Yellowstone National Park: Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Yellowstone Lake, & Grand Prismatic

We were told by many people that in order to catch a glimpse of moose in Yellowstone, you needed to be up early. So, on our second day at Yellowstone, that is what we did. We rose early and left our hotel in West Yellowstone and entered the park around 6:30 am. Unfortunately, even though we were up almost before the sun, we did not catch any glimpses of moose in the park. Still, it was good to get up and going early so we could beat the crowds.

The first place we visited this morning was Grand Prismatic Springs. This was the largest thermal pool in the park and boasts the most vibrant colors of all of them. Unfortunately, if you come early in the morning, the mist from the almost boiling water makes it too difficult to see the springs. After being told by some folks who had tried to do the same thing that the springs were unviewable, we headed up towards the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. After seeing the true Grand Canyon earlier on our trip, we knew that this Grand Canyon wouldn’t quite be the same - and truthfully, it wasn’t. But, the view was still beautiful and we were able to see both the Upper and Lower Falls which are some of the larger waterfalls in the park. I wouldn’t recommend spending more than an hour or so here as there is not much to do except hike up to an observation point or down to a lower viewing point. The Canyon Village nearby has bathrooms, a gift shop, and food and drinks available if you are interested.

Looking at the map of Yellowstone, you will notice that the main road of the park makes a figure eight design. Today, we decided to do a full circle on the lower loop which would take us past the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Yellowstone Lake, and lead us back to where we tried to begin our day, Grand Prismatic Springs. Some places to stop along the way would be: Norris Geyser Basin, Fishing Bridge, and the Lake Lodge. There is a small road that leads out to Gull Point in the Bridge Bay area that has some great views of the Lake Lodge and the marina.

Our last stop of the day was Grand Prismatic Springs. We managed to find parking and made the almost 1/2 mile trek up the boardwalk to see this massive thermal pool. It did not disappoint! The colors were so vivid and the steam slowly rising from the top of this placid pool made for a calming, yet eery sight. One thing that would have made this a bit better is if they had an elevated viewing area as the pool is quite large and I think you could get a much better view from up above. If you have an extender arm for your GoPro (as we did, thankfully!) or your phone, you can get some great shots of the pool.

After a long day of driving, looking for animals, and seeing what the lower loop of Yellowstone had to offer, we headed back to our hotel in West Yellowstone. Again, we headed back out to the Buffalo Bar for another fantastic dinner and were able to get to bed early in preparation for an even earlier day at Yellowstone.