This article is reposted from the WeChat public account of a reader in our WeChat group, Lazy 33’s Food, Drinks, and Travel. Original article link.
Background
Last year, I ended up with a month off. While planning the trip, I stared at the world map for quite a while and found plenty of places I wanted to visit. One of them was Yellowstone, which I had never managed to see before. After living in the U.S. for so many years, the main reason we still hadn’t gone was honestly that my partner and I are both picky about accommodations, which made us a little intimidated by national parks. Since Yellowstone is the premier national park, it felt like the perfect place to “challenge” ourselves with a national park trip.
Originally, I wanted to book a full week inside the park for late August last year without having to move around, but even with a python script, I still couldn’t grab that many consecutive nights. In a moment of frustration, I booked this year’s late-August stay a full year in advance instead. Then this year, my kid’s school calendar ended up conflicting with the dates I had booked, so I changed it to late June, with a 3+3-night split and one hotel change in between. After that, the school suddenly canceled its travel quarantine policy before spring break, and with the holiday connecting to Independence Day, the break was extended into a 10.5-day vacation. If we spent all of that in Yellowstone, it felt like too much. After thinking it over, I decided to cancel the last three nights and do something else for the second half of the trip. So Yellowstone was reduced to just three nights, more of a quick introductory visit.
After changing the plan again and again, we got close to departure and Yellowstone was hit by a once-in-decades flood, with the entire park shutting down—something almost unheard of. At that point, I was relieved we only had three nights booked. Even if the trip fell through, making a Plan B would be much easier. On top of that, my reservation was in the Old Faithful area, which is on the South Loop and was not damaged by the flooding. If the park reopened after the disaster, Old Faithful would most likely be one of the first areas to open. Sure enough, just a few days later, the official announcement came that the South Loop would reopen on June 22, and we were able to go ahead with the trip as planned.
Day 1
Arrival - Grocery run - Gloomy Norris in bad weather - Old Faithful Snow Lodge Obsidian Dining Room - Check-in at Old Faithful Inn
Back to the trip itself: we took an early morning flight to BZN airport, picked up a rental car, and entered Yellowstone through the West Entrance. The flight from SEA to BZN is only 1 hour and 10 minutes, so after dozing off for a bit, we were already there. It was only a little after 9 a.m. Seattle time—an hour when I’m often not even awake yet...
The BZN airport itself looks like a giant log cabin, very fitting for the Yellowstone vibe.
Through a Hilton Diamond match, I had National Executive Elite status and got upgraded to a midsize SUV. Since this is a small airport, there was no Executive Elite Area, so the agent at the counter simply let us choose between a RAV4 and a Jeep. Both were 4WD, and my partner picked the more fuel-efficient and easier-to-drive RAV4. It was blue, which made it very easy to spot. My kid has a Toyota ride-on car and said this one was just like his XD.
After leaving the airport, we first stopped at a nearby Albertson for supplies. We had brought instant noodles, an electric kettle, and a large enamel bowl with a lid. We bought some foods that didn’t need refrigeration or freezing, plus disposable utensils and a few other things. We also picked up brunch at Starbucks.
It’s about a 2.5-hour drive from BZN to Old Faithful, and along the way the scenery is all classic rural middle-America beauty.
Because of the flooding, Yellowstone was also operating under an odd-even license plate restriction, but guests staying inside the park were exempt with a reservation confirmation. When we entered the park, the payment system was also down, and the staff repeatedly reminded us to remember to pay when we left because they couldn’t afford to have so many people not paying, hahaha.
My partner and I use Verizon and AT&T respectively, and inside the park there was basically no signal outside of a few lodge areas. Having learned our lesson from our last trip to Olympic, we downloaded offline maps for Yellowstone and Grand Teton well before departure, and I marked the major sights and scenic areas on the maps. I also downloaded TV shows and books to help pass the time after the kid fell asleep.
Yellowstone’s main sightseeing layout is shaped like a figure 8. The top half of the 8—the North Loop—was heavily damaged in this flood, and the famous Beartooth Highway was also closed as a result, leaving only the bottom half, the South Loop, open. That said, apparently federal funding came through, and the North Loop was repaired at an astonishing pace. As of July 2, parts of the North Loop had already reopened.
When we entered the park, it was only around 1 p.m. local time, so we decided to head first to Norris Geyser Basin, located at the northwest corner of the South Loop. Norris has two loop trails. The larger one seems to be around 1.6 mile, while the smaller one is under 1 mile. We decided to do the bigger one first.
