YELLOWSTONE PARK

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Day 3: YELLOWSTONE PARK - MAMMOTH AND NORRIS AREA

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Today we start our day at 7 in the morning and the first thing we realize is that phones do not work in this part of the world. When we ask at the hotel they tell us that this happens in West yellowstone Often, depending on the telephone company you have, since being right between two states you stay "in no man's land."
After a couple of emails confirming to the family that we are fine and that we will not have a phone in the next few days, we will have breakfast at a cafeteria very close to the hotel that we have been recommended.

After giving it a couple of laps a la carte we ask for a couple of breakfasts that include toast and eggs and when we see that they bring them to us we realize that this more than breakfast looks like food (here we will begin to realize that the food rations in this part of the world they are 3 times to which we are accustomed). Let's start our first day at Yellowstone Park With renewed energy. The price is $ 19 both.

Breakfast in West Yellowstone

After breakfast we make our way to Yellowstone Park with our rental car in the United States, which is 0.5 miles from the town of West Yellowstone where we stayed.
First of all and just arrived at the entrance of the park the first thing we do is buy the Annual Pass for $ 80that will give us access to most parks in the western United States, saving with this some good dollars.
With our entrance pass, we return to the car and head to the Mammoth area, the first we will meet in the Yellowstone Park.
The areas to visit in Yellowstone Park form something similar to a "number 8". We, having 3 days to visit it, since yesterday we only invested in arriving from Reno to West Yellostone, we have divided the areas in the way that we had to travel the minimum kilometers every day.

Yellowstone Park Yellowstone Map

On the way to the Mammoth area in Yellowstone Park we have encountered 2 roads closed by snow. We were more or less prepared by what we had read in the official website of the US National Parks and we were very aware that wanting to come to Yellowstone in November had its pros and cons. Being able to enjoy a place like this almost in solitude forced us to occasionally give the occasional snow by the snow that begins to have a presence at this time of year.
The truth is that we find that it has snowed a lot and the roads are completely covered, so the speed we carry is much lower than that indicated in almost all the Yellowstone Park maximum: 45 miles per hour.
When we have been on the road for 20 minutes, we suddenly have to slow down, which we will repeat several times during the day. Bisons and reindeer intersect reminding us that we are in a National Park and that here the one that rules is nature.

Bison in Yellowstone Park

From West Yellowstone to the Mammoth area it took us about 3 hours to arrive, counting the reduced speed that we carry and especially the stops that we are making unable to pass even a landscape to be photographed. We are in the Yellowstone Park, an impressive place, which we had always dreamed of visiting and we don't want to miss a second or an image. It is spectacular.

Mammoth area map

We begin the visit to the Mammoth area at the bottom, traveling the paths that are indicated and marked, both on the maps we carry and on the gateways that are enabled. The landscapes that we are seeing are increasingly spectacular, it is undoubtedly one of those places that as much as you have seen in photographs, until you see them, you cannot really understand what they mean.

Mammoth area in Yellowstone Park

After getting lost among all the roads that can be explored in this area of the park, we continue to the upper area of Mammoth, where the road is closed by snow, so we do the entire itinerary on foot. It is also spectacular, we would even say that it is better than the lower area.

Yellowstone Park

After enjoying for more than two hours of the Mammoth area in Yellowstone Park, we return to the car and go to the Norris area.

Map of the Norris area in Yellowstone Park

Get to the Norris area from Mammoth takes us just over 50 minutes, counting that we return to make several stops unable to do so before breathtaking landscapes.

Yellowstone Norris Zone

Here we find a small museum, which is closed at this time of the year, so we go straight to the route marked with wooden walkways, which is impressive and incredible just seeing it from afar, so we don't even want to imagine what it will be like as soon as we meet in the middle of it.

Norris area in Yellowstone Park

Enjoy all the Norris area takes us about 3 hours or so, counting all the time that we are stopping to take pictures and rereading the guide we have taken from the West Parks of the USA (one of the few, if not the only one, which is in Spanish) with which we do not miss a single detail of everything we are seeing.

Yellowstone Norris Zone

Geysers, fumaroles and endless natural phenomena They make this park a spectacular place that deserves a visit once in a lifetime. It is one of those places that seem out of a movie and even being here, you do not get to believe that it is true.

Yellowstone Park

With this good taste in the mouth, of which he knows that he is fulfilling a traveling dream, we look at the time and see that the time has come to start traveling the way out of Yellowstone Park, to arrive at 7 to our west yellowstone hotel.

More practical information to prepare your trip to the United States
- 10 essential tips for traveling to the United States
- The best travel insurance for the United States

In the end we arrived at 7.30 pm and just see us appear telling us that my suitcase has not yet arrived, and if we want to call British Airways to leave a message and make sure they will bring it to us tomorrow.
After a while, we take the opportunity to take a shower and rest, he calls us to the room and confirms that he has been called by the airline and that tomorrow before 10 am there will be luggage.
We hope that tomorrow, finally, we can see the suitcase and solve that problem that we have been dragging since we began our journey through the Western United States.