I heard about the incredible nature of the United States when I was younger. Included the Yellowstone National Park. in Wyoming. How nice would it be to visit this place. 1872, the park became the first national Park in the world. A few years later, I became an Au pair in Seattle, Washington state. The Yellowstone was on my bucket list. I thought, now I’m close by, have the time and money to enjoy my life and to travel the world. In summer 2019 the day had finally come. My sister visited me and we planned our time together in which we traveled a lot.

We booked a tour with tours4fun. However, you can  drive to the park with your own car or book another tour. Here are the prices for entry to the park, which is 35$. If you plan to see several national parks, then the best thing to do is get the Annual Pass, it costs only 80 €.

Yellowstone has so many viewpoints to offer. Here are my top 7 places to visit.

1. Grand Prismatic Spring 

 Most of the people think about the Grand Prismatic Spring first, when they talk about the Yellowstone NP. I can’t blame them. The colors are so beautiful and when the smoke goes up, it seems so mystical. The thermal spring is 75 x 91 m and 50 m deep ( Elevation of 7270 feet and 160 feet deep). A footbridge leads to the lookout point. I can recommend to come early in the morning to avert the crowd. There is also the view point where you can look down on the spring. 

What a spectacle to see the Old Faithful live! There were so many people who admired the nature wonder. So you have to be patient and wait a long time to find a good spot. I put my arm up to get a photo without people. 😀 It looks so peaceful there. The Old Faithful erupted every 44 minutes to two hours and the Eruption hight is between 32 to 56 m (106 to 185 feet). Next to it, is the Old Faithful Inn. It’s worth it to take a look inside. You can use the restroom or buy souvenirs. 

3. Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone 

I didn’t know that the Yellowstone has also a Grand Canyon and a river which called Yellowstone River. The canyon is between 250 m and 400 m deep, between 500 m and 1300 m width and his stretch is around 32 km. There are also some waterfalls. Like the upper fall in the second picture with a hight of 33,2 m and the lower fall in the last photo with a hight of 94 m. Absolute beautiful and I liked also the coloring of the rocks. You have to see it with your own eyes!

4. Yellowstone Lake 

I took the picture at the West Thumb Geyser Basin. There are also many things to see, including the Yellowstone National Park. It has a surface of 352,2 km² (136 sq mi), lies at 2357 m (7,732 feet) about the sea level and is deepest spot is 122 m (394 feet) deep. I like the endless view and the mountains too. There is something relaxing about it. Good to know: the Yellowstone Lake is the largest freshwater lake in North America. 

5. Morning Glory Pool

Another pretty spring in the Upper Geyser Basin. The morning glory pool is 7 m (23 feet) deep and again the colors fascinate me. I didn’t know the spring before I visited the place. Honestly, I didn’t read a lot about the places I could visit in the Yellowstone National Park. Unfortunately, we only stayed there to take photos. So we could enjoy the view only for a short amount of time.

6. Grotto Geyser 

The grotto geyser is also worth the look. It erupted every 8 hours and the eruption height is about 3 m ( 10 feet) . Unfortunately I didn’t saw it erupted. Our tour guide had a strict plan, so we could see the main attraction. I’m really thankful for that, even it was sometimes stressful and you couldn’t enjoy the view because the next attraction had his turn. That’s why bring a lot of time with you to see all the beautiful places of the Yellowstone and maybe check the eruption times for each Geyser to miss nothing. 

7. Fountain Paint Pot

We visited the park on two days. The last day we went to the Fountain Paint Pot, which is located in the Lower Geyser Basin. There are a lot of Geysir, like the Fountain Geyser or the Clepsydra Geyser, which are also quite active. Very impressing when you consider that we aren’t far form the fountains. The eruption heights are approximately between 14 m (45 feet) to 23 m (75 feet), depending on the geyser. 

Did I miss a place? Let me know in the comments. 😉

Best,

Saskia ❤