Yellowstone National Park – Day 1 Canyon, Norris, Prismatic

When I was greeted by a “Parking Lot is Full” sign at Norris I decided to head across Norris Canyon Rd to the Canyon Campground and check in. I set up the tent in a fog of mosquitoes (thank god for Picaridin), got an early dinner, and headed back to Norris around 5:00.

I loved my site at Canyon. I had reserved the 2 nights separately, but the staff had caught it and combined them into 1 reservation so I didn’t have to move sites.

Norris Geyser Basin

When I arrived around 5:30 the “Parking Lot is Full” sign was still up, but there were spaces.

Same bison I saw earlier, but now they were up eating

This one was right by the side of the road

Grand Prismatic

I didn’t get to Grand Prismatic until 8:00 in the evening and still barely got a parking space.

I just didn’t want to drive the Norris Canyon Rd one more time that day so decided to head back to Canyon Campground via West Thumb thinking it was about the same distance either way. Wrong. The GPS did a recalc right around Old Faithful and told me the arrival time was 10:00 PM. Since I’d started my day at 5:00 AM and had been driving since 7:00 I was pretty ticked off with myself. That all changed when I drove through Hayden Valley and the wildlife was out and close to the road on the way home. But then, I was still thinking this might be the only wildlife I’d see. I was soooo tired, but glad to see it.

Again, there were all taken at a great distance.

I ended Day 1 happy, but exhausted. Right up until the campers across the way, who obviously had no concept of what “quiet hours” means, stayed up until midnight singing, talking loudly, slamming trunk and car doors…