Yellowstone National Park. Part 1. Aug, 2025

Yellowstone is a massive national park in the United States, spread across the top of a dormant supervolcano. Thanks to its volcanic activity, the park contains two-thirds of all the geysers in the world, along with countless hot springs, waterfalls, canyons, фантастических “alien-like” landscapes, and abundant wildlife. Want to walk with us across land beneath which a volcano is still simmering, hear the roar of geysers, smell the sulfur in the air, and watch the sunrise surrounded by a herd of bison? Then come along with us! 

The park stretches across the territory of three U.S. states — Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. You can enter it from several different directions. We entered through the West Entrance and stayed nearby. Before the trip, I studied many ready-made itineraries, but none of them seemed ideal to me. Now, after visiting, I have my own route plan — convenient and packed with highlights — which I’ll share here.
As usual, I’ll start with a few travel tips.

How much time do you need to see the main highlights?
Three full days is the minimum. If possible, it’s much better to add a couple more days (as we did) so you can enjoy Yellowstone without rushing.

What is the best time of year to visit?
Summer is the best season. All roads and areas of the park are open, the weather is warm, and the days are long. The downside is crowds and traffic jams. During other seasons, you may encounter poor weather and limited access to some locations.

Weather
In summer, daytime temperatures can reach +30°C (about 86°F), while nights may be chilly (+5…+10°C / about 41–50°F) . Surprisingly, there are almost no mosquitoes or midges in summer.

Safety
The geysers, hot springs, and mud pools of Yellowstone are incredibly beautiful, but also dangerous. The water and mud can reach temperatures of +80–100°C, so it is essential to stay on the wooden boardwalks and designated trails at all times. Never touch the water or mud, step on the edges of the pools, or throw objects into them.

Accommodation
The best option is renting a cabin or cottage. There are hotels, but not many. It is much more convenient to have the ability to cook your own meals.

Food
There are restaurants in the park, but not many, and most serve simple American food. There are also supermarkets, though prices are not cheap. It is still easier to prepare your own breakfasts and dinners.

Expenses
Park entry costs $35 per car for one week. The main expenses are transportation to the park and food.

How to get to the park from Canada (West Entrance)
There are several options:

Our original plan was to fly to Calgary, rent a car, and drive to the park (about 9 hours). The Air Canada strike forced us to make some changes, so we had to find alternative routes, but in the end we made it.

Another option is flying into Salt Lake City. From there, it is about a 5-hour drive to the park.

There are also two airports closer to Yellowstone, though flights there are more expensive. The closest is the small Yellowstone Airport, located just 20 minutes from the park. Another option is Bozeman Airport, about a 2-hour drive away.

And now, on to the trip itself.

Day 1. Arrival

We check into our cottage. We rented it through Airbnb about 6 months before the trip. The cottage was large, clean, comfortable, and fully equipped for a week-long stay. There were 10 of us, and everyone had plenty of space. We stocked up on groceries at the nearest supermarket, cooked dinner, relaxed, and planned the days ahead

Day 2. Geyser Wonders and Hot Springs 

Today we are heading into the very heart of one of the planet’s greatest geothermal wonders — a unique area where the Earth itself boils, bubbles, hisses, and erupts. Ahead of us are geysers, hot springs, bubbling mud pots, and colorful thermal pools unlike anything else in the world.

It’s going to be a packed day. We leave at 7 a.m. Early starts are definitely helpful, but since we were visiting several locations throughout the day, by the second stop we were no longer arriving early, and parking could sometimes become an issue.

We drive 30 minutes from the West Entrance.

Lower Geyser Basin
Stop #1. Parking: Fountain Paint Pot parking lot.

This is where the Fountain Paint Pots are located. We walk along a short loop on wooden boardwalks past bubbling mud pots, fumaroles, and mini geysers. Everything is close together, easy to access, and very impressive.

The trees around the Fountain Paint Pots look like dried sticks — the hot water and minerals in the soil burn their roots, causing them to die and leaving behind only gray trunk

Fumaroles are openings in the ground from which hot steam constantly escapes, like smoke coming from an underground pipe. There are also mud pots — bubbling pits of liquid mud that boil and gurgle 

We drive 10 minutes and arrive at our next stop.

Midway Geyser Basin
Stop #2. Parking: Midway Geyser Parking Lot.

Here you’ll find what is arguably the most beautiful place in the park — the Grand Prismatic Spring, an enormous hot spring with unreal, vibrant colors, like a giant rainbow on the ground (see the cover photo of this post). It’s the image most people picture when they think of Yellowstone.

Along the way, steam bursts rise here and there from the ground, and the air carries the distinct smell of sulfur

A little later, we will see the spring from above, but for now we walk along the wooden boardwalks around it. We also see other steaming hot springs with turquoise water 

It’s so beautiful here! 

We drive just 5 minutes.

Stop #3. Grand Prismatic Overlook Trail
Parking: Fairy Falls Parking Lot. We had to wait a bit for a spot to open up.

From here, we take a trail up to the viewpoint overlooking the Grand Prismatic Spring. This is where the most beautiful view opens up.

And my photographer, with a little help, is trying to capture an even better shot :)

The total round-trip length of the trail is about 2.5 km. It was also possible to continue on to Fairy Falls (which would have made it around 8 km in total), but that day it was too hot for a long hike, and we had even more impressive waterfalls planned for the next day.

Despite its magical and seemingly calm appearance, the spring is extremely dangerous. Just a month and a half earlier, a careless bison fell through the fragile ground and died from severe burns.

