Yellowstone in One Day — intheweedsmom

Family standing in front of Grand Prismatic Hot Spring in Yellowstone National Park — Grand Prismatic Hot Spring, Yellowstone National Park

It was time for our first National Park of the trip! We were all pumped; I hadn’t been to Yellowstone in over 20 years, and my husband and kids had never been. Because of the flooding, only the southern part of the park was open. We drove from our hotel and got in line early to maximize our time inside the park.

Yellowstone is basically a volcano; its thermal & earthquake activity is nearly constant. There are over 10,000 thermal hot springs, and they can have up to 2,000 seismic events per year. Who knew?! What was especially striking to me was the steam rising over the land. It truly looks like dinosaurs should be just around the corner. And, when you see bison just roaming in between these plumes of steam, it looks prehistoric.

Bison at Yellowstone National Park — The view from my car window. Do you see the babies?!

Speaking of bison, we hit our first wildlife traffic jam of the trip upon entering Yellowstone. We were still early enough to see bison babies! We sat on the road for almost 30 minutes watching a massive herd of bison wander, cross the road, and feed their young. These animals are MASSIVE, like 1,500 pounds+ and not to be bothered with. Unfortunately, not everyone was respectful of their space.

Once we got moving again, we started with the Fountain Paint Pot thermal springs. Many of the trails we were on were boardwalks, so visitors did not disturb the land and would not be burned by the boiling water. Watching the earth bubble, steam, and change color while walking right next to it was a trip. It is vast, spanning thousands of acres, and it never stops.

We were truly blown away by Grand Prismatic Spring. It’s the largest hot spring in Yellowstone and the third largest in the world. It’s almost 300 feet in diameter and 121 feet deep! The colors are intense, and so is the smell! My photos have no filters on them; it is just that vibrant. This is a busy spot, so hitting it earlier in the day is wise to find parking.

After we stopped for some lunch and lemonade from the lodge, we started on a six-mile hike on the Upper Geyser Basin Loop. Everyone had their own hiking packs with a water bladder inside. I was not going to carry water bottles for everyone. These served us really well throughout our trip. We are not serious hikers, but being prepared is really important. And, staying hydrated made life easier for everyone. We bought them from REI and practiced with weights in them in the store. R went with a Camelback and the rest of us with Osprey packs. I cannot recommend these enough; everyone is in charge of their own stuff this way. Having the water bladder was so convenient. There was no digging around your pack looking for a water bottle; it was just strapped to your front, and you could take a sip whenever you wanted.

We did tell our kids we would start at Old Faithful and then do a short loop. It was six miles, but they were fine! Once we watched Old Faithful (there is a loose schedule), we set off. Remember the bison- yeah, they are also everywhere. We watched a person try to take a selfie with one, and in turn, the bison charged her. Luckily, she was not hurt, and my kids didn’t witness someone being mauled. It definitely reinforced that they are wild animals and that we always need to be respectful of them. We adjusted our path a bit after that! While on the Upper Geyser trail, we saw so many more hot springs. This is not a difficult hike at all, and it's mostly on boardwalks or gravel trails. It’s available to anyone and a great first hike with the kids. On the back end of the loop, you will go by Old Faithful Inn, one of the beautiful historic lodges in our National Park. It was built in 1903-1904 and is spectacular. It is worth walking through, but be careful; you may run into more bison as we did! We steered far clear of a big guy hanging out on the lawn in front of the lodge and found a new way in.

We piled into the car to head to Yellowstone Lake before we started our drive to Jackson, Wyoming. Yellowstone Lake is the largest high-elevation lake in North America, over 7,000 feet above sea level. The lake lies within a caldera formed by an eruption over 600,000 years ago. It is far too cold to swim; you’d survive twenty minutes, so don’t try it!

After snapping more photos of Yellowstone Lake, it was time to make the drive to Jackson Hole through Grand Teton National Park. This incredibly scenic drive on the John D. Rockefeller Parkway (Highway 91) winds you through Yellowstone, past Jackson Lake, with sneak peeks of the Grand Tetons along the way. The kids hopped out near Jackson Lake to snap photos of the mountains, which seem to just rise out of the horizon. These are some of the most photographed mountains in the US, and it’s not hard to see why.