Why yes, it’s our Yellowstone National Park Journal post.

If you’re a fellow Airstreamer, start here with our Camp Airstream recap.

We’d not yet visited Yellowstone National Park until the year’s Wyoming exploration, despite getting close while visiting Grand Teton several years ago. While on the way north from Jackson we hit a pothole so hard we had to replace one of Ellie’s suddenly-bent axles. Thankfully that was the only real drama during the rest of our Wyoming visit. We spent four solid days exploring before and during Camp Airstream, and do not feel like that was nearly enough time. A week would’ve been our preferred minimum, and is what we’ll shoot for upon our return. Two weeks if we can swing it.

You might think early morning would be great for photos, and with the dormant but still with plenty of heat volcanic cauldron underfoot, dramatic steam could be found everywhere.

All of the above were shot in a single morning, believe it or not. That included a short, mile-long hike to the Prismatic Spring overlook to capture the overwhelming steam rising up from the pool from afar. Pro tip: Visiting the Spring itself in the early morning in an effort to capture all its incredible colors is fruitless. You might as well be shooting in London amidst pea-soup fog.

Wait until mid-afternoon, when the sun is high in the sky and the colors really come to life. Just make sure you hold on to your hat. You won’t get it back (see below). And, no, that was not ours.

Unbelievably, we never encountered any bears during this trip. But we did catch a wolf, which was so distant that while we got a picture of it running across a pasture, we should have stopped peering through the viewfinder and just watched in amazement. They’re impressive animals.

Wolf sightings are rare compared with bison, who casually wander anywhere and everywhere they please, including the roadways. Why? Because they can. Park visitors are more than happy to pull over and watch them wander by in their pack. If you’re visiting and you happen upon a line of stopped traffic, 99% chance the cars’ inhabitants are watching some animal or another, so go slow especially around corners when driving in the park.

Speaking of wild animals in general, perhaps obviously, it’s best to leave them alone and give them plenty of space. Many a visitor has been injured (or so scared their underwear bore the scars of the encounter), trying to get close enough for a selfie. The adage if your photos aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough may be mostly true, but it’s still smart to use a long zoom lens with any wildlife.

Beyond wildlife, there are, of course, some pretty beautiful waterfalls too. Firehole Falls (left) was particularly stunning one sunny morning. And while we’d typically not shoot much mid-day, it worked in our favor with the upper falls of the Yellowstone River (right), and the gorgeous rainbow it produced.

You’ll also see trees in certain areas struggle. Really struggle. Here are some lodge tree pines, common in the area, abort their growth as calcified deposits get sucked up by their root systems and clog paths otherwise reserved for water. These are known as “bobby sock” trees.

Near Prismatic Springs lies an otherworldly area in the Lower Geyser Basin called the Fountain Paint Pot. Trees here don’t last too long either, and it’s crazy the warmth you feel as you walk along the boardwalk (definitely stay on the boardwalk.)

And of course a visit to Yellowstone isn’t complete without watching Old Faithful.

One might expect a lot of people.

One would be right.

All in all, an incredible visit, and we can’t wait to return!

Want a piece of Yellowstone to decorate your home? You can see our full gallery here.