We will depart Bozeman and travel east on Interstate 90 towards Livingston, where we will turn south towards Gardiner, and Yellowstone’s north entrance.
Going through the historic Roosevelt Arch, we’ll make our way into Yellowstone, passing the 45th Parallel and the Boiling River, on the way to Mammoth Hot Springs. You can explore the ever changing travertine terraces before we make our way towards the Lamar Valley, and the road to Yellowstone’s north east entrance. The Lamar Valley is known for its wildlife, with bison, elk, pronghorn, coyote and bighorn sheep amongst the species frequenting the area. This part of Yellowstone is also the best place to try and find wolves, and there is also a chance of seeing bears.
We will now retrace our steps back towards Mammoth, from where we climb a steep hill towards Golden Gate and Swan Lake, passing Roaring Mountain on the way to Norris Geyser Basin. At Norris you will explore both Porcelain Basin and Back Basin.
Gibbon Falls is a picturesque waterfall on the Gibbon River which we will visit before heading west at Madison Junction through the fertile Madison Valley, and its elk herd. You will spend the night in the small town of West Yellowstone, at the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
The next day we will depart West Yellowstone and travel again through the Madison Valley. At Madison Junction we will once more join Yellowstone’s lower loop, and travel to the part of the park where the main geyser basins are located.
The first of these is the Lower Geyser Basin, home to Fountain Paint Pot, followed by the Midway Geyser Basin and Both Excelsior Geyser and Grand Prismatic Spring. Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin are just a short distance up the road. Time permitting, other locations we may visit in this part of the park include Firehole Lake Drive, as well as Biscuit and Black Sand Basins.
West Thumb Geyser Basin, on the east side of the Continental Divide, and lying alongside Yellowstone Lake, is the next major stop. From there we will continue north on the lower loop, past Lake Hotel and Fishing Bridge, to the Hayden Valley, where you can expect to see a lot of wildlife.
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, an unexpected surprise amongst the thermal wonders, is close by, and we will visit both the north and south rims of the Canyon, taking in the Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls.
We will head west across the road that divides Yellowstone’s lower loop from the upper loop, and make our way past Norris Geyser Basin again, back to West Yellowstone, from where we will travel north, and back to Bozeman.