Haley & Leon's Adventures: July 2 - Third and Final Day in Yellowstone

This morning we "slept in" until 6:30, got up to head back to Norris Geyser Basin to see the other half of the area. We toured that for about hour and a half, including a little geology museum they have there.

Steamboat Geyser is one of the tallest erupting geysers in the park, but it erupts irregularly, the last full eruption happening on April 14, 2025. But while we were standing there, it started having minor eruptions. It was thrilling! I read on the volcano status page that is updated regularly that it is expected to have a major blow sooner rather than later.

We walked the 1.5 mile loop around this side of the Norris Geyser basin - many interesting features.

Next, we went east to the Virginia Cascades Road, where we caught a glimpse of the namesake.

We ended up at Canyon Village to do our laundry. We spent the rest of the morning getting our laundry done, then headed back to the cafeteria for lunch. After lunch, we headed north where we ran into heavy rain and some hail as we drove over the mountains.

We drove through a scenic mountainous part of the park, where the wildflowers were particularly eye-catching.

Next, we drove back to Lamar Valley to do some more wildlife watching - mostly bison this time, including seeing an entire herd cross the road in front of us. We also saw a few pronghorns, too.

Then we headed towards Gardiner to charge up on a fast charger for the trip to Grand Teton - and saw a black bear on the way!

Black Bear - he was a good size, too.

We reached Gardiner, where we charged fully at a very speedy Rivian charger, got connected to Wifi/5G (there is basically no connectivity in Yellowstone) and caught up on news from home. We had ice cream while we updated the blog; I really enjoyed the huckleberry fudge flavor! (Huckleberry is a very popular local flavor for all kinds of sweets).

We couldn't find anything interesting to eat for dinner in Gardiner, so we headed back into the park. We ended up eating a quick dinner at a Mammoth Springs snack bar - Leon had a Nathan's hot dog and I had a bison sausage on a bun. It was good! We also did a little shopping and bought a Yellowstone t-shirt (for me) and baseball cap (for Leon).

Then we decided to tour the Upper Terrace of Mammoth Springs, which we had skipped on the first day. It was mostly inactive (the springs had capped themselves with buildup), but the remaining formations were really impressive.

Bunny rabbit next to the trail at the Upper Terrace of Mammoth Springs

Mule deer grazing at the edge of a hot spring pool - fulfilling Leon's desire for wildlife AND a geothermal feature together.

Large, terraced feature at the Upper Terrace of Mammoth Springs. Even though it was no longer active (no water present at the surface), the travertine formation was really beautiful. It was very common to see areas that were no longer active - the minerals build up and clog the ability of the hot water to reach the surface. Once one area is blocked, the water will find another easier route to the surface, creating another formation.

Eagle-eyed Leon spotted this snake at the edge of the boardwalk around the Upper Terrace. He/she wasn't moving at all - we could tell that it was still digesting its last meal from the bulge toward the end of its length.

As we drove back toward our campground, we decided to find a spot on the river to sit and enjoy for a while. We found this lovely spot, but didn't enjoy it for long because it started sprinkling, and we weren't sure if it was going to rain harder. We packed it in and went back to camp.