Natural beauty beyond imagination, undulating lush green lands as far as eyes can see, filled with wildlife and mystical landforms. A trip to Yellowstone National park is a delightful assault on the senses. The colors, landscapes, and closeness to nature are bound to leave the traveler in you reeling with joy.

Before I start, did you know that Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the US given the status in the year 1872? The park has maintained this status and at present date, has more than 4.5 million visitors each year.

We started our trip from San Jose, California with a 1.25-hour long flight to Salt Lake City. It is the perfect option to visit the park as the park is at 5-hour (213 miles) drive from Salt Lake City.

Suggested Itinerary for a week

Here is the suggested itinerary for 5 days before I divulge into the tips and tricks for travel and must-see points in the Yellowstone National Park.

Day-1 Old Faithful Geyser, Grand Prismatic Springs, Biscuit basin

Day-2 Mammoth Springs, Norris Geyser Basin, Sheapeater cliff

Day-3 Lamar Valley, Tower Fall, Mt. Washburn

Day-4 Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Yellowstone Lake

Day-5 Hayden Valley and unplanned day in the park

Of course, the itinerary suggested above is flexible and based on the time available and physical capabilities there are few hikes with varying strenuous levels that provides unmatchable views of the points.

Personal Favorite hikes-:

• Washburn trail (8 miles, day-trail) provides a view of snow-covered mountains.
• Uncle Tom's trail (2.8 miles, 300 steps) It is steep hike providing the view of upper falls.
• Brink of lower falls

Budgeting for the Trip-:

Let's start with the logistics first, the entire budget depends on arrival city, hotel and places you want to stay in the park. We wanted to spend moderately on the trip so made the itinerary accordingly where we stayed out of the park which was not bad, end up being 30-45 min drive but again the views in the drive were breathtaking! Here are some things that might help reduce the budget-:

• Instead of flying to Jackson Hole (Nearest airport) fly to Salt Lake city where flights are much cheaper and the drive to Jackson Hole is 5 hrs.
• Also, take rental from outside the Airport and pre-book it as the ones available at the airport are comparatively expensive.
• Book hotels outside the park, there are plenty of available options depending on your point of interest for the day like - Yellowstone village and West Yellowstone.

Driving and renting a car in Yellowstone

The total area of the park is 3471 m2 and the points of interest are far from each other so I would recommend renting a car and driving around. We pre-booked our car (an intermediate SUV) from Enterprise while booking the accommodation for our stay. Car was handed over to us at the airport, we checked it and set off on our trip to the magnificent Yellowstone. It was a smooth 5 hrs journey to Jackson Hole with great roads and amazing panoramas.

10 Essential Experiences on your visit to Yellowstone National Park

1. Old Faithful geyser- It erupts every 90 min, the predictability, and the majestic view makes it a memorable experience.

2. Grand Prismatic- It is the largest hot spring in the United States, approximately 370 feet in size and 121 feet deep. But its varied colors due to temperature and bacteria makes the view spectacular.

3. Lamar Valley- A wildlife heaven, also known as “America’s Serengeti” because it has an abundance of animals. Bison are most commonly spotted here, but you may also catch a glimpse of grizzly bears, pronghorns, bald eagles and wolves. The remnants of a former hot spring are also situated in the eastern part of the valley

4. Grand Canyon of Yellowstone- Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is the primary attraction in the Canyon Village area and one of the park’s most popular hiking spots. “Amazing”, “beautiful” and “fascinating” are few adjectives used by the visitors to describe the place.

5. Yellowstone Lake- Sitting in the heart of Yellowstone’s West Thumb area is Yellowstone Lake, the park’s largest body of water and the largest freshwater lake above 7,000 feet in North America.

6. Mammoth Hot Springs- Appropriately named, it is one of the most unique attractions of the park. It is formed by millions of bacteria and centuries of hot water bubbling up from the ground, cooling and depositing calcium carbonate.

7. Norris Geyser Basin- The entire basin is filled with a variety of geysers and hot springs.

8. Hayden Valley- One of the best places to catch a glimpse of Yellowstone’s fascinating wildlife. Make sure to time the visit either early morning or sunset as most of the wildlife come out in open to hunt and drink water.

9. Sheepeaters Cliff- The unique cliff is made from hot lava cooled and deposited in forms of big blocks of rock.

10. Wolves and Bears ☺ Keep your eyes open and scan the surroundings, you will surely encounter a bear! Chances of finding a wolf is also very high in the Lamar Valley.

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