For Grand Prismatic, make sure you take the Fairy Falls trail to the overlook. The view from the boardwalk isn't as grand and often times shrowded in steam.


From the boardwalk

Great tip, thank you

Old faithful was cool and grand prismatic spring was out of this world (from the overlook trail not the boardwalk) but I can't imagine a trip to Yellowstone without seeing the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Especially going to the different brinks and getting so up close to the power of that much water flowing. It was number one on our trip and the different viewpoints were amazing.

I believe artist point has been mentioned several times for grand canyon of yellowstone. How is inspiration point and the brink?

The view may be better at artists than inspiration, but I like the hike between brink and inspiration.

Pro Sandy said:

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The view may be better at artists than inspiration, but I like the hike between brink and inspiration.

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That looks to be a pretty quick one, yea?

Yeah, probably an hour. Longer with the picture stops.

Trip is soon, very excited. Hoping the pass isnt closed. Only doing day hikes, but would bear spray be something we should probably carry with us?

Yes! You can rent some at Canyon or Old Faithful if you don't want to buy it.

One of those you probably don't need it, but when you do...

Sea Speed said:

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Trip is soon, very excited. Hoping the pass isnt closed. Only doing day hikes, but would bear spray be something we should probably carry with us?

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Don't go out without bear spray. It's grizzly country and they can be aggressive and erratic. You almost certainly won't need it but it's easy to carry and it's good precaution.

Roger that, I will get some. May pack my .45 as well but that may be overkill. We extended our trip a day on the back end so that will be nice.

AgOutsideAustin said:

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It's a hike from Bozeman to old faithful I would say 2 1/2 hours at least going through West Yellowstone. Any weather, traffic, animal delays and it's at least 3 hours. The best things we saw were Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Grand Prismatic Spring, then Old Faithful. Don't have any cabin leads but the Big Sky area south of Bozeman is upscale and should have them.

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Thomas Moran wants his painting back.

Sea Speed said:

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The boardwalks and terraces over mammoth and seeing old faithful are the only must do in my mind, I dont know enough about the rest to say what we want to fill the day with, but an easy day wouldn't be bad. I will look in to the grand prismatic as you mentioned for that day. Thank you.

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Have you read "Death in Yellowstone?" Bit dated, so probably a few missed by now (like the Ultra runner this summer), but a good read.

Last time I was at Mammoth, there was a herd of elk near the boardwalk. There was this old bull, injured, or maybe just frail. The entire herd filed past him to pay their respects. They were moving on, and had to leave him behind. Each one would pause for a second or 3, say some kind elk words, and move on. I guess he probably got eaten some time in the next few days. It was just interesting, sad, real. It's amazing to think that virtually no animal in the wild, even apex predators, ever die of natural causes.

94chem said:

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Sea Speed said:

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The boardwalks and terraces over mammoth and seeing old faithful are the only must do in my mind, I dont know enough about the rest to say what we want to fill the day with, but an easy day wouldn't be bad. I will look in to the grand prismatic as you mentioned for that day. Thank you.

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Have you read "Death in Yellowstone?" Bit dated, so probably a few missed by now (like the Ultra runner this summer), but a good read.

Last time I was at Mammoth, there was a herd of elk near the boardwalk. There was this old bull, injured, or maybe just frail. The entire herd filed past him to pay their respects. They were moving on, and had to leave him behind. Each one would pause for a second or 3, say some kind elk words, and move on. I guess he probably got eaten some time in the next few days. It was just interesting, sad, real. It's amazing to think that virtually no animal in the wild, even apex predators, ever die of natural causes.

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One might say in the animal world, death by a bear, wolf, coyote, etc. is the most natural of causes.

Scotts Tot said:

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94chem said:

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Sea Speed said:

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The boardwalks and terraces over mammoth and seeing old faithful are the only must do in my mind, I dont know enough about the rest to say what we want to fill the day with, but an easy day wouldn't be bad. I will look in to the grand prismatic as you mentioned for that day. Thank you.

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Have you read "Death in Yellowstone?" Bit dated, so probably a few missed by now (like the Ultra runner this summer), but a good read.

