How to Spend the PERFECT Weekend in Yellowstone National Park

We are so excited to be in Yellowstone and we have 2 perfect days planned out for this weekend! Yellowstone is HUGE! It is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined and it is extra special because it is the world’s first national park!

Day 1

Our first stop of the trip is Old Faithful! We thought it would only be fitting to start with one of the biggest Yellowstone Highlights.

Yellowstone is home to more than 500 active geysers. The most famous is of course Old Faithful, which was the first one to be named. It was called Old Faithful because the eruptions are relatively predictable, going off every 60 - 90 minutes.

We arrive around 9:30AM and the next eruption is set to go off around10:43AM. About 90% of the eruption predictions are accurate within a window of plus or minus 10 minutes. So we have roughly an hour to wait. We find the perfect spot, front and center and we wait.

After roughly an hour, things start becoming a bit more active. It starts bubbling a bit and the anticipation of the crowd builds. It bubbles and spurts for around 5 minutes before finally erupting! It really is a cool sight to see! It must go around 100 - 150 feet in the air and lasts for a few minutes. It is an awesome start to the day but we have a lot left to see!

There are actually more than 10,000 hydrothermal features in Yellowstone. This doesn’t just include geysers, it’s also hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles. And more than half of the world’s features like this exist right here in Yellowstone.

Up next, we take a walk around the Upper Geyser Basin Trail which starts right by Old Faithful. It’s about 3 miles and the boardwalks here lead to the world’s largest concentration of active geysers and hot springs.

We are amazed by the variety… There are SO MANY of them and they are all so unique. Around every turn and corner is something new. After around 1.4 miles, the trail ends at the incredibly beautiful and impressive Morning Glory Pool. This one has to be our favorite yet. The colors are so vibrant and the water is so clear.

We head the 1.4 miles back to the car and have a quick break for lunch before heading to our 2nd stop for the day.

Up next is the Midway Geyser Basin and Grand Prismatic Spring. We start with a quick hike up the Fairy Falls trail to get an amazing view of the hot springs from the overlook! This is one of the most iconic views of Yellowstone and one of the things I have been most excited to see. It does not disappoint. It is the 3rd largest hot spring in the world stretching 370 ft in diameter. The colors are insanely gorgeous rainbows of blues, oranges, and golds!

We then head down to the boardwalk to get a different vantage point and closer look of the Grand Prismatic Spring. We read this is best in mid day for the colors.

After the Grand Prismatic, we drive a little over an hour to Mammoth Hot Springs which is at the far north section of the park. The area has two designated boardwalks, the lower and upper that offer views of over 50 hot springs and it feels so different from other thermal areas we have seen in the park.

After Mammoth, we make our way to our final stop for the day, Lamar Valley. This area offers some of the best wildlife viewing in the park. The best time is early morning and late afternoon and we arrive about an hour before sunset so we are hopeful we will see some good stuff!

Before we even make it to Lamar Valley, we see TONS of bison by the road. Yellowstone is home to the largest concentration of mammals in the lower 48 and apparently has the nation’s oldest herd of bison. There have to be hundreds of bison all around us. We find a safe spot to pull over and watch the herds going by. It has been an awesome first day in Yellowstone!

Day 2

We head to Hayden Valley for more wildlife viewing. It is very foggy in the valley so have some breakfast and watch the fog lift.

We make a quick stop at the Mary Mountain Trail which is a popular spot for potential bear sightings. While we don’t spot any bears, there are a couple bison on the trail up ahead so we decide to turn around and head back to the car.

Our next stop is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone! Our first stop is Artist Lookout and we make around 4 or so stops getting different views of the canyon and the falls at both the North and South Rim.

After we leave the Grand Canyon, we head to Virginia Cascades for lunch in our hammocks. It is nice to have a quiet break away from all the crowds.

Up next is the Norris Geyser Basin. There are 2 sections here, Back Basin and Porcelain Basin. There are so many beautiful milky blue pools.

We leave Norris Geyser and now have a few final stops on our Yellowstone Itinerary. We make quick stops at Artists Paintpots, the Mud Volcano, and we end at the West Thumb Geyser Basin on the shore of Yellowstone Lake.
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