Although we visited two years ago, Yellowstone National Park (America’s first and oldest National Park) is somewhere you can go year after year, always see something new and the experience hasn’t gotten old! Being this close to Yellowstone we had to stop, even if it was just for two days. Our drive from TRNP took us into the North Entrance of the park, the site of the Roosevelt Arch. Due to construction, we didn’t get to see this last time!
We spent the evening making our way through the park to our campsite at Grant Village (in the southern part of the park which was the only one available for reservation at this late date but also closer to the Grand Teton entrance). Our evening drive through Yellowstone provided us with some rain but after every rain storm there is a rainbow. To end what was a hectic day we got a double rainbow!
While I didn’t take as many pictures as I did two years ago (there is an old blog post from then with ALL the pictures), we took this time as a opportunity to just enjoy it. We stopped at Canyon Village, had a nice dinner and made it into our campsite somewhere around 10pm.
The next day (Saturday July 8th aka Bob Vinglish’s birthday!) we took our first shower in three days and felt refreshed enough to head to Grand Teton National Park. You can access the park by leaving Yellowstone through the south entrance. Although we visited here before, we only spent a half day and we got rained out. This time we lucked out with an absolutely beautiful day! We stopped a few times on our way to Jenny Lake to take it all in.
Once we got to Jenny Lake, we took the shuttle boat across the lake. We were so excited since this was suspended the last time we were there due to lightening! The shuttle boat takes you to the other side where we walked to Hidden Falls.
We wanted to get to Inspiration Point, however the “shortcut” trail from the falls was closed, so we took the longer hike. With about 600 feet of elevation gain, it was a little steep. Along the way we had a marmot cross our path and multiple aggressive chipmunks. No bears which is all I care about. Once you get to Inspiration Point you are greeted with gorgeous views of Jenny Lake and the Teton Range behind you.
The rest of the evening we spent back in Yellowstone visiting two of our favorites from last time: Old Faithful and the Midway Geyser Basin. We had maybe about a 10-15 minute wait to see Old Faithful erupt. (Perfect timing!) Then we headed to The Midway Geyser Basin, which is not far from Old Faithful. We enjoyed a nice walk around the geysers and caught a beautiful sunset to end our quick, but amazing visit to Yellowstone/Grand Teton.
A full moon lighted the way back to our campground where I dreamed of the day we can return again to Yellowstone!
Dietz Summer Road Trip 