As I mentioned in my previous post, Scott and I took a day trip while in Jackson, Wyoming to spend time at Yellowstone National Park! Our GPS lied to us initially, because it’s really only about an hour and 15 minutes from Jackson to the South Entrance of Yellowstone, which is really not bad at all (it originally told us 4 hours which would’ve been a little more ambitious)! We drove up through Grand Teton National Park to the South Entrance, and you really can’t beat the views driving up through there.
Just to reiterate what I said in my previous post, we were here in mid/late October, which is considered off-season. In fact, at Yellowstone in particular, we were there one weekend before they shut down a lot of the roads within Yellowstone. It was still crowded, but I’m sure it wasn’t as crowded as it is during peak season. We also took a pretty slow morning before going into Yellowstone, so we were there from about 1pm until dusk. I’m not sure if we just got lucky or if it was the specific time of day that we were there, but we saw a TON of wildlife. On the road that connects the Tetons to Yellowstone we saw a bear right out the gate which was pretty amazing. This also taught me that if large amounts of people were pulled over on the side of the road pointing at something it’s probably okay to just follow them and see what they’re looking at. We also saw bison, a coyote (which took a dump in the road right in front of our car – classy), and a harem of elk which was pretty amazing. The park guide newspaper that they give you when you drive in said that dusk is a great time to see animals, as well as sunrise, so we unintentionally timed that correctly.
We took the most prominent southern loop of Yellowstone, entering at the South Entrance and heading west. This gets you to most of the geysers, some hot springs, then back east to Hayden Valley and the Yellowstone Lake area. We happened upon Old Faithful at a pretty prime time where people were just starting to line up but we only had to wait about 20-30 minutes for it to go off (I’m not sure if that’s the correct terminology). The Visitor Center at Old Faithful has a prediction for the time when it’ll go off right when you walk inside. You can also check those times on Yellowstone’s app, or you can use this website that I used because I didn’t find out about the app until I was writing this.
The coolest thing about Yellowstone to me was the varying terrain and sights that you can see. The first part of our trip was filled with geysers and bubbling hot springs, which made me feel like I was on another planet. There is SO MUCH to see in that area, but our favorites were Sapphire Pool at Biscuit Basin (I insisted we stop here because Biscuits) and the Grand Prismatic Spring at the Midway Geyser Basin. We then headed east along the Gibbon River, which was just a lot of beautiful mountain forest river scenery (can’t go wrong there).
Our next significant landmark was Hayden Valley on the east side of the loop. When I think of Oregon Trail and pioneering out west this is pretty much what I think of. It was beautiful and we were driving through during golden hour which made it even more spectacular. After Hayden Valley we stopped at the Mud Volcano area. I’m not sure I can recommend stopping here because it was literally like prehistoric-sulfuric-acid-dinosaur-wasteland level stank and I could handle it for maybe 4 minutes before I ran back to the car. But I guess it’s cool looking (the other geysers and springs did NOT smell this intensely).
Our last significant stretch was the area along Yellowstone Lake which completed our loop back around to the Southern Entrance. We would’ve liked to go a little more east , but the Fishing Bride was already closed so that wasn’t an option this trip. This area was where we saw the highest concentration of wildlife as it was around dusk when we got there. It was really a pretty magical experience, and this scenery was your typical picturesque mountain lake view. It’s pretty crazy how much variety you can see in such a short span of time!
Overall, it probably took us around 4.5 hours to go around the south loop at our own pace. We stayed at Old Faithful the longest since that is kind of dependent on Mother Nature and not something we could just walk around for a bit and leave. If you’re more into scenic drives and don’t necessarily want to get out and hike anywhere this is definitely ideal for you! I would love to go back and do the hike to Fairy Falls. Also on our list for next time is staying in the West Yellowstone area and getting up to the northern loop.
This was my first time to Yellowstone and I have to say that it did not disappoint! I now understand why so many people fly from different countries to go to Wyoming. It is definitely a must see for anyone living in the United States. It was also really crazy to think about what it was like to either live out there as a Native American or to be discovering that land as an explorer, because it is vast and unpredictable! I will say, a few things to be cautious of if you plan on going at this time of the year is that a lot of the shops and visitor centers are closed. The “main” centers are, such as the restaurant, shops and Visitor Center by Old Faithful, but be sure to grab one of the informational newspapers when you enter the park so you know if you have food and fuel options. We brought a lot of snacks and lunch that we grabbed from a market in Jackson. There are places that are still accessible, but just not as many as there would be during regular season. It also snowed there a few days before, which wasn’t a huge problem for us because most of it had melted and was off of the roads, but if you’re not used to driving in snow or have access to a vehicle that can handle icier conditions, I would definitely check the weather beforehand to avoid any disappointment. Yellowstone’s website is awesome and I’m sure you can find most of that information there.
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