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Writer's pictureLanie Rollings

Yellowstone Day 1 (Lake Lodge to Canyon Village)

Updated: Aug 6, 2021

Highlights:

  • Fishing Bridge

  • Mud Volcano

  • Upper Falls

  • Lower Falls

  • Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

  • Canyon Village

What to bring?


Stroller?

Very limited, recommend carrier

Restrooms

Located at every parking lot & lodge





TIP: Download the Yellowstone app! The map is invaluable & you can use it to build your own itenarary.


Also, I have to credit Traveling Mad Mum for the foundation of our 3 day itenarary! There were so many helpful tips & the days were perfectly planned. We switched up the order of the days & made it our own, so I still wanted to share our unique experience, but please check her blog out as well!


Now to our first day!! Since it was Sunday, we thought it’d be cool to attend a campground church service. The one we chose was the closest to where we wanted to begin today’s adventures, but there are many service s throughout the park, all led by A Christian Ministry in the National Parks. These are college students and seminary students who are employed by the park during the summer for various jobs and conduct campground services on Sunday mornings and evenings. I’d definitely recommend visiting one these and supporting the students in this mission! We enjoyed our time worshipping with others from all over the country and even had a visitor right before the service ended.



We then drove a few more miles to begin our day at the Fishing Bridge. It’s about 1.5 hours from the West Entrance, passing by all of the major geyser basins, which we saved for a day on their own. The Fishing Bridge is a popular spot to view down into the clear river, but definitely was hard to compare to the remainder of our stops for the day.



We then made our way to the Mud Volcano trail, where you could take a boardwalk around amazing geysers with names that couldn’t be more fitting of their descriptions. Don’t be surprised by the strong stench of the sulfer in the air. There are several sets of stairs so I would not advice taking a stroller. If your children are walking instead of riding in carriers, I’d definitely stress the importance of staying on the trail due to the unpredictability of the ground you could be standing on.

  • Dragon’s Caldrun- Deep pool where the water is constantly gurgling and bubbling.



  • Sour Lake- A larger body of steaming water with a yellowish green tint to it.



  • Mud Volcano- A pool bubbling with thick grey water from the mud surrounding it.



  • Dragon’s Breath Spring- A large opening that looks like a huge mouth with smoke billowing out and the gases create a noise that sounds like breathing.



These are each unique and definitely shouldn’t be missed! On our way out, there was even a few bison roaming through the parking lot!




Once you leave, you will be driving through Hayden Valley. This is a sure spot to see bison in the rolling hills. In fact, we saw hundreds! Such a cool spot to drive through and the many pull off spots would be a great places to pop the back & enjoy a picnic lunch with a beautiful view!


The next portion of our day had views that are absolutely breathtaking and will be hard to beat.

  • Upper Falls- Check out the view from the overlook and be sure to have someone stand in the rock wall to get the best picture looking down over the falls. Take Uncle Tom’s trail, a short trail to the left of the overlook, where we saw a few merlots and another beautiful view. This is all stroller friendly.



  • Artist Point- A super popular lookout spot with beautiful views of both the falls and canyon. There’s also a small clearing in the woods that’s a great place for kids to run and several were turning logs into seesaws, which our three year old enjoyed taking part in.



  • Lower Falls- From the parking lot, there are several lookout spots to see these beautiful falls. However, the real treat lies down a super steep inclined trail that gets you up close to the brink of the fall. We had several people comment about us braving it with kids but it was SO worth it. It’s not dangerous and no climbing involved, just multiple steep switch backs to walk up. Just take your time, taking breaks when needed and you’ll be fine! It’s definitely the most spectacular experience we have had at Yellowstone so far!



  • Grand Canyon of Yellowstone- There’s no hiking involved (thank goodness, our little ones’ energy was running low) but it’s a view you definitely want to see!



At the end of these sites, you are right at Canyon Village, where there are great shops, places to eat, icecream, an educational area, and clean restrooms.


If you are staying close to West Yellowstone, be sure to check out Beartooth BBQ. We stopped for a great meal and enjoyed relaxing at a table after a long day!

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