Yellowstone National Park: Through the West Entrance to the Madison River Valley and Norris Geyser Basin

During our trip to Yellowstone National Park, we spent the first day in the north corner of the park, visiting the Mammoth Hot Springs, Undine Falls and Wraith Falls, and doing a rafting trip down the Yellowstone River. Our first night, we camped at the Yellowstone RV Park in Gardiner, MT. Our second night, we were able to head down to the west corner of the park. We camped at the West Yellowstone KOA and entered the park in the morning through the West Gate. West Yellowstone, Montana is just before the entrance, and as we drove through town, we caught a glimpse of some Mountain Bluebirds and I HAD to stop and take a couple of pictures! (Bird nerds, unite!) We don’t have those in Minnesota so I got pretty excited when I saw them.

As you enter the park from the West Entrance, you’ll drive through the Madison River Valley. We spotted herds of elk and some buffalo as we were driving through the area. Sunrises and sunsets are both sure to be gorgeous here!

The next part of our trip was extra special! My brother and his family were able to meet us in Yellowstone! One note, is that cell phone service is not what this beautiful, rugged part of the country is known for! So we tried to pick a really specific spot to meet up! The place we picked happened to be closed and blocked off due to COVID restrictions (it was summer 2020)… but we found each other!!! (Even though taking pictures of Mountain Bluebirds may have made us slightly late! Oops! When we were kids, my dad’s whole family made a big trip out to Wyoming, stopping in Yellowstone, a big caravan of cousins, aunts, and uncles, so it was sort of like bringing back a favorite piece of my childhood to share with our kids!

A second note about the lack of cell phone service… when we met my brother, they had brought along walkie talkies so that our cars could talk to each other… GENIUS if you’re traveling with a group! They were so helpful!

Our first stop all together was the Norris Geyser Basin. When you walk into the area, you can go to the right to the Porcelain Basin or to the left to the Back Basin. We took a right and walked through the Porcelain Basin first. The area is all set up with wooden boardwalks and paths that you walk along through the geysers. You’ll be greeted with the most amazing blues in the waters of the geysers. The steaming water, the mountains in the background, and the barren ground give this spot a mystical feeling. The geysers will sometimes be steaming and they’ll sometimes start shooting water out of the ground.

As you view the different geysers, you’ll notice that the colors are not always the same. The colors around the geysers come from different thermophiles. Thermophiles are microbes that thrive in the heat. Different microbes like different temperatures, and they each have a different color to show off. Who knew microbes could be so pretty?!?

The Back Basin section is also a combination of boardwalks and paths. One of the more famous geysers is Steamboat Geyser. It is the world’s tallest active geyser, shooting steam and water up 300 feet into the air. The eruptions are unpredictable. We were really hoping to get lucky and see it erupt… but we missed it by about an hour!

Did you know that Yellowstone National Park is actually sitting on a Super Volcano? This section of the Norris Geyser Basin sits along three different fault lines and is along the Yellowstone Cauldera. The way 2020 was going, I have to be honest and thought that thing was definitely going to erupt while we were there!

If you want to see more of the Norris Geyser Basin, check out our YouTube channel for more video and photos! Thanks for stopping by to check out our adventures at the Norris Geyser Basin. Check out some of our other posts for more Yellowstone fun and subscribe to our newsletter to get updates on new posts!