DAY 7 {P2} OF 10 OF OUR EPIC SUMMER JOURNEY

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK ~ DAY 2 {P2}!

DAY 7 - Yellowstone National Park Upper Loop ~ Mammoth Hot Springs

They say that "once you visit Yellowstone, it will forever call you back".

It's easy to see why. It's the oldest national park in the US (and the second oldest in the world!), has such a rich history, grand sweeping vista views, roaming herds of bison and other wildlife (we even saw a mama bear with her cub way up in the forest) and the vivid living colors that manifest from the thermal features from its underground supervolcano. Many scientists are actually baffled as to the changing landscape of Mammoth Hot Springs and physicists say the key to understanding the process is ignoring the details of mineralogy and geochemistry. One professor went as far as to say, "You don't really need to know things."

Truthfully, maybe some things don't need explanation... only admiration.

As I mentioned in Day 7 {P1}, the Upper Loop of Yellowstone is so beautiful and we took SO many photos and videos that I decided to create dedicated posts to both the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and Mammoth Hot Springs. They are VASTLY different from one another!

Since we were traveling the Upper Loop on Day 7, Mammoth Hot Springs was on our MUST visit itinerary. It's exquisite! The Springs are divided into the Upper and Lower terraces and it only takes about a little over an hour to hike along the boardwalks of both.

Upper Terrace Drive

Lower Terrace Drive

One of the coolest things about Yellowstone are all its hydrothermal features. In fact, there is LITERALLY no place on Earth with such a large and varied collection of geysers, hot springs, fumeroles, mud pots, etc. The Park actually sits atop the largest supervolcano in North America! The system is still considered active and holds a reservoir of magma large enough to fill the Grand Canyon more than a few times. Just 'Wow!', right?!

The boardwalks that weave throughout the formations have about 300 feet of elevation change and cover about 1.75 miles. We took our time and walked them pretty leisurely, just taking it all in.

 

  

People say that Mammoth Hot Springs looks like an inside-out cave. I actually think it looks ethereal and otherworldly. There's a pretty diverse landscape throughout Yellowstone and this place has all these beautiful colors, shapes and textures. It's fascinating!

Four peas in a pod!

This was one of my most favorite views. I think the dead trees are both ghostly and beautiful at the same time.

I absolutely loved this view as well! This geological formation was called "Minerva Terrace".

 

 

See? Lots of boardwalks!!

Lots more of my favorite view. Seriously, y'all... Mammoth Hot Springs is simply UNREAL!! 

 

The landscape is ever-changing and they say the rocks at Mammoth Hot Springs are actually growing ~ at a rate of 1-5 millimeters per day.

This little guy wasn't concerned about us in the least... paid us zero attention!

My advice: There is SO much to see and do in Yellowstone National Park and the 2 days spent here were absolutely amazing. We saw the majority of the main sites and even worked a moderate hike into our agenda. The fact that we were there during peak season (early July) and didn't run into any {real} traffic issues was spectacular! I'm on the fence about saying I would've liked to stay an additional day, because I believe we really were able to see all the things that we really wanted to without feeling too rushed. But because the Park is so huge and there are a ton of shorter hikes you can do, I think we would have been able to fill a 3rd day itinerary as well. 

Accommodations: AirBNB in Island Park, ID, which was about 30 minutes away from the West Entrance. Again, accommodations inside the Park are booked up to 18 months in advance and are pretty pricey (typically over $200 per night). With our {large} crowd of 9, we wanted to be budget conscious. If there's any do-overs that I would say for this leg of the trip, it would have to be to stay in West Yellowstone, a little closer to the park. Although the drive from Island Park really wasn't that far and we were all able to stay under 1 roof, West Yellowstone is such a cute town with a lot of restaurants, shopping, etc.

What I learned: Many say that once you visit Yellowstone, it will forever call you back and it's easy to see why. It's the oldest national park in the US (and second oldest in the world!), has such a rich history, grand sweeping vistas, roaming herds of bison and the vivid living colors that manifest from the thermal features from its underground supervolcano. Many scientists are actually baffled as to the changing landscape of Mammoth Hot Springs and I read somewhere that one said that, "some things don't need to be explained."

"The most beautiful thing in the world, is, of course, the world itself." ~ Wallace Stevens

Cheers, y'all!!

xoxo

(See Day 1, Day 2 {P1}, Day 2 {P2}, Day 3 {P1} Day 3{P2}, Day 3{P3} Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 and Day 7 {P1})