USA: Yellowstone National Park – Supervulcano, Geysers, and Bears

It is located on the territory of three states - Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. Its location is quite remote from other parks in the west of America, so many travelers leave it out from their itinerary. That's really a real pity. Yellowstone does not only offer beautiful geysers, but also its Grand Canyon, nearly a hundred-meter waterfall or the Mammooth Hot Springs area with cascading terraces.

We're coming from the south, from Idaho Falls. We enter the National Park through the 

western gate. We have the Annual Pass here (annual pass allows to enter more than 2,000 national parks, nature reserves and recreational areas). If you are going to ride more parks, you can buy it. It costs $ 80, and although it's not quite fair, it is commonplace to find secondhand travel forums. The individual entrance costs $ 25 per car and is valid for 7 days, and also for the neighboring Grand Teton park.

The park is open all year round, but I definitely recommend going out here during the summer (from the end of May to the end of September). In winter, only one gate of five is open, the northern one. Within the park, only the roads in the north are accessible in winter.

After checking our ticket, we get a map and some information leaflets on how to behave in the park and what to do if we meet a bear or a bison. My dream is to see a bear, but rather somewhere out of its way, in the safety of our car. And would you imagine that - in a few hours, this dream is fulfilled! One of the bears decided to cross the road and continue to the forest. We immediately stop and, along with the other lucky ones, just passing around, we are photographed, and we are astonished to see this lazy animal, which is slowly crossing the road.

This is not the only animal we see here. Yellowstone is the home of a black and brown bear, bison, wolf or moose. The greatest experience for us is when a buffalo emerges next to the road and passes right in front of our car. We look unbelievingly how great a beast is and how small the cars are against him. Combined with geysers everywhere, it's a wonderful combination of the true nature of nature.

We also enjoy the spectacle of the Grand Canyon in Yellowstone. It is clear to us what the park got its name for - the rocks here have a yellow color. Here are some viewpoints from where we can admire this gorge. In the distance, we see and hear the rainforest. In this area, called Canyon Village, there are also many trails that lead you through wild nature.

GPS: 44°25'41.6"N 110°35'22.7"W

Text, photos: Michal Hejl