Yellowstone has to be one of our favorite National Parks. In our 15 years of family vacations, we have never duplicated any of our locations, but we made an exception this year in order to allow Amelia and Raymond an opportunity to see this wonder before we leave Boise, Idaho for Seattle, Washington later this summer. (Idaho does lay claim to a small part of the park, and is a much closer drive that Washington.) The last time the children visited this park, they were four and two years old, so they clearly didn't have any memories of the place. They both agreed that it was well worth the return.
On this trip, we also brought Grandma Jo, who attempted a Yellowstone trip about 35 years ago, but due to snow, wasn't able to see more than Old Faithful. She even hiked 13 of the 21 miles that we took on through both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park.The following is a map of our trip from Delorme Topo USA. Yellowstone is bordered in yellow, while Grand Teton is orange. Our travels were along the thick black lines which trace our routes through both parks.
Highlights
Here's what each family member said was their absolute favorite activity of the trip:| Raymond: | Artist Paint Pots (especially the bubbling mud) |
| Amelia: | Old Chapels in Grand Teton NP (stained glass & architecture) |
| Suzanne: | Excelsior Geyser Crater & Grand Prismatic Pool |
| Mike: | Geyser Eruptions (Old Faithful, Daisy, Steamboat, White Dome) |
| Jo Ann: | Midway Geyser Basin (The Colors were amazing) |
Hiking
The following table shows all of the hikes from our GPS data. The average speed is really slow, because there is so much looking around to do at all of the thermal features. In some cases, we waited for geysers to go off, enjoyed watching wildlife, or just took in the views. We were impressed that even Grandma hiked 13 of the miles and tackled 1900 feet of elevation gain herself. Here is list of all of the hikes we took on the trip. The following is a map of all of our hikes, courtesy of GPS Visualizer:| Hike | Start Time | Duration | Mileage (mi) | Avg. Speed (mph) | Climb (ft) |
| Artist Paint Pots | 7/1/2009 15:50 | 0:43:02 | 1.1 | 2 | 140.8 |
| Artist Point | 6/28/2009 15:32 | 0:18:03 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 118.7 |
| Biscuit Basin | 6/30/2009 17:18 | 0:40:53 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 39.6 |
| Black Sand Basin | 6/29/2009 11:30 | 0:25:39 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 26.4 |
| Calcite Springs | 6/28/2009 13:53 | 0:12:02 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 217.8 |
| Fishing Bridge | 6/30/2009 14:58 | 0:13:07 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 5.6 |
| Fountain Paint Pots | 7/1/2009 14:24 | 0:29:10 | 0.7 | 2 | 36.7 |
| Jackson Lake Overlook | 7/2/2009 13:52 | 0:10:16 | 0.3 | 2 | 48.1 |
| Kepler Cascades | 6/30/2009 17:01 | 0:06:01 | 0.2 | 2 | 3 |
| Lewis Falls | 7/2/2009 11:16 | 0:10:51 | 0.3 | 2 | 54.7 |
| Lookout Point | 6/28/2009 16:27 | 0:38:58 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 500.4 |
| Lost Lake & Falls | 6/28/2009 11:32 | 1:30:51 | 2.2 | 1.4 | 959.4 |
| Mammoth HS Hike | 6/27/2009 15:36 | 1:14:46 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 458.4 |
| Menor's Ferry | 7/2/2009 14:41 | 0:31:58 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 5.1 |
| Midway Geyser Basin | 7/1/2009 13:35 | 0:42:08 | 1.1 | 2 | 109.2 |
| Mud Volcano | 6/30/2009 10:29 | 0:46:51 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 150 |
| Norris Geyser Basin | 7/1/2009 9:37 | 2:04:44 | 3 | 1.5 | 348.3 |
| Rescue Creek | 6/27/2009 18:00 | 0:05:32 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 19.9 |
| Signal Mtn Summit | 7/2/2009 13:40 | 0:09:20 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 33.6 |
| Terrace Springs | 7/1/2009 12:28 | 0:39:11 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 26.5 |
| Tower Falls | 6/28/2009 14:08 | 0:16:54 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 71 |
| Upper Falls Brink | 6/28/2009 15:59 | 0:16:15 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 113.4 |
| Upper Geyser Basin | 6/29/2009 12:17 | 3:28:44 | 4 | 1.1 | 204.4 |
| West Thumb Basin | 6/30/2009 15:41 | 0:55:21 | 1 | 1.1 | 73 |
| TOTALS | 20:14:48 | 20.9 | 1.37 | 3764 |
Takeaways
Here are a few final thoughts from our vacation:- Wildlife. Yellowstone may be THE best place to experience wildlife in the contiguous 48 states! We saw deer, elk, moose, black and grizzly bear, hawks, bald eagles, fox, and herds upon herds of buffalo. On at least two nights, we could hear a pack of coyotes howling while we slept in our tents. The whole family got a kick out of the buffalo that would lead a procession of cars as slowly as it cared to along the roadways. We even had one cross into our lane right in front of our car!
- Panoramic scenery. We took 35 panoramics and stitched them together afterwards with hugin. (Thank goodness for hugin, because all those pans would be ridiculous to do by hand!)
- Other-worldly geology. Yellowstone has the largest concentration of hydro-thermal features, including geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles. But there are also deep, richly colored canyons, hexagonal basalt columns, and waterfalls, both raging and peaceful. It is incredibly unique and one of the most fascinating National Park experiences available.
