We started Day 2 by heading out to Lower, Midway, and Upper Geyser Basins.
We arrived at Lower Geyser Basin first and found this big guy sitting in the warm mud right near the path.
After we passed him, we were so impressed by the gorgeous colors of the hot springs and intriguied by the steam vents (called fumaroles). The smell of sulfur is really strong in these areas.
Next we headed to Midway Geyser Basin and saw Grand Prismatic Spring as well as a few other hot springs there. The colors of Grand Prismatic are pretty, but much better when you can get higher above the Spring and look down on it.
Crazy story… we hiked up the trail that leads to the overlook area of Grand Prismatic and as we were standing there, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a cute little face that I recognized. It was one of Trent’s classmates, all the way from Melbourne Beach! Isn’t that wild?! She and her family were at Yellowstone on the same day, at the same time, standing in the same exact place that we were. Kind of unbelievable! Too bad our odds when we bought a Powerball ticket last week weren’t that good!
Next, we were ready to see Old Faithful! We parked and our timing was perfect, only about 10 minutes until its expected eruption time.
After Old Faithful, we drove up to the Continental Divide, then to Biscuit Basin to see more hydrothermal features and hike Mystic Falls. We saw an elk on the way there!
The boys wanted to do a longer hike that included an overlook before it led to the Falls. Longer hike… sure, okay with us! It was a little rainy, but the views were spectacular!
It was a full and fun day exploring Yellowstone! We were blown away by the beauty of the hot springs and the excitement seeing of Old Faithful erupt. We are looking forward to one more day at Yellowstone!
What an unforgettable day! Small world, running into Trent’s friend!
It was the perfect day! And we are still in disbelief of running into Melbourne Beach people!