6 Things To Do And See in Yellowstone National Park

There is a GORGEOUS National Park in the North west corner of Wyoming. It spills over a little into Montana and Idaho but the bulk of it is in Wyoming. It houses hundreds of different species of animals! There is over 3,500 square miles of park to explore! Now that is a lot of exploring lol 🙂 We have been there twice and I know I still haven’t seen it all lol!! This park offers several different landscapes such as rivers, forests, geysers, steam vents, bubbling mud pots, canyons, hot springs, even a lake! I highly recommend you put this park on your bucket list of “Must See” places!

We usually stay at the west gate entrance to the park so my travel ideas will start from that entrance. There is lodging inside and outside and we have found staying at the KOA at the west gate is very nice 🙂

These following 6 things to see and or do in the park is a tiny drop in the bucket of what you can do! They are some of my favorites though 🙂

 

#1 MADISON RIVER

Heading through the west gate into the park you will notice the Madison River to your left. As you continue down the road it crosses and will then be on your right. Make sure to stop along the road in the wide turn outs and get out and take pictures or fish along this beautiful landscape! Of course I was out in the water swimming lol! There are parts of these rivers that are warm because of the hot water spilling in from the geysers, so it makes an enjoyable swim! You will see lots of animals usually in this area also so be on alert. This road is approx 14 miles long and I suggest just take your time and really enjoy the scenery. We even stopped and had a picnic 🙂

 

 

#2 Firehole Canyon Drive

After spending time checking out Madison river you will continue east on the 89 until you come to a dead end. Make a right turn on 191 and then a right again not far up the road on Fire Hole Canyon Drive. This is a 3 mile narrow one way road but filled with lots of beauty, huge lava flows, a 40 foot waterfall and even a swimming hole! When your driving along this road you feel like your truly in the wilderness. You will come through a canyon with huge black walls these are the lava flows and they are 800 foot thick! Take your time on this road and take in all the gorgeous scenery and keep an eye out for wildlife :).

 

 

We spent several hours at the large swimming hole which is located about 2 miles from the start of this road. You will know your close when you start to see several cars parked off the side of the road. This area also has some rapids that lots of people were swimming in. Be very careful as the levels of the water can sometimes be to dangerous to swim in this section of the river. I did go down the rapids however and lost my glasses lol! Luckily there were scuba divers there that retrieved them for me 🙂

The larger swimming hole area is much calmer waters. The water temp is usually pretty nice because of the hot geysers that feed into it up river.

Please be sure to read the warnings on the Yellowstone National Parks website in regards to swimming in the waters. 

You can read them Here

 

#3 Fountain Paint Pots

This area is Located in the lower geyser basin which is still heading south on the 191 past the Firehole Canyon Road. There is a parking lot and boardwalks for you to follow.

Along these boardwalks which is approx 1/2 mile, you will see thermo mats, springs, mud pots, steam vents, geysers and gorgeous pools like the one below. This one is called Celestine Pool. The temperature of the water in this pool is 200 degrees!! Extremely hot but very beautiful.

 

 

This area is absolutely stunning!! The colors are absolutely breath taking along this boardwalk! If you have a good camera you will love taking pictures here! I cant even tell you how many I took lol!! Make sure to stay on these boardwalks for your safety! There have been many accidents where children have taken off and or adults and they have fallen through the thin layer of crust above these hot springs.

 Also there are no dogs allowed on any of the boardwalks and most of the trails in Yellowstone. 

 

#4 Midway Geyser Basin

Just passed Lower Geyser Basin on 191 halfway between Firehole Canyon Drive and old faithful.

This is Grand Prismatic Spring and it is the largest hot spring in the United States! Globally it is the third largest 🙂 It is approx 375 wide and 125 feet deep. The water temp here is usually around 170 degrees! 

Believe it or not but there are microorganisms that live in this water! Not those are some tough little critters I’d say lol! The brownish color you see are from the bacterium called Thermochromatium. They form together and create a mat.

The boardwalk takes you across this bacterial mat and on toward the edges of the grand prismatic. The view here is SPECTACULAR!! It is a bucket list item to see for sure. 

Through the steam you can see a glimpse of that stunning aqua blue color. You will have a wonderful time here with your camera for sure 🙂

 

 

 

#5 The Canyons at Canyon Village

This area is on the East side of the park. This GORGEOUS canyon is approximately 24 miles long and ranges in depth from 800-1,200 feet. The width of the canyon also varies from 1,500-4,000 feet wide! 

 

 

Canyon Village also has beautiful lodging if your looking for somewhere to stay within the park. You can find out more info Here

If you like hiking like I do there are plenty of hiking trails in this area as well as throughout the park. These trails will take you along the canyons edge and you will get some spectacular views! You will find 2 gorgeous waterfalls on this river 🙂 The upper falls is a little over 100 foot in height and the lower falls is just over 300 feet tall.

 

 

The sound of that water rushing over the fall is pretty spectacular!! I love waterfalls and this one is definitely one of my favorites!

If you bring your binoculars you can also see eagle nests in the area. We saw one with little babies and it was so beautiful!

 

#6 Horseback Riding in The Back Country

This was so fun! I really wanted my family to experience some of Yellowstone’s underpopulated areas 🙂  So taking a horse and a guide and heading back deep into the wilderness was definitely a must! I love exploring and what better way to do this than by a horse lol!

We found a horse ranch within the park and it was over by the Canyon Village area. We were given a safety lesson and introduced to our horses. My husband who is 6’1″ ended up with the shortest horse haha! Isn’t this picture hilarious? 

 

 

My husband and I, along with two of our daughters and my sister all headed out on the trail with our guide. We saw some spectacular back country views like a smaller version of the canyon, huge lush meadows, beautiful flowers and streams. We also heard some wildlife in the distance making a loud high pitched sound! The horses didn’t seem to like the sound as they all stopped and looked in the direction the sound was coming from. I am not sure what animal it was but not going to lie I did get a bit nervous lol!! We did however see some Elk up close as they were not far from the trails. They were very beautiful.

The horses did great! I totally felt like they knew what they were doing. Some of the trails had steeper sections and you just had to put your trust in the horse as they totally went up and down those sections like pros!

Although my middle daughters horse would NOT cross some of the wooded bridges lol. Instead he would go around them and down into the creek. 🙂 My daughter was told to stay firm with him as he was like a teenager trying to do his own thing. By the end of the ride she finally got him crossing bridges 🙂 

 

If you haven’t been to Yellowstone yet I would HIGHLY suggest you go!! It is absolutely gorgeous there and you need at least a week! But if you don’t have a week then just go and explore some of the things I suggested. I have LOTS more areas to tell you about in Yellowstone but I’ll save them for another post lol.

Have you been to Yellowstone before? Let me hear what your favorite spots were 🙂

 

Chat Soon!

 

Trudy