Yellowstone National Park, Sep-2026

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Old Faithful — **Yellowstone National Park, WY**
*Sep 13 - 17, 2026*

Sunday, Sep 13

🌤 Weather: Good travel weather.

🛪 Travel Day

Our flight was delayed about 2 hours and we arrived in Bozeman about 1pm. Had a nice lunch at Map Brewing Company before taking the 1 1/2 hr drive South to Yellowstone's North Entrance.

About Yellowstone National Park

"Yellowstone National Park is as wondrous as it is complex. Established primarily to protect hydrothermal areas that contain about half the world's active geysers, the park also forms the core of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. At 28,000 square miles, it is one of the largest, nearly intact temperate-zone ecosystems on Earth. It preserves a great variety of terrestrial, aquatic, and microbial life.

Natural processes operate in an ecological context that has been less subject to human alteration than most others throughout the nation—and throughout the world. This makes the park an invaluable natural reserve and reservoir of information."

You can learn more about the park here: Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone Entrance - Roosevelt Arch

Just past the entrance to Yellowstone is the Roosevelt Arch (named after Teddy Roosevelt), pretty cool.

Mammoth Hot Springs Village - Elk visitors

Our first night we are staying in a small cabin at the Mammoth Hotel (note- not all have bathrooms but we made sure when booking ours did). We checked in and made a quick stop at the visitor center 10 minutes before they closed at 5pm. The ranger pointed us in the right direction to hike the boardwalks of the lower terrace and mentioned Elk tend to visit the village about 5:30. Sure Enough about 20 showed up! A couple of Rangers were there to make sure the tourists didn't get too close. By the way, you should keep 25 yards (minimum) from elk and bison and 100 yards (minimum) from bears and wolves.

Lower Terrace Board Walks

We walked all the board walks of the Lower Terrace just outside the village. The terraces were our first of many amazing geologic wonders we experienced in Yellowstone. And a bonus, an Elk was posted up one of the terraces...he liked getting his picture taken and even smiling in one!.

A good first experience in Yellowstone and it is nice we are staying right in the park for three nights.

Monday, Sep 14

🌤 Weather: 60s, partly cloudy.

Upper Terrace Loop Drive

We started the day by taking the short Upper Terrace Loop drive in the Mammoth area for some nice views.

Norris Geyser Basin - Complete Loop Hike

We headed South down to the Norris Geyser Basin. When we got there parking was jammed full so we ended up parking on the side of the road. Luckily, just feet from our car was a trail that headed right to the Information center! When we got there a Ranger talk was about to start so we stayed for talk which, as always, was fun and informative. After the talk we headed out to our hike and an incredible landscape.

Because the ground can be very dangerous they built boardwalks all around the basin so we walked all the board walks in the basin including Porcelain and Back Basins. Amazed at the steaming fumaroles (steam vents) color full Hot Springs and a few geysers in this basin. Lot's to see!

Fun Facts I originally thought the different colors in the hot springs was due to different trace minarals but that is not the case. The center Blue is the hottest around 190 degrees with water coming directly up from the ground. Too hot for even the heat loving microbes. The blue is caused by the water absorbing red light and scattering blue. The outer rings become cooler and the colors in those rings are from cyanobacteria and archaea heat loving microbes (thermophiles). The cooler edges (~130deg)are red and rust brown, then mid temperatures of ~ 140deg are orange and yellow, then warmer still ~160deg are yellowish-green microbes. Fascinating!

Picnic Lunch

After our Norris Basin hike we drove down the road to a peaceful picnic area along the river and ate our cheese and mustard sandwiches, pickles and apples ... our standard National Park picnic lunch!.

Artists Paint Pots Hike

After lunch we drove to another cool area of the park called Artists Paint Pots. And, true to its name, lot's of the hot springs looked like different colors of paint. We especially like the gurgling mud pot you can see in a couple of pictures and watch the video too!

Steam Vent - Waterfall

After Artists Paint Pots we headed toward the old faithful village and made a couple of stops along the way. The steam vent was really cool with high powered steam pouring out of two large holes next to the bubbling hot spring. Turn the sound on for the steam vent video. And our last stop was a nice waterfall.

Old Faithful!

We are staying in a dorm like cabin at the Old Faithful Lodge. Not great but staying in the park is the way to go with such a big park. After checking in I went for a beer and Kathryn took a nap before heading out for dinner. We ate at a pizza place in the village and it was OK. The NPS app for Yellowstone publishes expected times for Old Faithful to erupt. Usually every 90 minutes plus or minus 12. We caught the tail end of Old Faithful going off as we arrived back at the Inn. We got the full event the next morning!

Tuesday, Sep 15

🌤 Weather: 50s to 60s

1st Bison and Old Faithful!

Behind our cabin we got our first Bison sighting! Notice a little steam in the picture. steam is everywhere in Yellowstone. Then, using the NPS app it was easy to be at Old Faithful (just a short walk from the Inn) for the full event.

Fun Facts: Old Faithful erupts approximately every 90 minutes, last between 1 1/2 - 5 minutes, averages a height of 130' and expels 3700 - 8400 gallons of boiling water. Wow!

Yellowstone Lake

We checked out of the Inn and continued our loop around Yellowstone going East then North heading to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone area. Along the way we drove past Yellowstone Lake. Stopped for a picnic lunch by the lake - same menu as yesterday! Fun Facts: The lake is 7737' above sea level and is the largest lake in North America above 7000', spans 136 square miles with 110 miles of shoreline and a maximum depth of 304' ... Impressive!

Bison

Near the lake and in the grasslands we saw lots and lots of Bison mostly at a distance but some where up close to the road.

Fun Facts: Bison are the largest mammal in North America weighing up to 1000lbs but they are still fast and can reach 35mph. In 2015 the Bison Yellowstone herds were estimated at 4900 and have roamed the Yellowstone grasslands since prehistoric times. We saw bison herds in the spring at Wind Cave National Park too so it was fun to see them for the second time this year!

Canyon South Rim - Upper Falls, Lower Falls, Crystal Falls to Artist Point Hike

We continued onto the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone area with a completely different look and feel from the geyser basins area. The afternoon hike was along the South Rim of the Canyon with views of three waterfalls along the trail. Out and back, light traffic, nice!

After the hike we headed to nearby Canyon Village (another village within the park) staying at the Canyon Lodge which was a little nicer and newer than our previous two nights. Another good day in the park!

Wednesday, Sep 16

🌤 Weather:

50s - 60s, mixed clouds and sun...perfect hiking weather

South Rim - Point Sublime via Artists Point

Our first hike started where yesterday's hike ended at Artist Point. Out and back, along the canyon rim, light traffic. Sweet.

North Rim - Red Rock Point, Lookout Point and Grand View Hike

After our picnic lunch we crossed over to the North Rim and did our final hike. Nice!

Dinner

Then it was time to leave Yellowstone and drive back to Bozeman staying close to the airport for our final night. Had a nice dinner at The Club Tavern Grill

Thursday, Sep 17