Biel On The Go

After almost 24h on the road, let’s go to Yellowstone National Park!

First let’s talk about Yellowstone. Fun facts: “Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872, is the first national park in the world. It spans across Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, covering over 2.2 million acres. Yellowstone is famous for its geothermal features, including Old Faithful, and holds the largest concentration of geysers on Earth. The park is home to diverse wildlife, such as bison, elk, and grizzly bears. It also sits atop a supervolcano, making it a geological wonder with its hot springs, fumaroles, and mudpots, attracting millions of visitors each year for its natural beauty and ecological significance.” ChatGPT.

Do you know Yellowstone is a huge volcanic caldera? Here some facts “The Yellowstone Caldera is a massive volcanic crater located in Yellowstone National Park, formed about 640,000 years ago after a massive volcanic eruption. It measures about 30 by 45 miles, making it one of the largest active volcanic systems in the world. The caldera is fueled by a hotspot beneath the Earth’s crust, which powers the park’s geothermal features like geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles. The last major eruption created the caldera, and while it’s still considered an active volcano, no major eruption has occurred since. However, it remains closely monitored for seismic activity and volcanic potential.” ChatGPT.

Here the official website of the park. I recommend that you read as much as possible before the trip so that you plan where to go.

Basically the park has a road with an 8 shape. See map below. It is super easy to orient yourself because you are almost all the time driving somewhere in the 8!

The map below shows the main attractions of the park and where they are located along the 8.

Go to the official website of Yellowstone to learn about each one of the main sightseeing spots. Click here.

Here another easy to read map with the TOP10 attractions of the park.

As mentioned in Day 2, we stay in Bozemann, so our closes entrance to the park is the North entrance. On the north there is a small city called Gardiner, which is the place to go if you are looking to stay in a hostel or bed&breakfast place and visit Yellowstone. There are also restaurants and several tours and guides. Right before Gardiner, there are beautiful spots. See below the pictures.

Our first stop was here, at the Mammoth at the very top of the 8.

What is the mammoth? “Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park is known for its unique limestone terraces, created by hot water from underground springs depositing calcium carbonate. Constantly evolving, these formations are a striking natural feature. Located near the park’s north entrance, it’s a popular destination for visitors.” ChatGPT.

Attention: bears are wild animals, do not get close! Everywhere in Yellowstone you can buy pepper spray cans to scare bears away in case they cross your way.

There is a saying in Yellowstone somewhat like that “If you spot a bear, climb a tree. You have 50% change of survival, because grizzly bears do not climb trees, only black bears.”.

Further to the northeast of the park at a place called Tower Junction, while driving, we saw for the first time in our lives an American Bison!!

Facts about the American Bison “The American bison, Yellowstone’s iconic animal, is the largest land mammal in North America. Yellowstone hosts the largest free-roaming bison population. Weighing up to 2,000 pounds, bison can run 35 mph. Once near extinction, conservation efforts have restored their numbers, symbolizing resilience and the American wilderness.” ChatGPT.

Attention: it is a wild animal!!! Do not come close to it, they can be very aggressive! They normally do not attack cars, so if you stay in the car it is normally safe.

Further east along this road out of the 8 you can find beautiful landscapes where the Bisons like to stay and rest. This is Lamar valley.

And a bit further down the road, here they are again! So close!

After visiting Lamar valley and spending time there, we decided to go back to the north entrance and continue the 8 counter clockwise. The reason was that there was too much traffic jam on the east side of the 8.

IMPORTANT: keep an eye on the traffic jams! You can see the situation on the signs or also online in Google. A 2 mile drive can take 2h if there are traffic jams inside the park. Common reason for jams are animals crossing the street, bear sights that lead all to stop and get out of their cars, even a broken car we saw… so, do not honk you can plan to see all the TOP sightseeing spots by driving one direction only and stopping one after the other…

So, we stopped south of the Mammoth springs.

Next stop, Golden Gate. Facts about the golden gate: “Golden Gate is a scenic canyon located in Yellowstone National Park, named for its golden-hued rock walls. It features a historic viaduct built in the 1880s to improve park access. The area offers stunning views of the canyon and surrounding cliffs, connecting Mammoth Hot Springs to other park attractions.” ChatGPT.

Some small and short stops until the next TOP attraction.

The next one is a TOP attraction, it is the Norris Geysir Basin.

Facts “Steamboat Geyser, located in Yellowstone’s Norris Geyser Basin, is the world’s tallest active geyser, with eruptions reaching up to 300 feet. Unlike Old Faithful, Steamboat’s eruptions are unpredictable, ranging from days to years apart. During eruptions, it releases massive amounts of steam and water, making it a spectacular natural event.” ChatGPT

At the very end of this long and beautiful day, on the way back to the car, we made some friends…

And now let’s go back to our hotel in Bozeman, 1h drive still u til we have dinner and rest.

(Yellowstone 2021)