Yellowstone is not only the first national park in the U.S., it was my first national park back in 1998. At 11 years old, I remember not truly appreciating it and eager to get to Disneyland. I returned in 2006 with a tour group but it was a short day trip with a few sights. 

With COVID-19 travel restrictions, a deeper appreciation of nature, and a husband who has never been, I decided to drive there for a summer road trip. The drive was about 12 hours that we divided into two days and made stops along the route. 

Saturday, August 15, 2020

We started our drive at 9:00 am and picked up Vietnamese lunchboxes. We arrived in Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park at noon and enjoyed our picnic lunch. Eastern Washington was beautiful in its own way. We also learned about petrified wood —a type of fossilization that causes wood to harden into stone-like material over millions of years

We continued our drive to Coeur d’Alene, a mountain town in Northern Idaho. We hiked a bit of the Idaho Centennial trail and then around Tubbs Hill. The views and lake were relaxing and beautiful, but the crowds and lack of masks were shocking. People seem oblivious to Covid-19. For that reason, we didn’t stop or wander the downtown area.

Tubbs Hill was a great place to find a quiet swimming spot despite the crowds. The water was clear, refreshing and reminded me of Lake Tahoe. Unfortunately, we weren’t prepared with our swimsuit or trunks so we only dipped our feet in.

Though busy, Coeur d’Alene seems like great place to get away for long weekend. I’m hoping to back back soon. We called it a night in a mountaintop cabin on a farm. It was cozy and adorable. Chi appreciated the hospitality and outdoor firepit. 

Sunday August 16, 2020

We continued our drive towards Missoula, Montana for lunch. We took out sandwiches from Tagliare Delicatessens and ate it at the riverfront park.

We continued a longer day of driving and arrived at Pine Creek Lodge, where we booked a shipping container cabin. This cabin was a hip and unique stay for the night.

Monday August 17, 2020 

In the early morning, we finished our journey and arrived at our destination, Yellowstone National Park. Entering through the north gate, our first stop was Mammoth Hot Springs. 

I intentionally planned to arrive by 7:00 to beat the crowds but was pleasantly also rewarded with glowing sunlight on these unique terraces. We wander the quiet boardwalks in our masks and took in the sights. I also didn’t anticipate a beautiful sunrise on the surrounding mountains.  

Chi was in complete awe at these unique features. When he got out of the car, he wanted to see a small steam pool from the parking lot but I urged him to see that on our way back and try to beat the crowds at the main attraction. On the way back, he didn’t even bother given what stunning sights he already saw. 

We had instant noodles, eggs, and spam for breakfast at the nearby picnic area. Most of our planned meals were self-prepared to minimize contact with others. We drove about an hour to Lamar Valley, a famous spot to view wildlife. Along the way, we encountered our first herd of bison.

We prepared lunch, musubi-inspired fried rice, and then visited the hottest and oldest thermal areas, Norris Geyser Basin. The landscape looked out of this world. 

Chi was eager to head to our campground but I was eager to make one more stop at the Artist Paint Pots. He reluctantly agreed and it was a short hike to see another collection of small geysers and one of my favorite sights of the trip. It was a thick goopy white mud pot. It looked like melted ice cream bubbling with a flakey section like spitting out wet cement. 

We finally made it to our campsite at Grant Campground and set up our tent for the next three days. We barbecued ribs for dinner, accompanied by salad before keeping warm against a campfire.

Tuesday Aug 18, 2020

I woke up in the cold at 5 am (4 am, Seattle time) and managed to get enough cell service to learn that the next Old Faithful geyser eruption will occur between 6:35 am to 7:00 am. As I knew this was the most famous geyser, I eagerly woke up Chi to get ready to catch the first eruption of the day. We packed our breakfast gear (our backpacking stove, pot, and oatmeal) and made it just in time for the eruption. The viewing area was empty! We enjoyed the show and then started to hike around the upper basin area. 

