Nature SpotYellowstone National Park

South Entrance to West Thumb

We traveled to Yellowstone via the south entrance from our base at Teton Village. The views are beautiful and the journey very scenic. The journey around Yellowstone can be broken into segments and the South entrance to West Thumb Junction is the first of these. At the entrance you pay and then get a guide to the park with maps, etc.

As you travel along the road you see fantastic panoramas of the Teton National Park Mountains. The Lewis River meanders along the right of the road and is very pretty, surrounded by green grass with the backdrop of the mountains. Shortly after the park entrance is the first waterfall you come across, Moose Falls. Here you can park and take a short trail to a small but pretty waterfall. Once visited you can carry along the road, passing all the fire damaged trees until you come to where the river runs under the road to the other side and here you can stop and visit the Lewis Falls.

Here you have to park along side the road and view the river and the waterfall from either the road bridge or walk along the river bank for a better view-watch your footing. Although Lewis Falls is quite small it is very pretty with water cascading down the falls, surrounded by woodland. We spotted quite a few chipmunks scurrying around. Both Moose and Lewis Falls are worth a ten minute stop for photos.

After this stop, carry along the road, passing the very large Lewis Lake on the left. There is a campground here with the usual array of water based activities such as boats, fishing, etc. Further up the road and just before the West Thumb Junction is Grant Village. Here you will find campgrounds, gas station, shops, restaurants, etc. If you need the toilet, stop here first before wandering further into the park. The gift shop has hundreds of good guide books and general information and photographic books about the park. Worth picking up a couple on you way home.

As we walked back to our car near Grant Village we passed some deer grazing in the trees. They were so close we could have touched them. Keep your eyes open for wildlife.

After Grant Village you come to West Thumb Junction, here you can turn left towards Old Faithful and the West entrance or right towards Fishing Bridge and the East entrance. We went right.

West Thumb to Fishing Bridge Junction

West Thumb Junction to Fishing Bridge Junction is the second section of our tour. The first place you come across is the Geyser Basin. There is a large parking area which you cross to access the wooded walkway which takes you round the area, approximately half a mile.

This area is truly spectacular and beautiful. It overlooks the huge and very blue Yellowstone Lake, but the reason you are here are the pools and springs that seem to be everywhere. If you follow the pathway, you wont miss anything, but be careful as bison roam freely. At one point we had to turn back on a path as a bison had decided to take a rest there and the park ranger was stopping people getting too close.

There are lots of pools and springs with strange names such as Seismograph and Bluebell, two pools which sit next two each other and vary in colour, one being deep blue the other green. There is the Black Pool, which is actually bright blue due to the fact that it is now much hotter than it used to be and the colour has become much lighter. Another pool is Abyss, which is one of the deepest pools at 53ft, it gently bubbles all the time. Blue Funnel Spring is almost a perfect circle and all round the edge is orange a brown from the minerals etc which come from it.

There is a long trail of orange and brown mineral deposits spilling from some of the pools down to the lake. These are quite beautiful too. There a series of pools known as paint pots, so called because of the colours of the pools and the surrounding minerals.

Many of the pools bubble and steam be careful of your camera lense as it may get steamed up. Some of the smaller pools bubble and splutter, making very strange noises.

This is a fantastic area to wander around and drink in the scenery. The walkway takes you along the banks of Yellowstone Lake, which is huge. There are many bubbling springs within the lake itself. You need to give yourself plenty of time here.

Back on the road, you travel onto Fishing Bridge Junction, you have the option to detour along Gull Point Drive off to the right. We did and it takes you along the bank of the lake. There are places to park and view the wildlife amongst the trees. We saw lots of birds which we had never seen before, being from the UK. If you miss this road, dont worry, you havent missed too much, but equally, given the chance, take the detour.

Fishing Bridge to Norris Junction

The first major point you come across on this part of the route is Le Hardys Rapids for which there is a parking area. Here you can watch trout jumping over the rapids during June & early July. We were here early July, but didnt manage to see any, typical.

The next major area is the Mud Volcano Area. Be warned this place stinks! The stench of sulphur is very strong here and takes your breath away as you exit your car. There is a very large car park with toilets, however, the toilets are awful, just a pedestal leading down to a deep hole in the ground.

The area has a walkway which is about a mile long and parts of which are quite strenuous due to the steep gradients and general lack of good quality air. The pools here consist mainly of mud pools which bubble and splutter at you, creating some very amusing noises. They go by some very odd names such as Churning Caldron, Black Dragons Caldron and Dragons Mouth Spring, which gurgles away throwing out spurts of hot mud with a belching, thumping type sound.

Some of the larger pools are found further up the trail, but it is worth the trek as the area looks like an alien landscape with bubbling mud, fire damaged trees etc.

