Yellowstone National Park, Day 1

Vanlog, Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park

Greetings from my second favorite national park (Yosemite is my favorite)! I woke this morning (as usual) around 6 AM and was on the rod by 6:30 AM. This is my fifth time at Yellowstone. On the first occasion (in 1992), we borrowed my dad's 84 Chevy Caprice to drive cross country. One of the conditions then (which has since become a tradition) was to take a picture of the car next to the entrance sign. Also pictured below is the Roosevelt entrance arch. 

As usual, I saw a single pronghorn antelope along the drive in. I swear it's the same one I saw on every other trip.By 7 AM, I was in Mammoth Hot Springs, exploring the travertine terraces; and at this hour, I pretty much had the place to myself! That was to change rather quickly as the day progressed. 

I spent the better part of the next three hours driving the length of the park to get the last walk-in campsite of the day in Lewis Lake campground. When I arrived there at 11 AM, the sign said it was full. I drove all three loops anyway and asked the campground host who was making his rounds. He told me there was one more camper still checking out. I grabbed that spot for the next two nights. Then I drove along Yellowstone lake and had a picnic lunch with the sliding door to the van open and overlooking the lake. Next, I headed to Canyon to do some souvenir shopping. Then I drove to Artist's Point overlooking the amazing Yellowstone Canyon. It takes my breath away every single time. I drove west to the Midway Geyser Basin and did a 1.1-mile (one-way) hike to the Grand Prismatic Spring Overlook (a path I could not find on my previous four trips here). Then I headed to the Upper Geyser Basin,w here I just missed Old Faithful as I grabbed a chicken gyro for dinner. However, I did get to see Castle Geyser erupt for over 30 min and then Grand Geyser not too much later for 10 min. Both of these geysers are far more massive and impressive than Old Faithful anyway.

Postscript. It took so long to upload all these photos that I had time to run back for the 8:03 PM eruption of Old Faithful. I couldn't leave y'all hanging like that!