Also, the restrooms here have running water rather than pit toilets, which counts as relatively good conditions for Yellowstone.
A geyser is, of course, one of Yellowstone’s most distinctive geothermal features. Most of the geysers at Norris erupt on irregular schedules, so seeing one go off is largely a matter of luck.
Types of thermal features
Those continuously supplied by underground hot water are called hot springs; those that keep splashing are fountains; those that erupt either regularly or irregularly are geysers. There are also steam geysers that only vent steam without erupting, mud pots that bubble up mud, and craters that can produce a major explosion once every few hundred years. The water in all of these features is extremely hot and rich in hydrogen sulfide, which attracts all kinds of bacteria. These bacteria each display their own vivid colors, turning the geothermal areas into striking bands of brilliant color.
Norris Geyser Basin is the hottest and most unstable collection of geysers in Yellowstone National Park. The world’s largest geyser, Steamboat Geyser, is also located here. It stays dormant for long stretches and erupts only rarely (its last eruption was in 2008), and it once set the height record with an eruption reaching 380 feet. The geysers in this area are also rich in color, ranging from crystal-clear blue-green pools to soft, milky blue-white ones. Because of the area’s instability, new springs appear every year while older ones die off. Echinus Geyser is one of Yellowstone’s famous geysers. What makes it special is that it is acidic, while most of Yellowstone’s thermal features are alkaline. Its pH is 3, reportedly about as acidic as lemon juice. In addition, there are orange and green channels formed by microbial mats here, and they are very beautiful as well.
Some of the trails in the Norris area are boardwalks, while others are unpaved. If you’re visiting Yellowstone with a young child, make sure they stay on the trail. The ground beyond the path may be corrosive and can even eat through shoe soles.
Not long after we started walking, it began to rain. At first we thought it would just be a passing shower and would stop soon, but instead it got heavier and heavier, and our clothes were almost soaked through. My kid’s jacket didn’t even have a hood. My partner had to turn back to the car to get an umbrella, while my kid and I sat on the ground under a tree to wait out the rain.
The rainy weather seemed to put a gray filter over the geysers, muting all the colors. A friend said it had a kind of desolate beauty.
We had already lost quite a bit of time dealing with umbrellas and ducking the rain, and by then it was already close to dinnertime. The rain was too heavy and our kid was hungry, so we decided to skip the other loop, head back to rest up, and try again the next day if the weather improved.
On the way back, it was pouring, and we happened to spot a bison.
For dinner, we ate at the restaurant at Old Faithful Snow Lodge, which is said to be one of the best places to eat inside Yellowstone. This restaurant only takes walk-up lines and does not accept reservations. When we got there, the line had not started yet, but supposedly it got much busier over the following few days.
Compared with the restaurants in Olympic, the quality really was much better. At the very least, the food tasted normal, and it was even plated nicely.
This was bison. It was cooked quite tender, though a bit salty. Even the carrots were surprisingly good, which is saying something for someone like me who dislikes carrots.
The trout was milder by comparison, though it was not bad.
We ordered bow-tie pasta for our kid, and our picky little eater graciously took two bites.
After dinner, we went to check in. Old Faithful Inn really lives up to its nostalgic lodge reputation. The entrance and lobby are both done in a rustic log-cabin style.
The Old Faithful area is the largest lodge area in Yellowstone, so the facilities are relatively complete. The room had no housekeeping service and no phone, so if you needed anything, you had to go line up at the front desk.
At check-in, they handed me two honest-to-goodness physical keys, and I immediately had a bad feeling that the accommodations would be pretty rough. Sure enough, the whole lodging area instantly reminded me of the old dorms from my freshman year.
Once inside, the room had a table, two rattan chairs, and two beds that looked like queen-size beds (but were actually smaller than a queen). The bathroom was fairly large, though it felt a little empty. The doors and windows were all in the style of an old building from decades or even a century ago. There was no refrigerator in the room, let alone a microwave. Supposedly there was a microwave in the lobby, but we were too lazy to go.
From the window, you could see Old Faithful in the distance. We turned in early that night, planning to properly enjoy the area once the weather improved the next day. I really cannot sleep well under the typical American sandwich-style bedding tucked tightly around the mattress, especially when there is a blanket in the middle instead of a comforter. The pillows were uncomfortable too. The bedding also felt pretty rough and scratchy on the skin, so I slept badly that night...
