After leaving the Wild West behind in Cody, it was on towards Yellowstone National Park, a part of our trip that we were all pretty excited about!
We entered Yellowstone at the east entrance and made our first stop for a short hike to see views over Lake Yellowstone and our first of many bison sightings before continuing on the Fishing Bridge Visitor Centre. National Park Passports stamped and souvenirs bought, we then continued our drive through the park. Our cabins for the next 2 nights would be just outside of the town West Yellowstone, Montana, meaning today, we would mainly be spent making our way across the park with a few stops along the way.
After lunch at a Canyon Village, we continued east stopping for another short hike to view bison in the valley. We hit traffic soon after – often the sign of a wildlife sighting. It turned out to be a family of black bears crossing and making their way into the woods and we pulled over to watch them go in their way from a distance.
We got caught in a longer queue of traffic soon after but our patience was rewarded with a grizzly bear sighting which was very exciting! Eventually, we made it to Mammoth Hot Springs where we were dropped at the top of the viewing terraces and told to make our way down where we’d be met in the village.
The boardwalk through Mammoth Hot Springs took us past a variety of interesting limestone rock formations, mineral deposits and hot springs and was a really interesting place to explore. We slowly made our way down towards the village stopping to take plenty of photos along the way.
Once at the other end, we looked around the visitor centre, got ice cream from the general store and said hello to the elk grazing in the area before hopping back on the bus to continue our drive west.
Once we’d exited the park and made a quick grocery stop, we drove to our cabins for the next 2 nights and were delighted to find that rather than the usual KOA site, we instead were staying at a lovely independent site in a pretty lakeside setting with larger cabins than we’d been used to for the rest of the trip! We spent the evening relaxing, enjoying a barbecue and drinks around the campfire and gazing at the star-filled sky.
We were up early to head back into the park the next day and drove back to the east side where we parked up for a hike. We were not told where we were hiking too which made it even more impressive when we got to our destination.
Our hike took us past more hot springs and thermal activity, past lakes and through forests and along a series of switchbacks taking us higher and higher until we arrived at a huge canyon – the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The view was jaw-dropping and after sitting on the canyon edge for our picnic lunch, we followed the south rim of the canyon until we reached a waterfall.
Arriving at the south rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone 
Canyon view
Most of us chose to follow Uncle Tom’s Trail to view Lower Falls although I slightly regretted that decision when we had to climb back up the hundreds of steps after!! We then made our way back to where we had started that morning to get back on the van.
After a stop to see the Canyon from a few different viewing points and to get snacks from a general store, we made our way back across the park and our to our cabins. That evening, we drove into West Yellowstone for dinner and after eating at a BBQ place, we spent a fun hour wandering around the many shops before returning to our cabins.
Our final morning at Yellowstone and we had a choice for the first activity of the day – a swim in the river or a boardwalk trail to see more thermal activity. Choosing the latter, we followed the trail at Fountain Paint Pots before jumping back on the van to go and pick the swimmers up.
Next we were all dropped off at Midway Geyser Basin where we followed the trail round to view Grand Prismatic Spring. We’d all seen the pictures on postcards at the gift stores over the last few days but it was much more impressive to see in person.
Our final stop in the park was to see Old Faithful Geyser erupt. The geyser is so called because of it’s predictable eruptions and we arrived with plenty of time to spare so got to fit in one last visitor centre and souvenir store before we took our places out on the viewing platform.
After grabbing some lunch at he general store, it was unfortunately time to wave goodbye to Yellowstone but it had been amazing and definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far!
Watch my Trek America adventures at Yellowstone National Park here:
Miss Travels 