Once you leave this area, you carry on the road towards Canyon Junction. This is a very scenic area with lots of fields containing bison, deer etc. If you are lucky you may even see a black bear, like we did. Unfortunately it was moving through trees and I was unable to get a good picture of it via the camcorder, but on the film you can just make out its backside as it darts through the trees.

Just before the junction, turn right into the Upper and Lower falls area. Again there is plenty of parking space. You can visit both falls and also walk along Uncle Toms Overlook which as the name suggests gives you a view over the falls. We walked to the lower falls and the view is spectacular. You end up very near the crest of the falls and can almost touch the water you do get sprayed. Looking to the right you see the river coming towards you then cascading loudly over the falls, dropping into the water valley below. It is beautiful and noisy with a small rainbow forming where the falls hits the water below.

From this area you then reach Canyon Junction and from here you travel to the next junction Norris. There is not much to see between these two junctions, just general scenery, but it is the only road from which you get East to West without going round the North loop road.

Canyon Junction to Norris Junction

Most of this section is quite uneventful until you get to the end Norris Geyser Basin. Again here there are parking, toilets and drinks machines. There is also a museum at which point you can turn left towards Back Basin or right to Porcelain Basin.

Back Basin. This area is like entering another planet. The landscape is unreal, with spouts of steam emerging all over the place, gurgling and bubbling going on and you half expect a dinosaur to come plodding in from the horizon. Again you follow a boardwalk which is approx 1.5 miles from which you will encounter geysers such as Steamboat Geyser. This one is just along from the entrance to this walk and almost constantly steams and sputters. We though that we were witnessing it erupt, as whilst we were there is spouted water & steam approx 15 feet in the air for some minutes, however the guide book says that Steamboat is the worlds largest geyser erupting some 380 feet high, but has many minor eruptions, which is obviously what we saw, impressive though it was. Another geyser is Echinus, which was constantly steaming and bubbling. There is the rather amusingly called Puff and Stuff Geyser, which gurgles noisily away puffing out steam is short blasts. Another amusing one is Pork Chop geyser, but this one doesnt do very much other than steam. It gets its name from its shape, which was created when it exploded in the 1980s leaving boulders all round it. There are also some pools here such as Green Dragon Spring which has three vents, Black Pit Spring which almost fizzes rather than bubbling and Emerald Spring which is a steaming green pool. There are many other geysers and pools in this area and it is well worth visiting.

The other side of this area is Porcelain Basin, again this resembles another planet and has many geysers and pools. Some of the main ones to look out for are Dark Cavern Geyser which erupts frequently throughout the day to about 20 feet, Fireball Geyser which is a small spitting geyser, Pinwheel Geyser, which splutters all the time, and Blue geyser which again spouts almost constantly. Another attraction of this area is Vermillion Springs which is basically a hillside full of steaming and bubbling geysers and springs. They are amazing colours such as yellow, red and orange.

This whole area is definitely worth a visit and you need to allow plenty of time as the whole area is about a three mile walk, and of course you are stopping often to view the scenery.

Madison Junction to Old Faithful Village

This section has many places to visit en route, the first being Firehole Canyon Drive, which is a two-mile drive. In this section, you can see Firehole Falls with its swimming area be careful, as there will be lots of cars pulled onto the side of the road whilst people take a swim. There are toilets, which you can change in should you have the urge.

Back on the main road following Firehole River on the right, the next point is on the left Great Fountain Geyser. This is a predictable geyser erupting every 10-12 hours up to 150 feet. We didnt see it erupt, just steaming.

The next point is Lower Geyser Basin which is a lovely walk through many pools and geysers such as Celestine Pool, which is large and very quiet. The next one is Fountain Paint Pot, again, a beautiful, large pool but it stinks! According to the guidebook, a man jumped into this trying to save his dog and they both died. Others in this area are Leather Pool, Twig Geyser, Jet Geyser this was erupting whilst we were there, up to about 25 feet or so - Spam Geyser and Celsydra Geyser, which seemed to be erupting the whole time we were here. There was hardly anyone here whilst we visited.

The next section, Midway Geyser Basin, should be the highlight, as it contains the largest hot spring in the entire park, the Grand Prismatic Pool. This is about 300 feet wide; however, because it is so big, from the ground, you cannot possibly appreciate it, so it can be a little disappointing. Get a guidebook to see aerial shots - it is truly beautiful.

Biscuit Basin is your next stop. This is another pleasant walk featuring Black Opal Pool, which is a beautiful deep green colour. Next to it is Wall Pool, then Sapphire Pool, Black Pearl Geyser, Mustard Spring, Silver Globe Geyser, Jewel Geyser and Island Geyser. The last two were erupting together whilst we were there and are apparently very active. Wouldnt you just love to be the person responsible for naming all these?