I have heard that the best lodging conditions in Yellowstone are at Old Faithful Slow Lodge, so maybe we will try that next time. In the Old Faithful area, both Verizon and AT&T had very good signal, and LTE/5G data worked without any issues.
Day 2
West Thumb - Fishing Bridge - Le Hardys Rapids - Hayden Valley - Brink of the Upper Falls - Grand View - Arist Point - Norris - Grand Prismatic - Black Sand Basin - Old Faithful Inn Dining Room
Going to bed early the night before turned out to be absolutely the right call. The next day was bright and sunny, and Yellowstone no longer looked gray and gloomy. The scenery was much more vivid.
In the morning, we used the electric kettle in the hotel room to make some Master Kong braised beef instant noodles that had been shipped overseas for breakfast. Without a fried egg and some vegetables, it still felt like something was missing. We also brought along the snacks we had stocked up on at the supermarket on the first day, planning to just eat something simple on the road for lunch.
Today we headed in the opposite direction and went to West Thumb first. It’s about a 30-minute drive from Old Faithful to West Thumb, and the entire South Loop takes about two hours to drive, so it’s really not that long. The loop is designed pretty well—much more efficient than Olympic, where you can easily spend 30 minutes to an hour driving into a dead end.
West Thumb Geyser Basin is located along Yellowstone Lake in the southernmost part of Yellowstone National Park. West Thumb sits on the western side of Yellowstone Lake. There are many hot springs here, including lakeside hot springs and even hot springs in the lake itself, which are the unique feature of this area. Water bubbles up continuously from vents on the lake bottom. The colors of the vents vary widely—some are transparent green, some sapphire blue, and some nearly black.
A pair of binoculars is essential for Yellowstone. We bought a model that lets you mount your phone on it so you can take photos too. It’s mainly for wildlife viewing, especially bears, since the animals in Yellowstone are wild and you can’t get too close. On the day we left Yellowstone, someone had been gored by a bison and was sent to a nearby ER.
Yellowstone Lake sparkled in the sunlight. It really drove home one lesson for me: if you want to appreciate water, go on a sunny day. Whether it’s mountains, rivers, lakes, or the ocean, the scenery when viewing or playing by the water on a sunny day is worlds apart from an overcast one.
Yellowstone Lake is shaped like a hand, and the thumb-like section on the west side is called West Thumb, one of the park’s well-known geothermal areas. Looking out over Yellowstone Lake from West Thumb, you’ll notice the water along the shore shimmering with changing colors—evidence of the underwater thermal springs below. In winter, the lake freezes over and is covered in snow, echoing the snowy mountains in the distance for a spectacular view.
The snowy mountains in the distance also looked clearer and clearer in the sunshine.
The underwater springs in the lake were distinctive too, though unfortunately we didn’t get to see an eruption.
Most of the steam from the hot springs carried that sulfur smell—pretty much the same as the hot springs in Olympic.
Some of them looked like boiling pots, bubbling nonstop.
Driving north from West Thumb, the scenery all along the Yellowstone Lake road was beautiful. There are quite a few lookouts where you can pull over and enjoy the view.
Our next stop was Fishing Bridge.
Fishing Bridge spans the Yellowstone River and marks the outlet of Yellowstone Lake. Every year in June and July, along the road to Fishing Bridge, you can watch wild trout jumping through Le Hardys Rapids as they swim upstream to spawn. There is also a visitor center at Fishing Bridge, focused mainly on bird exhibits. Note that you can’t actually fish from Fishing Bridge—it’s simply a great place to watch fish.
The reflections of the mountains, trees, and clouds on Yellowstone Lake looked like a painting.
Along the lakeshore at Sedge Bay, east of Fishing Bridge near Yellowstone Lake, bears often show up to forage. If you see a crowd of people gathered there with all kinds of long and short camera lenses, yes, you’ve found the right spot. Also, in the northern mountain areas of Yellowstone National Park, if you’re lucky, you may also spot grizzly bears. And if you’re extremely lucky, you might even catch a mother bear out foraging with her cubs.
Because it wasn’t on our way, we didn’t continue farther east. In fact, it’s only about a 10-minute drive from Fishing Bridge to the Sedge Bay area. I’ve heard there’s a lot more wildlife on Yellowstone’s east side than on the west side, so if you’re especially interested in animals, it may be worth staying on the east side for two nights.
