Yellowstone Lower Loop

 One day we took a drive around the lower loop of the park which included the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Yellowstone Falls, many hot springs & geysers, bison, and of course Old Faithful. We learned there were four kinds of thermal activity at Yellowstone: hot springs, geysers, mud pots, and steam vents (fumaroles). It was fascinating to learn about the volcanic activity that formed the area and is still present. A ranger told us that volcanic activity is 100 miles under our feet, but in some places it’s only 3 miles! All the spring areas are pretty stinky and the kid kept saying it smells like rotten eggs. 

Dragon Mouth Hot Spring 

Mud Volcano 

Hot springs 

There were warnings everywhere about staying on the path and being aware of the thermal ground and here were the bison just relaxing near the springs. 

All the kiddos at the Lower Falls 

Our rock climbers 

We hiked the South Rim Trail to the other side of the waterfall and got to see a rainbow at the base of the falls. 

Upper Falls 

Gorgeous view of the falls and the canyon from Artists Point 

Liam and Logan…these crazy sweet boys love playing together 

Upper Falls 

Norris Geyser Basin 

Old Faithful goes off about every hour and a half. We saw it about 8:30pm. It was so nice that it wasn’t that crowded and we were able to get seats up close. We were surprised at how long the eruption lasted, over three minutes. It was a great ending to the day.