Yellowstone

This special place was on my bucket list for a very long time – so I booked 9 nights at the campground just to be sure to catch a couple of beautiful sunny days. And it is always nice not to be in a hurry! It was good to have so many days, this park is just huge: 3472 mi² (8991 km², this is almost ¼ of the area of Switzerland!).

Thermal Areas

Old Faithful
To watch the Old Faithful Geyser Blow is probably the most famous thing to do in Yellowstone – and you can see that: a parking lot with thousands of cars and a sports event kind of atmosphere during the few minutes of the event – just watch the movie at the end of this blog to see and hear the crowd in action!

Grand Prismatic Springs and Firehole Lake Drive

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces

Hikes (and dog logistics):
And another reason, why I needed so much time here, is Eyra. You can’t take your dog to any hiking trails – and leaving Eyra in the car during a hike was no option. So I had to get up early, take Eyra for a walk in the Campground, and then leave her in the RV for the rest of the morning. This was possible, because in the mornings it was not so hot and I can ventilate the RV quite good. And because you have to drive sometimes more than an hour to the trailhead, I could only hike for a couple of hours. But anyway, I could enjoy the following hikes:

• Dunraven Pass to Mt Washburn (6.0 mi, 1350 ft up and down): big horn sheep, marmot, and awesome views
• Storm Point near Fishing Bridge (2.3 mi): bison
• Ribbon Lake Loop near Grand Canyon South Rim (5.0 mi): bison, thermal areas, great canyon views
• Grand Prismatic Spring overlook (2.0 mi): nice overlook but very crowded
• Natural bridge mountain biking (6.0 mi): nice bike trip, trailhead at my campground
• Mystic Falls near Biscuit Basin (3.9 mi): beautiful thermal areas and great views
• Hell roaring near Tower-Roosevelt (5.0 mi): great prairie landscapes, lots of bugs
• 

Grand Teton
I made a day trip to Grand Teton National Park. A great scenery with all the lakes and the mountains – and I’ve seen Moose (see here).

Up next: Wildlife in Yellowstone.