It took just two minutes to drive from Fishing Bridge to Le Hardys Rapids. Unfortunately, even after staring at the river for quite a while, we didn’t see any trout jumping.
We did, however, spot a few wild ducks (?) resting leisurely in the fast-moving river.
A few minutes later, we drove to the Mud Volcano area. Attractions in East Yellowstone are really packed close together. There’s a hiking trail here that goes uphill, but we skipped it to save energy. We just walked around the lower loop, and there was still plenty to see.
This is Mud Volcano, and it really does look like a mud volcano. It reminded me of a hot spring at Changzhou Dinosaur Park that looked somewhat similar.
There was also a hot spring emerging from what looked like a cave, which was pretty distinctive.
We continued north and passed a beautiful lookout, so we pulled over to take a few photos.
When we got near Hayden Valley, there were herds of bison.
A few bison slowly wandered onto the road, blocking traffic. The tourists were more than happy to stop and watch them. But after our experience at Olympic National Farm, we definitely didn’t dare roll down the windows when the bison got close—especially since Yellowstone’s bison are wild.
One of them walked right alongside our car, and our kid was both curious and a little scared.
Whenever we saw a lookout we liked along the way, we stopped to take in the view.
In Yellowstone, if you see lots of cars pulled over on both sides of the road and visitors standing there watching something, chances are there’s wildlife nearby. Sure enough, we came across a few elk grazing by the roadside.
Finally, we arrived near the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, at the northeast corner of the South Loop.
The center of Yellowstone National Park is the canyon area, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is one of the park’s most famous sights. Here you can admire the dramatic, deep canyon and its rushing waterfalls at the same time. On a clear day, you may even see a rainbow stretching across the canyon. The canyon is 32 kilometers long, about 450–1200 meters wide, and as deep as 360 meters. Over time, the river carved out brilliantly colored canyon walls in shades of yellow, orange, brown, and tan, which is how Native Americans came to call it “Yellowstone.”
On the opposite side of the Yellowstone River are several viewpoints: Lookout Point, Grand View, and Inspiration Point. Among them, Lookout Point is considered the best place to view the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. One thing to note is that this road is one-way, and after you exit this stretch, you’ll reach Canyon Village.
The 94-meter Lower Falls is one of the tallest waterfalls in Yellowstone, and Artist Point is the best place to view it. Morning is the best time to visit this viewpoint; in the afternoon, photos can suffer from fairly strong backlighting. Precisely because it’s the top viewpoint, it’s also a stop for most tour groups. It’s one of the park’s most distinctive sights, and if your Yellowstone itinerary is tight, this is definitely one place you shouldn’t miss.
If you’re driving north from the south, going to Artist Point first is actually more convenient. I didn’t realize that from looking at the map, so we ended up backtracking later.
We first went to Brink of the Upper Falls. There’s a trail here of about 0.6 mile, and it’s a bit steep, so we didn’t hike down in order to save energy.
Then we went to Lookout Point.
The trails for getting a closer view of the Lower Falls—Uncle Tom's Trail and Brink of Lower Fall Trail—have reportedly been closed since last year due to safety concerns. Grand View also offers a pretty good angle.
Grand View is also incredibly majestic and awe-inspiring for viewing the canyon.
Next we doubled back and went to Artist Point. By then it was already around 2 p.m., and with the backlighting, the colors were no longer as pretty.
At Brink of Uppper Falls, they say you can sometimes see a rainbow, but I wasn’t that interested in viewing the waterfall from above, so I skipped it. At this point, today’s “mission” was complete. The rest of the time was ours to use however we wanted. We took the road through the middle of the figure-8 back to Norris. There aren’t many sights along this stretch, but you can look at the snow-capped mountains.
I was really curious about the difference between Norris on a sunny day and on a rainy day, so I decided to finish the small loop we hadn’t walked yesterday. As expected, it was so much prettier in the sunshine!
At the Geyser Basin, it felt almost otherworldly, always wrapped in mist like some immortal-cultivation fantasy scene, though unfortunately everything smelled pretty bad.
Looking down over the colorful geysers, I was amazed by nature’s craftsmanship. People say social media is a way to see the world, but when you’re truly there in person, what your eyes take in and what your heart feels are things photos simply can’t fully capture.
