My trip to Yellowstone started with an early morning drive to Schwabacher’s Landing to watch the sunrise on the Tetons. It was a chilly morning, but there were a good amount of people bundled up to watch the Tetons turn pink as the sun hit them. It was also a full moon so that made it special. I was very happy to have my hot coffee to help keep my hands warm!
I headed up the highway to Yellowstone, listening to a captivating audiobook, The Other Mrs., it has had quite a few twists and turns so not sure who the bad guy is, my favorite kind of audiobook fora long drive. My first stop was at Grand Prismatic Hot Spring where I ended up just in front of a group of junior high students from Flagstaff Arizona. It reminded me of when my kids were in middle school – all that hormonal energy. There was also a group of motorcyclists from France. The color of the water in the different pools was just amazing, intense blues and turquoise. I hiked to the Grand Prismatic overlook which gave an incredible view then went on to Fairy Falls. It was pretty hazy from the fires in Idaho, and the day was definitely warming up. I skipped going to Old Faithful as I knew there would be a bazillion people there and that was the only part of Yellowstone I remembered from the trip as a kid.
Next I checked out the Sapphire Pools and Mystic Falls and slowly my way to the campground stopping at Fire Hose Falls along the way (who knew Yellowstone had so many waterfalls?!) as well as Steamboat Geyser. I got settled into my camping spot which was pretty roomy and relatively private.
Since I wasn’t ready to make dinner yet and the campground was near the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone I decided to check it out and was so glad I did. Going during the time most people were at dinner meant that parking wasn’t a problem at all, there was barely anyone on the roads and the sky was beautiful in the dusk especially reflecting off of the canyon walls at Artist Point. It was just amazing, I had no idea this was even part of Yellowstone, it was just as gorgeous to me as the Grand Canyon itself. A sweet young woman wearing a sweatshirt that read ‘Making Jesus Famous’ took my photo at the Artist Point lookout as the sun was setting and I did the same for her. The only other folks around were a young woman, her mom and her grandma sitting together watching the sunset.
I got back to my campsite as it was starting to grow dark, got my dinner together and relaxed in front of the campfire, made s’mores for what could be the last time on this trip. It was warmer than I expected, I didn’t need a long sleeved shirt until dinner time. The campground was quiet and I barely read 2 pages of my book before I fell asleep, dreaming about tomorrow!
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