After spending seven days on the road driving out to Yellowstone, we had planned to spend three full days in the park. We stayed right at Canyon Lodge, one of the hotels within Yellowstone. We got to Yellowstone on September 28th and left on October 2nd, which meant that we visited the park right at the end of its summer season. This meant that by the time we got there was a bunch of stuff/places around the park that had already closed or were closing while we were there. But that didn’t stop us from making the most of the time we had.
Day 1:
25-33 degrees Fahrenheit — woke up to five inches of snow
- First bison sighting
- Beryl Spring
- Old Faithful (introduction by Ranger Adam)
- Upper Geyser Basin
- Black Sand Basin
- Biscuit Basin
- Fountain Flat Drive
- Firehole Canyon Drive
Day 2:
22-39 degrees Fahrenheit – snow flurries throughout the day
- Roaring Mountain
- The Gallatin Range
- The Golden Gate
- Upper Terraces
- Mammoth Hotel
- Gardener, Montana
- Roosevelt Arch
- Elk Sighting
- Grand Loop towards Canyon Village
- Undine Falls
- Calcite Springs
- Tower Fall
Day 3:
23-39 degrees Fahrenheit
- Artists Paintpots
- Firehole Canyon Drive
- Fountain Paint Pot Trailhead
- Firehole Lake Drive
- Great Fountain Geyser
- Hot Lake
- Hot Cascades
- Midway Geyser Basin
- Grand Prismatic Spring
- Excelsior Geyser Crater
- Continental Divide
- Grant Village
- Yellowstone Lake Hotel
- Fishing Bridge
- LeHardy’s Rapids
- Dragon’s Mouth Spring
- Hayden Valley
- Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
- Artist Point
- Upper Falls
- North Rim
The next morning, we packed up the Jeep and headed towards Rapid City. It was snowing the entire way to the East entrance and by the time we got there around 10:45 they had actually closed the entrance, so a ranger had to come out and open the gate for us. On the way to Rapid City we drive through Bighorn National Forest and stopped to see Devils Tower. The drive from Yellowstone to Rapid City was good but long, we left our hotel in Yellowstone at 9:15 a.m. and ended up getting to our hotel in Rapid City around 7:15 p.m.
Follow along as I share more of my road trip adventure.
YourBackyardTourist 