We said goodbye to Norris once again. Since it was still early, we planned to visit several more thermal basins on the way back, including Grand Prismatic.
Before we set out, a coworker told me that Grand Prismatic is the essence of Yellowstone. So I intentionally saved it until after West Thumb and Norris, just in case everything else would pale in comparison once I had seen Grand Prismatic.
Grand Prismatic Spring, also known as the “Great Rainbow,” is the largest hot spring in the United States and the third largest in the world. It has been called “the most beautiful surface on Earth.” It was discovered by geologists in 1871 and named Grand Prismatic because of its striking colors, which range from green to vivid red to orange. The hot spring water is rich in minerals, allowing colorful bacteria and algae colonies to survive along the water’s edge, creating these brilliant hues. No organisms can survive in the extremely hot center of the spring. From the inside out, you can see blue, green, yellow, orange, and red in distinct bands. There is a wooden boardwalk around Grand Prismatic, and a full loop takes about 40 minutes. The best way to view Grand Prismatic is from above, though if that isn’t possible, some visitors climb the low hill on the opposite side for a higher vantage point, which can also yield great photos.
To view Grand Prismatic from below, you can park at the "Grand Prismatic Spring Parking Lot." Besides Grand Prismatic itself, this trail also has several other beautiful hot springs.
From below, Grand Prismatic shows a very distinctive scene where red and blue mist forms separate layers and then blends together. If you look closely at the video and photos below, you can see that the mist on the left side is red, while the mist on the right side is blue.
The best photo spot for Grand Prismatic Spring is south of Midway Geyser Basin. On the way to Fairy Falls, walk along the trail for about 15 minutes and you’ll see a footpath on the hillside to the left, leading up to a mid-slope overlook platform. In recent years, more and more visitors have learned about this excellent vantage point, so you likely won’t have trouble finding it. Alternatively, on the other side of the road passing Midway Geyser Basin—not the side with the spring—after making sure you’ve parked safely, you can hike up from the roadside. There is also a dirt path formed by foot traffic, but it can be slippery in bad weather, so be careful.
Several nearby pools have similar colors as well, but none are as magnificent as Grand Prismatic.
After leaving Grand Prismatic, we went to Black Sand Basin.
Located in the Upper Geyser Basin, Black Sand Basin features a series of brilliant geysers and hot springs that look like jewels. Among them, Emerald Pool is the most colorful and best-known spring there. Its colors include emerald, green, orange, and yellow, giving it a bit of the feel of Grand Prismatic Spring.
Opalescent Pool is another famous spring. Its center is blue, surrounded by a milky white edge, with many dead trees around it. Each spring here has its own character, and they’re all beautiful.
This trail is short too, only a fraction of a mile.
It really does have the feel of a “mini Grand Prismatic.”
By the time we finished Black Sand Basin, it was about dinner time. That evening we went back to the restaurant at Old Faithful Inn for the buffet.
There are three restaurants on Yellowstone’s South Loop where you can reserve dinner: Old Faithful Inn, Lake Hotel, and Grant Village. My approach was to book all three, one for each night. That gave us more flexibility to choose based on how our itinerary changed. Supposedly, the food ranking on the South Loop is Old Faithful Snow Lodge > Lake Hotel > Grant Village = Old Faithful Inn.
Even if you’re not staying at the corresponding hotel, you can still reserve its restaurant, though the reservation website doesn’t seem to be public. Thanks to friends in a Yellowstone WeChat group for sharing the links to the other two restaurants.
Old Faithful Inn: https://zomatobook.com/widget/makereservation03.aspx?id=81810S4A7Lake Hotel: https://zomatobook.com/widget/makereservation03.aspx?id=NDH468P80Grant Village: https://zomatobook.com/widget/makereservation03.aspx?id=R3EF599N2
Compared with the Snow Lodge restaurant the night before, the Inn restaurant actually wasn’t bad. But the dining experience was poor. Since it was buffet-style, we had to stand in line to get food. My kid and I waited about half an hour before we got our plates. There weren’t many choices, and several dishes weren’t even labeled, so who knows what was in some of that American mush. On top of that, the buffet at the Inn was a bit more expensive than the Snow Lodge restaurant, and my partner felt the value was pretty low.
To be continued.
About the Author
This article is reposted from the WeChat public account of a reader from our WeChat group, 懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐. All of the articles are original, and if you’re interested, feel free to follow the account.
