Mighty Yellowstone!

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Aug 7-9, 2009

This was a vacation that we have been wanting to go for a long while and it worked out so fast this time that we didn't prepare anything except to pick up some maps from AAA (that was a big mistake, coming to know after the trip)!! We set out to visit my sister and family and decided to just turn around and take a trip to Yellowstone just like that.. With my cute little nephew, the trip turned out to be a pleasant one, even though we had some unpleasantries totally borne by ourselves!

First Day - Aug 7th - ALB to SLC - had some delicious home-made rotis - and set out to West Yellowstone in the evening. Reached there past mid-nite sometime (I don't think I could properly recall things that happened in my moments of somnambulism!) I cannot not mention the cooperation we got from the 2-yr old nephew! He literally put a cap on his face to avoid the headlights during the drive and peacefully slept without disturbing any of us! The place we stayed was a very decent one - Yellowstone Country Inn The unit was a two-bedroom spacious place with heating in each room! The attire we all chose to bring were summer shorts and t-shirts and temperature when we stepped out of the car was a chilling 38F!! (So much was our preparation to Yellowstone!). Lesson: Always check weather!

Second Day - Aug 8th - started sometime in the morning - had hot homemade-microwaved idlis for breakfast with chutney and had coffee at McD ... entered Yellowstone through the west entrance. We took the Grand Loop road that runs north, then east, then south where you can take a path to the east and out to the east entrance... We were amazed at the number of geysers that we saw everywhere.. Beautiful and dangerous!

Porcelain Basin

We planned to cover only the main spots (without any hiking trails) :( This link provided some guidance on things to see.

Except the Old Faithful, Yellowstone Lake, and West Thumb Geyser basin, we covered the rest on the first day. Mammoth Hot Springs was a bummer, as it rained heavily when we were there and we couldn't make it to the top with all our suitable attire! (sigh!).

Mammoth Hot Springs

The Yellowstone falls and the grand canyon of yellowstone was so spectacular that one would need a whole day or more to get some sense of satisfaction! Our stint of about an hour was totally unjustified! We had to go there again, just for this.


Lower Falls at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

All along, my nephew Aadarsh was meticulously repeating every spot that we mentioned!

We were trying hard to get out of the park to the east entrance before it was dark. Hard Luck! With so many beautiful landscapes and with so many buffaloes in our way in the middle of the roads, it turned out to be an ambitious goal.

Bisons, after showing some mercy on us, car passengers!

Finally, we did exit through the east entrance and went on a road that seemed like going nowhere in the dark! Finally, we did find our humble abode Absaroka Mountain Lodge! Needless to say, it was so cold that we dare ventured out!! It was really beautiful place in scenic location, which we didn't realise until the morning. We entered a mud road to go in and finally came to our small cabin. None of us stayed in a cabin before. So, we were all very curious and excited. It was such a small place, but as time went by, we realised how cozy it was!

Cabin at Absaroka Mountain Lodge

Next day morning, we all had the pancake breakfast that the lodge provided and headed our way out to realize how beautiful the landscape was around that area.. We set out to see to see the Old Faithful and the rest. On the way, we saw some geysers (active and dormant) in the Yellowstone Lake!

The old faithful erupted exactly 5 secs before we reached the spot and we didn't miss it! Otherwise, we would've have been delayed by more than an hour..

Old Faithful

On the way out, we passed through the south entrance to Grand Teton. Grand Tetons had a different beauty altogether.. Unfortunately, we hardly had any time to spend there. We just passed through, taking some pictures on the road side..

The Grand Tetons

Continued our journey back home to SLC and retired some time past 2 a.m...!

One tiring/exciting/wonderful trip to the Mighty Yellowstone!

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