The Wandering Hart

To kick off the day we went from our Lake Yellowstone area cabin to the lakefront for some views. Lake Yellowstone is massive and super gorgeous.

From there we headed in the direction of Canyon Village with stops at Mud Volcano, Sulphur Caldron, and Hayden Valley along the way. Mud Volcano area turned out to be much larger than I expected and had a really cool ~0.7 mile boardwalk around the area surrounded by mud pots, geysers, and volcanoes. My personal favorites there were the Roiling Caldron and Dragon’s Mouth Spring. Definitely worth the stop.

After Mud Volcano we took in the quick viewpoint at Sulphur Caldron and then continued onto Hayden Valley. Hayden Valley is a great place for spotting wildlife and we were lucky enough to see an entire large herd of bison as we drove through! One bison even decided to walk in the right-hand lane of the road for a while until a park ranger came to chase him off! For anyone wondering, a bison’s walking speed is about 2 mph. I was really grateful we saw so many animals here because Lamar Valley, the other famous area for wildlife spotting, is closed due to the floods earlier this year.

Once we finally arrived at Canyon Village we kicked off our first and final hike for the day: North Rim Trail. We were fortunate enough that there was a trail from the cabins we were staying in to the rim so we could leave the car at one of the free chargers in Canyon Village (thanks, park service!). If you’re driving to the trail starting from Upper Falls is probably the best option so you can end at Inspiration Point. We started from Grand View, backtracked to Inspiration Point and then did the full trail.

The North Rim Trail is very flat with 5 major viewpoint stops (Upper Falls, Lower Falls, Lookout Point, Grand View, and Inspiration Point). There are optional offshoots to get lower to the falls and that will require a small amount of vertical. It had amazing views of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone throughout and the canyon itself is incredible. It’s a perfect hike option for anyone looking to see the highlights of the canyon. For anyone looking to see the same without hiking, the 5 key viewpoints are accessible from the road around the canyon.

Travel Log posts are my version of a travel diary so I can record what my latest adventures were and anyone interested can follow along live.