This unexpectedly was one of my favorite memory of the trip. The entire area was virtually empty and we enjoyed the boardwalk to ourselves. The sun was slowly rising and the sky glowed from purple, pink, and orange.

From the hot geysers and springs, steam was lifting from a thermal landscape. It was a surreal sight. Midway, we made our oatmeal and coffee on a bench while overlooking “Giant Geyser”.  

I remember researching that the Morning Glory pool was not to be missed. We continued hiking there before turning back. We were rewarded with this huge yellow, green, and blue pool to ourselves. This was, without a doubt, our favorite of the entire trip. It was stunning and impressive —best of all no one to share with. The colors are mainly created by bacteria, water depth, and light perception. It was also fascinating, but also sad to learn that this spring used to be crystal blue but due to natural and human debris, the colors changed to emerald green. 

We headed back to our car as the crowds arrived. The next Old Faithful eruption already had a large audience in the viewing platforms. We drove to Fairy Falls to hike to the Grand Prismatic Overlook. This was a busy spot and people were not wearing masks. When we first arrived at the overlook, it was cloudy and the spring was still a bit steamy… not the best view. So we continued 1.6 miles to Fairy Falls. They were nice but to be honest, underwhelming. I’ve seen better and it wasn’t worth the relatively boring hike. 

On the way back, the skies cleared up and the sun was out. I knew I had to make a small detour up to the overlook again. It was just as crowded as before  with unmasked people… but it was worth the unique glimpse of Grand Prismatic Spring in it’s full glory.

We were beat after the hike and it was getting hot. We headed back to camp to chill out and take a nap before exploring more. In the late afternoon, we ventured out again to Biscuit Basin near Upper Basin area. This was another thermal area which had our second favorite spring, Sapphire Pool.  It was vivid bright blue that looked falsely welcoming. 

Next we stopped at Midway basin, home to the Grand Prismatic Spring. We intended to visited after 6pm for minimal crowds but it was still a popular spot in the evening. Luckily, we didn’t have any issues finding parking like most do during peak times. To my surprised, there was this unique crater geyser here Excelsior Geyser. 

We continued walking along the one-way boardwalk to view the Grand Prismatic Spring. You couldn’t see much of it from ground level but you could see the patterns and rings of colors. Seeing it from above at the outlook and up close from ground level is both impressive… but also shared with many other fans. 

We headed back to camp and made chicken wings and salad for dinner. We enjoyed a toasty fire and I even saw some coyote-like animal lurking around!

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

It was another early sunrise morning to beat the crowds at Yellowstone Canyon. We started our drive around 6 am and watch the sunrise across Yellowstone Lake. It was beautiful. We saw a female elk along the way, which Chi and I tried to snap a photo of.

It wasn’t a great shot and Chi really wanted to see a male elk. As we’re driving, his wish was fulfilled. We saw a gorgeous male elk perched next to the road against the lake eating some grass. We parked safely and approached it from a distance to take some photos. It was a remarkable sight and we got newsworthy close-up photos from our car window as we drove by. 

We arrived at Artist Point and had a simple breakfast against a million-dollar view. We visited the upper falls and other viewpoints to admire lower falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We hiked down Red Rock trail since Uncle Tom’s trail was closed for a closer look.

Along the way back to camp, we passed through Hayden Valley where we saw an impressive amount of bison near the thermal areas. We admired them again and took some photos to remember them. 

After lunch and relaxing at camp, we had one more thermal area to explore, West Thumb basin. Unlike the others, this basin was next to Yellowstone Lake. 

We wandered the lakefront and admire the unique thermal beach. As we walked to our car, we spotted a lonely geyser and decided to pay it a visit. Wow, this guy was like boiling chocolate milk and I was getting very excited about how active it was.  

We ended our last night at Yellowstone with a canned soup by the warm fire.  We reflected on our trip and got ready for what’s to come, Grand Teton National Park.