Last time I was at Mammoth, there was a herd of elk near the boardwalk. There was this old bull, injured, or maybe just frail. The entire herd filed past him to pay their respects. They were moving on, and had to leave him behind. Each one would pause for a second or 3, say some kind elk words, and move on. I guess he probably got eaten some time in the next few days. It was just interesting, sad, real. It's amazing to think that virtually no animal in the wild, even apex predators, ever die of natural causes.

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One might say in the animal world, death by a bear, wolf, coyote, etc. is the most natural of causes.

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Yep, until this place gets rolled up like a scroll and the new one gets laid out.

It's so good it looks fake right? iPhone 10 or something old.

Place was spectacular

TSA says you can't check bear spray so you are kind of stuck buying it out there aren't you?

You can rent it there.

You can also buy a can and turn it in at the ranger station on your last day to donate it to the park rangers.

Renting would require going to the same spot twice and that seems counterproductive. We already bought some on Amazon but I reckon I can return it. Kind of annoying honestly. Maybe I'll have some shipped to our airbnb

Some pics from Grand Tetons and Yellowstone today:

Also does anyone have anything definitive on beartooth highway closure? I saw one site said it was tbd and another saying it closes on 9th.

Both Wyoming DOT and Montana DOT reporting it is closed on the Wyoming side

Road closed due to winter conditions. As of October 08 at 07:00 a.m., the estimated opening time is unknown. Parking on the roadway is prohibited and delays opening the road.

10/8/2023, 5:59 AM


US-212 at MP 45.0
Road Closed
Enforced Closure

Additional Information:
Beartooth Pass closed at Wyoming state line due to winter weather conditions until further notice. US-212 remains open on the Montana side to the Wyoming state line. For questions about the status of the closure, contact the Yellowstone National Park Service.

I just saw that about an hour ago after I made my post. So sad I was really hoping to get to go through it on our first day in the area.

Had a meet and greet thing for a job I'm trying to get so had to push departure back 2 days. Leaving Saturday am. So excited.

This place is amazing

Look i know I'm green, but I truly can't imagine a better time to be at this place. No crowds, 60 degrees and sunny. Just absolutely amazing. We are in love with this place.

You're getting lucky with the weather. I was talking with one of our wait staff at the Old Faithful Inn (turns out she went to my same high school in Texas, we sang the "it's a small world" song). She said that the entire park should already have snow, hence all of the lodging closures. The Inn closed down one week ago, on the 9th, same day we checked out.

There is a very slight bit if snow on the ground in some places. Enough that we stopped and built a little snowman and each threw a snowball at each other. Even if there was more snow im not sure how much that would mess with the trip. Maybe a lot?

The only thing that I am bummed out about wx wise is that beartooth highway is closed, but we will have to come back another time to do that.

We didn't hit artist point until a bit before sunset last night because there was so much to do on the south loop so we will start that again.

We missed grand geyser by a few minutes because we took a detour to see a Buffalo on the trail to old faithful overlook. Probably will end up being my main regret of the trip.

Grand canyon of yellowstone will start our morning then we will do the north loop. Grand Teton NP tomorrow, lamar Valley at sunrise on Wednesday and we are going to head to bozeman Thursday afternoon to go to some shops and have a nice dinner.

We are actually staying in island park in a little cabin in the woods with a stream running behind it. The place is dead out here and very relaxing.

Not a bad 10th anniversary trip so far! I 100% see us coming back again with the whole family. We are already talking about when to do it. This place is so amazing.

Glad you're having a good time!! October is easily my favorite time to be there. Not sure if it's too late for the aspens to still be pretty, but certain areas might still have some color.

The drive from bozeman to the park was gorgeous. So much gold. I think a week or two earlier would have seen more reds and oranges, but it was still awesome. I love that you can see exactly where creeks and the like are running from the distance by the lines of golden trees.

Pulling in to some of the parking areas with 100 spaces but only 5 or 6 cars truly makes me realize how lucky we are to be here right now. I would not have enjoyed this place near as much with a crowd.

The scale of this place is insane. You can't describe it. Another wonderful day in the park. We had lunch on a little crop of rocks by the lower falls brink and I fell asleep with the sun warming me and the sound of the river. There was not a single other person down there when we left.

Are you back home from your trip? Curious to hear how everything went.

Yes we are back home. It was amazing. We did a day at grand Teton and a day in bozeman as well as a day to lamar Valley. We had a great time. I will post some pics and the like soon, just been really busy.