Good Ol' Yellowstone

Connor and I had been itching to visit another National Park, something that had come to a halt with the ever-changing landscape of the pandemic. With the start of LDRing, a new concrete city to live in, and a time-consuming graduate program, we planned this grand trip to Montana to hit not one - but two national parks during my break between summer and fall semester. Planning in advance allowed us to book a rental car - a hot commodity during the pandemic, find in-park lodging and book entrance tickets. I also was able to read “Death in Yellowstone” by Lee Whittlesey, for the full rundown on how not to act.

Day 1

After flying into the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport, Connor and I zipped along straight to Yellowstone, only an hour drive away. We anticipated little cell service, so we downloaded multiple offline google maps of the area. What we did not anticipate was lack of establishments in this remote part of the country. Fortunately, we came across a little pizza shop in Livingston, MT called Gil’s Goods where we got a surprisingly good wood-fired pie and soaked in the ambiance of this cowboy-esque town that felt like we had entered an older Western movie.

We entered Yellowstone through the Northeast entrance and I got my first look at the calcium carbonate-encrusted hot springs that Yellowstone is so famous for. Connor and I wandered up and down the steps of Mammoth Hot Springs, enamored by the vastness of hot springs. The heat we felt against our face was a reminder that though welcoming, some of the waters were scalding. We continued along Grand Loop Road, making stops for smaller hot springs at the turnouts and the occasional bison having a sit.

Day 2

Our next day started bright and early at the Running Bear Pancake House where Connor had a delicious trout and egg breakfast. We entered Yellowstone from the West to make our way towards Old Faithful, making a worthwhile detour along Firehole Canyon Road. I’ve found that some of the off-road hot springs are more intriguing to me than the grand tourist attractions, such as one we found off Fountain Flats. Nonetheless, we made stops at the Paint Pots loop and were fortunate to see a spring erupting, as well as the beautiful grand prismatic spring. By the time we got to Old Faithful, we figured we might as well stick around for an eruption, so we grabbed a beer, a huckleberry ice cream sandwich and sat on some makeshift seats (fallen trees), a much better option than sitting amongst the crowded benches near the geyser.

Afterwards, we continued on Grand Loop Road with an essential stop for Isa Lake, and came across a trail to a Natural Bridge where I managed to fall walking uphill. On our way out of the park, we stopped at the Mud Volcanos, an interesting variation of the hot springs.