Our 8-hour drive from South Dakota to Yellowstone was long, but we arrived and had a few hours to catch a glimpse of all that the Park had to offer before we spent the next 2 full days exploring. The drive in from the East Entrance was magnificent, and we couldn’t have been more excited about finding snow in July!
Dusky’s first snow!!! (We think!)
We drove around Yellowstone Lake to the Visitor Center at Fishing Bridge. A Ranger talk was about to begin; we settled in for that so we could get the boys’ Junior Ranger books signed for completing that task. We felt so lucky, however, because it was the best Ranger talk we had ever heard! This Park Ranger has been working at Yellowstone for over 40 years and he was amazing!
We wanted to get to our RV site early enough to set up, make dinner, and get the boys to bed at a decent time. We stopped for a “quick” 1 mile hike at Mud Volcano, but this bison has his own timeline for us! He parked himself right on/near the path so no one could get around him! You are supposed to stay 25 yards from bison (100 yards from bears and wolves), and he was happily chomping grass and NOT MOVING!
Before the bison encounter, however, we had the best time checking out the bubbling mud pits (called mudpots). There were a bunch of other bison (45, Trent counted) enjoying the warm mud and insect-free area.
Enough about the bison for now, because we were so intrigued with our first hydrothermal sightings at Yellowstone!
Steaming and bubbling, just so crazy! The next pic is a hot spring, so different from the mudpots.
More pics from the rest of the trail…
We didn’t have time to make any more stops on the way to the West Entrance (where we needed to exit the Park to get to our RV park), but as we drove through Hayden Valley we saw elk and a grizzly bear! Not pictured, sorry, too far away.
Our first few hours in Yellowstone were incredible, but little did we know how much better it would get! Stay tuned for Day 2!
