This is part four of a travel series to Yellowstone and the Grand Teton National Parks. If you'd like to start at the beginning, go HERE!
Fountain Paint Pot (Lower Geyser Basin)
This is the fourth and final post for Day One in Yellowstone. Our goal was to see most of the highlights on the figure eight loop of Yellowstone in three days and we did!
Now, if you look at my trusty little map I've been showing in every single post, we came in to Yellowstone from Cody (the East entrance). We stopped at the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center and Museum, drove around Yellowstone Lake, went to Old Faithful (Upper Geyser Basin), then the Grand Prismatic Spring (Midway Geyser Basin), took the Firehole Canyon Drive, then we drove OUT OF THE PARK exiting out the West Entrance to West Yellowstone. It is about 14 miles to reach the exit. We went to the town to have a Linner. West Yellowstone is the cutest little town ever with shops, restaurants, and hotels (sorry I never took photos of the town). In hindsight, I would have spent the night in West Yellowstone, then we could have enjoyed the town more. But I was informed there were no hotels near the park (not true both West Yellowstone and Gardine have hotels) so I booked inside the park. While enjoying my first Buffalo Burger (it was delicious, but I honestly couldn't taste the difference between buffalo or cow meat so it didn't justify the increased price) I looked on Google Maps and saw the closet route to our cabin in Yellowstone was closed. I'm not sure if that was true or not, but we weren't willing to take the chance. It could have been temporarily blocked due to animal crossings. Anyhow, we decided not to risk it and instead of going through the center of the figure eight loop to reach our cabin, we went back the way we came. It ended up being an hour drive from West Yellowstone to our cabin.
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Virginia Cascades
We were hoping that the road closure would open up by the time we reached the area, so we decided just to drive half way through the figure eight loop to see the Virginia Cascades. It is a beautiful waterfall on the Gibbon River.
Unfortunately, by the time we were finished at the Virginia Cascades, Google Maps still showed the road closed, so we turned around and headed back in the direction we came when we first entered the park.
We decided to make the best of our return trip by stopping and seeing some highlights we missed, like the Lower Geyser Basin. By now, it was almost dusk, and the people crowds really thinned out. That was nice. But the animal crowds increased! Animals are more active around dawn and dusk, so if you want to see animals at Yellowstone, you need to be in the park around those times. Right when we pulled in to the parking lot of the Lower Geyser Basin there was a huge herd of buffalo (sorry, no photos) trying to cross the sidewalk/trail to the Basin to get to the other side of the road. There were tourists just standing around, so close to the buffalo, and there was one park ranger keeping an eye on the herd migration to make sure no one got injured. I think this might be a regular night crossing for that herd of buffalo that's why the park ranger knew to be there at exactly the right time.
Anyway, the Lower Geyser Basin features the Fountain Paint Pot. This is another nice boardwalk trail overlooking geysers, springs, pools, a fumarole, and the Fountain Paint Pot. Unfortunately because it was getting dark and I was worried about finding our cabin in the dark, we only had time to walk to the Clepsydra Geyser and back.
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The boardwalk hike was very nice because of the lovely open surrounding landscape. The Clepsydra Geyser is in the very first photo of this post, plus the photo below. I've also included two short videos. The first one shows the viewpoint of us just walking the boardwalk, the second one is of the Clepsydra Geyser itself.
Walking the Fountain Paint Pot Boardwalk
Clepsydra Geyser
Well, now that we were done exploring on Day One, it was time for the hour long drive back to our cabin. I have to say, Day One was the worst day for our cabin location, because on Day Two we only had a short drive in the morning to our next stop on the figure eight loop and Day Three we just had to drive out the south end of the park after a brief stop at the West Thumb Geyser Basin. So it really wasn't that bad, and if the road had been open the first day, it would not have been such a long drive from West Yellowstone to our cabin.
Lake Hotel and Yellow Cabins
Lake Hotel is a humungous, gorgeous hotel located right on Yellowstone Lake. It is Yellowstone's oldest operating hotel in the park, opening in 1891 and is listed on the National Historic Landmark.
It is such a large hotel, I couldn't even get a picture of it on one photo. The top and bottom photos show the hotel from the front. The next photo shows the hotel from the back.
The hotel is right in front of Yellowstone Lake so it has great views of the lake along with a nice walking path in front of the lake.
The next few photos show the hotel lobby. The dining room was closed for renovations when we were there so we couldn't have dinner there. That is why we drove to West Yellowstone for a Linner. I don't think anyone was staying in the hotel when we were there, it seemed everyone was staying in a yellow cabin behind the hotel. The hotel rooms are closed for renovation until June 27, 2025.
In the photo below is a large room that used to be the grand dining hall but now it's just filled with furniture. There is also a bar area to order drinks. The dining hall was moved to another part of the hotel.
The car port is also very elegant. There are rocking chairs available to sit on and enjoy the view.
And here is one of the little yellow cabins where we stayed. These are located right behind the hotel. I'm wearing a dress because we took this photo the morning we left Yellowstone and we were headed to Jackson Hole for the day. Yes, I was FREEZING. It was the coldest morning ever, like in the thirties, but it warmed up to the mid sixties when we were in Jackson Hole.
The cabins are very simple and cute. We actually really enjoyed them and thought they were very cozy and romantic. There is no air conditioning, but we certainly didn't need it the time of year we were there. There is heat, and we did need that. The cabin has a fan, and a coffee maker (thank God) but no microwave or refrigerator.
The bathroom shower was pretty tiny, but I was grateful to even have my own private shower and I didn't have to use a public shower.
Well folks, we have finished Day One of Yellowstone! It only took me four posts to cover one day. Now onto Day Two, which I will keep brief.
Looking back at our trusty Yellowstone Map in the second photo of this post, we spent the night in Lake Village. We are now going straight up, heading for the Canyon Village area to see the most magnificent waterfall in the park (that will be covered next week). But to get there, first we have to drive through Hayden Valley. This was the road that was closed the night before. Now it was open.
Hayden Valley
For more information on Yellowstone, please check out these posts:
Hayden Valley is absolutely stunning! One of the prettiest areas in the park in my opinion. It is supposed to be one of the areas in the park where you go if you want to see wildlife; here or Lamar Valley. We were there at dawn, and we couldn't see any animals up close, but we could see them in the distance. There were a few people with cameras with telephoto lenses and binoculars were at all the look out points searching for animals.
Even though we couldn't see any animals up close (just dark blobs of what we thought could be animals), the place seemed absolutely magical at dawn. It was so quiet and peaceful.
Well I hope you enjoyed Day One of our visit to Yellowstone National Park!
Have A Great Day! Amy
Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!
Have A Great Day! Amy
Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!
