast
Tue, Jun 23Yellowstone National Park
- Upper Geyser Basin boardwalk (1–2 mi · flat) — Old Faithful, Castle Geyser, Morning Glory Pool — the densest geyser field on Earth.
- Grand Prismatic Overlook (1.2 mi RT) — Gentle climb to the only spot you can actually see the colors.
- Artist Point / Brink of the Lower Falls (0.2–0.7 mi) — Artist Point is the easy classic; Brink trail is steep — skip with tired kids.
- West Thumb Geyser Basin — geysers on the lakeshore (on your morning route)
- Hayden Valley pullouts — bison, sometimes grizzly at distance
- Lamar Valley at golden hour — time your day so this lands after 5 PM
Sunrise, Sunset & Golden Hour ★
Heads Up
Trip Journal — Day 4
👨 Jason
I love Yellowstone and have been several times in my life. This day was a little overwhelming with the crowds at every stop, and even between stops. But then...we had a roadside snowball fight and finally made it to Lamar Valley, the Serengeti of North America. It sure lived up to its name! Bison herds everywhere. I have the bison tracker at 101, but there were hundreds over the nearly 30 miles. We even had a bison traffic jam. But cooler than the bison was seeing a wolf in action. It was feasting on a carcass not far from the road, and there were a couple birds that were very NOT happy about his portion control.
As part of the Jr Ranger books the kids got to do the math for predicting the next Old Faithful eruption. The one we viewed started at 2:07pm and lasted 3 min 58 sec (on the longer side!) so the math worked out to a 3:50pm eruption and the actual time for the next one was 3:42pm. Our observed eruption data: https://geysertimes.org/eruption.php?id=1548360
family, nature, wildlife, snowball fights
👩 Michelle
I don’t know if there’s anything more iconic in Yellowstone Park than Old Faithful, the geyser that erupts every 92 minutes or so. Like clockwork, this thing’s been going off on the regular, spewing water and clouds of steam skyward since before history began recording it in 1870.
For the kids, it was a first in a day of firsts- first time to see animals in nature like bison, deer, a wolf, chipmunks, a raven; first time to see rainbow-colored bubbling pools and other geothermal springs; first time to see steam billowing from giant cracks in the ground (Yellowstone is so other-worldly!!); first time marveling over exploding geysers.
But it definitely wasn’t a first for our Old Faithful, and it won’t be his last. He was shooting off waterworks before any of us were born, and I’m guessing he’ll be around long beyond our lifespans.
As faithful and steadfast as Old Faithful is, he’ll never match the faithfulness of the One who created him, the God of heavens and earth!!
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23
Thank you, Lord, for Your faithfulness!!
🚂 Elijah
Old Faithful, grand prismal, the wildlife
“The best part of Yellowstone was seeing a bear. Four stars only because a bison calf I saw had a leg injury.”
💜 Nevaeh
seeing Old Faithful go boom!, hot springs
“The best part of my day was seeing a wolf! It was pretty and I got to see it eating.”
🏎️ Greyson
Seeing Old Faithful, and probably more than a 100 bison
“The best part of my day was seeing the wolf!”