Back on the main road and your next stop will be Old Faithful Village. This is an area leading to Upper Geyser Basin, containing Old Faithful; I will cover this area separately. The village itself is worth a visit - there are several shops, restaurants, hotels, and a visitor center where you can get estimated eruption times. The car park is huge, and whilst here, we saw a wild wolf wandering round the car park. He popped up a little later too whilst we were watching Old Faithful erupt.

Upper Geyser Basin (Old Faithful)

This is a huge area with lots to see and you need to allow plenty of time to wander round, at least half a day, preferably longer.

The first geyser you come across is the most famous Old Faithful. There is a wooden seating area around the perimeter of the geyser and it erupts regularly every 90 minutes or so. Definitely worth getting here early if you want a seat. Every eruption is different, we saw three, the first was good, the second brilliant and the third a little disappointing by comparison.

After you have watched an eruption, you can take a path either side of Old Faithful. We went right first, past the shops etc. You dont miss anything from the other route as you come back that way. The first geyser you come across is Castle Geyser, which is a cone shaped geyser and is constantly steaming. The next is Tortoise Shell Spring which is the hottest in the park and is shaped like a tortoise, apparently! At this point it is worth a slight detour to Crested Pool, which is along a spur path. This pool is ten sided and almost symmetrical. It is very beautiful. The next cluster includes Daisy Geyser, Splendid Geyser, Punch Bowl Spring (which is lovely), and Black Sand Pool. Once you have seen these, make your way back to the main pathway and carry onto Culvert Geyser which is very green in its center.

The next stops are Fan Geyser (which has 11 vents), Mortar Geyser, and Spiteful Geyser (which spits towards the path). The next is Morning Glory Pool, which I especially wanted to see, but it was much smaller than I had expected, but still very beautiful. Apparently it is loosing its colour due to the many people who throw coins into it -- the mind boggles as to why someone would want to.

At this point, you start to come back on yourself and come across Riverside Geyser, Spa Geyser and Grotto Geyser. This one looks like a load of steaming boulders. We watched Giant Geyser erupt next, quite high about 40 feet. Chromatic Pool and Beauty Pool are next to each other and show off beautiful colour variations. Vent and Turban Geyser are the next pair. Sawmill Geyser erupted whilst we were there too.

There are lots of smaller pools and geysers on this route and everywhere you turn you see something. You are now walking towards Geyser Hill, this is a great vantage point for viewing old Faithful. We saw our second and best eruption from here. After this you basically make your way back down toward Old Faithful and the main village area.

This section was one of the most active we came across, everywhere you look something is erupting or steaming. Not to be missed.

West Thumb to Fishing Bridge Junction

West Thumb Junction to Fishing Bridge Junction is the second section of our tour. The first place you come across is the Geyser Basin. There is a large parking area which you cross to access the wooded walkway which takes you round the area, approximately half a mile.

This area is truly spectacular and beautiful. It overlooks the huge and very blue Yellowstone Lake, but the reason you are here are the pools and springs that seem to be everywhere. If you follow the pathway, you wont miss anything, but be careful as bison roam freely. At one point we had to turn back on a path as a bison had decided to take a rest there and the park ranger was stopping people getting too close.

There are lots of pools and springs with strange names such as Seismograph and Bluebell, two pools which sit next two each other and vary in colour, one being deep blue the other green. There is the Black Pool, which is actually bright blue due to the fact that it is now much hotter than it used to be and the colour has become much lighter. Another pool is Abyss, which is one of the deepest pools at 53ft, it gently bubbles all the time. Blue Funnel Spring is almost a perfect circle and all round the edge is orange a brown from the minerals etc which come from it.

There is a long trail of orange and brown mineral deposits spilling from some of the pools down to the lake. These are quite beautiful too. There a series of pools known as paint pots, so called because of the colours of the pools and the surrounding minerals.

Many of the pools bubble and steam be careful of your camera lense as it may get steamed up. Some of the smaller pools bubble and splutter, making very strange noises.

This is a fantastic area to wander around and drink in the scenery. The walkway takes you along the banks of Yellowstone Lake, which is huge. There are many bubbling springs within the lake itself. You need to give yourself plenty of time here.

Back on the road, you travel onto Fishing Bridge Junction, you have the option to detour along Gull Point Drive off to the right. We did and it takes you along the bank of the lake. There are places to park and view the wildlife amongst the trees. We saw lots of birds which we had never seen before, being from the UK. If you miss this road, dont worry, you havent missed too much, but equally, given the chance, take the detour.