Once again, shout out to Travel Mad Mum for an amazing itenarary! We followed her suggestion by not doing the traditional order and headed to the middle geysers first to beat the crowds to the more popular spot. Getting there at 8:30 am, the parking lot was already full and we had to park alongside the road. To get a closer spot, I’d suggest getting there a little earlier. There is a one way boardwalk that is stroller friendly and takes about 30 minutes. Getting off of the trail could be deadly, so make sure to keep the little ones strapped in, whether you choose to use a stroller or carrier. The Middle Geyser Basin contains several colorful geyser pools such as Opal Pool and Turquoise Waters. The highlight is definitely the Grand Prismatic Spring. (Although the best view is still to come). It was so cool seeing the different strips of colors and minerals close up though! Definitely a site not to miss. You can also spot small microscope bacteria and fossilized bear & horse prints in the ground nearby.

Only a minute or two down the road at Fairy Falls, there is a 1.5 mile round trip hike to the most amazing view of Grand Prismic Springs. Take your time to soak it in and snap a family picture. You can keep going an extra 1.5 miles to the falls but we chose not to, as well as most of the other visitors. It’s a little bit of a steep climb as well but also worth it! I wouldn’t recommend a stroller for this one, as the trails are very gravely. This whole stop took about 1 hour.

Next, we skipped the Biscuit Basin and headed up Old Faithful! My recommendation is to plan this stop around lunchtime. The geyser erupts every 90 minutes, so depending when you get there, you can eat lunch either as a time filler while you are waiting or after the eruption if you get there with perfect timing. There is an eruption schedule on the app but with no service in most places in the park, it’s hard to count on it, but once you arrive, there are signs with the prediction time posted. It’s recommended to find your spot 10 minutes since the prediction has a little bit of variance. We got there with a perfect amount of time to eat, use the restrooms at the lodge, and find a place to sit. The actual eruption happened about 5 minutes after the prediction time but there were several small “false alarms” leading up to it that had us waiting in suspense. I’d recommend a stroller in this area, as there are no trails. It was a great break from the carriers! Plus, our 3 year old loved dancing around, keeping her brother entertained in the stroller while we waited for the eruption.

After seeing Old Fathful, we couldn’t leave the area without visiting the famous Old Faithful Inn. The woodwork and grand staircases were incredible to see. Inside there were also restrooms, a gift shop, and of course, our favorite treat, icecream! It was a great cool pick-me-up before continuing our day. Our entire time at Old Faithful and the inn was about 2 hours.

We then made our way back towards West Yellowstone to catch the Lower Geyser Basin that we skipped earlier in the day. When we drove back by the Fairy Falls trails & Middle Geyser Basin, we definitely understood why it was recommended to do those first, earlier in the day! It was packed, with people lining the road and literally single file on the boardwalks. I can’t stress enough to do these two things before the crowds hit to make your experience more enjoyable.

To be honest, we almost skipped the Lower Geyser Basin (Fountain Paint Pot) because the kids were tired and we didn’t think the geysers we’d previously seen could be beat! However, we were so glad we included this stop. It was my husband’s favorite geyser loop because he said you get the most “bang for your buck” with such a variety of mud pots, turquoise spring pools, and erupting geysers. The 1/2 mile boardwalk was almost stroller friendly (a few stairs at the end) and took about 30 minutes to complete.

On our way out of the park, we took the 3 mile Firehole Canyon loop hoping to find the swimming area, which was seasonally closed due to high and swift water. It was worth it to drive by the Firehole Falls though. Right as we exited back on the main road, to the right we noticed a spot where families were swimming and wading. The kids needed a break from the car seats & carriers, so we threw some swim shoes on and waded out for a few minutes.

On our way through West Yellowstone, we tried out Wild West Pizzeria & Saloon for an early dinner before calling it a day.

Yellowstone Day 2 (Geyser Basins)

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