We head back to the parking lot and drive for about 10 minutes. But along the way, we make a short unexpected stop

Stop #4. Black Sand Basin and Rainbow Pool
Parking: Black Sand Basin Parking Lot

This is a small, compact, but very impressive area that can be explored in about 10–15 minutes

We drive 7 minutes to the next stop.

Upper Geyser Basin
Stop #5. Parking: Old Faithful Visitor Center.

Here you can admire Old Faithful Geyser — the park’s most famous geyser and a true Yellowstone superstar! It erupts approximately every 90 minutes, shooting hot water and steam dozens of meters into the air

Nearby is the largest and most beautiful visitor center in the park, where you can check the exact eruption schedule, as well as grab a coffee or buy souvenirs 

Next to Old Faithful, there is a trail leading to numerous smaller geysers. This is actually the largest concentration of geysers in the world. The full loop is about 5 km long, but we decided not to walk the entire route. Instead, we drove a couple of minutes from the main parking area to the nearest access point to the geyser fields and did a short loop there.

Stop #6.
To find this spot, you just need to look toward the geysers and spot a white rise in the distance — that is Castle Geyser. (Directly across the road, there is a large parking lot.)

And here is my favorite geyser — Sawmill Geyser. It is thousands of years old, and all these years it has been putting on this kind of show — fountains of hot water and steam that are periodically blasted into the air, like a natural performance that is never exactly the same twice 

And this very small natural pool is called the Belgian Pool. It used to have a different name, but in 1929 a tourist from Belgium fell into it and died almost instantly from severe burns — the water in the pool was extremely hot, around +80°C (about 176°F) 

Day 3. Safari, Canyons, Waterfalls 

Today we had a very early wake-up, as we wanted to see wildlife in its natural habitat — and the best time for that is early morning or late evening. We didn’t quite dare to venture out alone into the wild at night, but we were absolutely ready to leave the house at 4 a.m. to welcome the sunrise together with nature.

We drive about 1.5 hours from the West Entrance.

Stop #1. Hayden Valley
In Hayden Valley, along the road, there are several small pullouts where you can stop, take out binoculars, and patiently wait for wildlife to wake up and reveal itself. The most popular viewing spots are Alum Creek Pullout and Grizzly Overlook / Hayden Valley Overlook at Yellowstone River.

At first, it seemed like we might not be lucky with wildlife. It was a cold, foggy morning, and we kept sitting in the car, scanning the fields and hoping to spot at least a lone wandering bison…

And then — luck finally arrived. A herd of wild bison appeared in the field. And then — almost in slow motion — they all started crossing the road toward the river, right between the cars of excited tourists. It was probably one of the most powerful moments we experienced during the entire trip

We drive 15 minutes to the next stop.

Stop #2. Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

This canyon is about 30 km long and up to 300 meters deep. At the bottom, the Yellowstone River rushes through with roaring, foaming water, slowly carving these steep cliffs over thousands of years.

There are several viewpoints along the canyon, all of which are easy to find since they are located right by the road with convenient parking areas nearby. It’s also easy to identify the most spectacular spots — just look for where the crowds are gathered.

For example, here is the view from Lookout Point. The waterfall drops from nearly 100 meters and crashes into the canyon below with a powerful roar. You just stand there, unable to take your eyes off the view

Nearby there are also other viewpoints — Artist Point, Red Rock Point, Inspiration Point — each offering its own unique perspective.

To be honest, we didn’t really keep track of the names; we simply stopped wherever we saw people gathered and enjoyed the views

The canyon also has many trails of varying difficulty. We chose the Brink of the Lower Falls Trail to descend right to the very top of the waterfall 

The route is not long (about 1 km round trip), but the descent is quite steep, and the way back is a constant uphill climb. Hiking enthusiasts could choose longer trails, but we had other plans for the day.

Stop #3
First, we stopped at Canyon Village, just a few minutes away. There were a few souvenir shops and cafés. The coffee was very welcome, as our day had started at 4 a.m., and even though we had already seen so much, it was only 9 a.m.

Then we continued driving, and about 40 minutes later made another stop.

Stop #4
We made a short stop at Tower Fall — grabbed a snack and some ice cream to recharge before continuing our drive.

And here is the waterfall itself: a powerful stream of water drops nearly 40 meters, surrounded by striking, sharp rock formations that resemble towers — which is how the waterfall got its name

From here it’s not far to Lamar Valley. Like Hayden Valley, it is famous for its rich wildlife. This is where you can often see herds of bison, deer, and, if you’re lucky, even wolves or bears. However, since animals are most active either early in the morning or late in the evening, we decided not to go there.

We drive another 45 minutes and arrive at the final stop of our route for the day.

Stop #5
Mammoth Hot Springs

A beautiful area in the northern part of the park. Here you can see unique white and multicolored terraces formed by the interaction of hot water with limestone. Mineral-rich water flows down the slopes, creating patterns in shades of white, gold, orange, and even soft green.

It takes about 1.5 hours to walk the full loop (around 2.5 km) along wooden boardwalks. It was a hot day, so we didn’t complete the full circuit and instead just walked around and got closer to the most impressive terraces

Along the way, you can see an unusual formation — Liberty Cap — a “stone cone” that formed thousands of years ago from a now-petrified hot spring 

It was a long day. In the evening, we grilled barbecue, enjoyed a delicious meal, played games, and sat around the campfire

Tomorrow we won’t be waking up quite so early anymore. Ahead of us are new discoveries: a scenic lake, landscapes that look like they’re from another planet, a drive to Calgary, and one more day in the city. And then, full of impressions and completely satisfied, we will head home. But more on that next time…