A Trip Through Wyoming’s National Parks: Yellowstone and Grand Teton
Parks #1 and 2 of 63
As some of you may know, I’ve recently decided that I’m going to try to see every national park in the US (you can read that article here). I visited a few as a little kid with my family, but I don’t remember them very well, so I’m only counting the ones I’ve visited as an adult. So far, that’s Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park.
I visited them as part of a road trip I took back in 2019. Although it’s a few years (and a pandemic) later, I still think about that trip a lot — and since I’ve decided to make traveling to national parks a priority in the next couple of years, I figured now would be a good time to reflect back on it and write about my experience.
Yellowstone National Park
First of all, let me just say that no matter how much you hear about Yellowstone, or even how many pictures you look at, nothing can prepare you for how breathtaking (and at times bizarre) it is in person. I saw some of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen in my life there, and certain parts of the park are completely otherworldly. I guess it’s no surprise that this was the very first national park to be created back in 1872!
That being said, I do have what I’m sure will be a pretty unpopular opinion: Old Faithful is a tiny bit overrated. I did enjoy getting to see it erupt and all, but there was a huge crowd around it, and there was quite a bit of jostling to get a good viewing spot. I’d still recommend seeing it — it’s one of the most iconic attractions in the park , after all — but personally it wasn’t my favorite part of Yellowstone.
Something I enjoyed more was the Grand Prismatic Spring. I went up on one of the hiking trails to get a view from above rather than gathering with the crowds right next to it (this is a strategy I’d recommend whenever possible to avoid being surrounded on all sides by people taking selfies).
Yellowstone’s canyon was also absolutely amazing. As with many large waterfalls, I was left in complete awe of its power. I also knew that the trees that looked like dots on the canyon walls were actually huge — many times bigger than I was. I was reminded again of how small I was in the scheme of the world.
I was prepared to say that the canyon was my favorite part of the park, but as evening approached, I came to yet another amazing sight: Mammoth Springs. This section of the park, more than any other, made me feel like I’d been transported to another planet.
Grand Teton National Park
I spent the next day at Grand Teton — a nearby park that, though slightly less popular, is just as spectacular as Yellowstone in its own way. Even the parking lot was gorgeous!
I did a bit more hiking in Grand Teton than I’d done in Yellowstone, and was met at every turn with beautiful views. The lakes and rivers there were some of the clearest I’d ever encountered.
Leaving there was a bit of drama, as I ended up in a blizzard — even though it was June! I was prepared for the fact that there could be snow (I lived near mountains as a kid and knew their seasons were later and less predictable than other areas) but not quite this much…the photo below is before the actual storm even hit! Luckily I did make it out of the mountains, but it wasn’t an easy drive, that’s for sure.
Overall I absolutely loved my time in Wyoming. My one regret is that I wasn’t able to spend more time at each park, which could easily be explored for a week or more apiece! I’m hoping to return to both Yellowstone and Grand Teton, though, perhaps at the end of my national parks journey — it would be fun to come full circle, I think.
If you’ve ever visited these parks (or hope to in the future) let me know in the comments! And stay tuned for more of my national park adventures as I try to visit all 63…
