Yellowstone Canyon and Fairy Falls hikes

By LineogJesper on July 26, 2019

On our fourth day in Yellowstone we woke up to rainy and cloudy weather. The kids really wanted to try “mining” for gemstones at the Campsite so they got a chance to try that out

We had yet to see the lower falls in Yellowstone Grand Canyon so we went to Artist Point to get the best view. On the way we stopped by one of the many waterfalls in the park.

By the time we got there the rain was pouring down accompanied by thunder and lightning so we waited 10 minutes in the car for it to pass.

Once the sky was clear we walked to Artist point and had an amazing view of the valley and falls. Even after seeing so many waterfalls and great viewpoints this was quite a sight.

At artist point we saw a trail map to “Splendid Point”. A 2.5 kilometer walk next to canyon sounded attractive so we packed our bags and went ahead. It was a very nice walk with great scenery but also a few 100 meter drop-offs right next to the trail. Half way Line had had enough and as there was an option to go inland to see a lake we took a turn away from the Canyon.

Within 500 meters we were literally attacked by thousands of mosquitos. Even with massive amounts of DEET they found cracks in our amour and we ended up running back to the Canyon followed by swarms of the little buggers.

Back at the Canyon Line gave it another try and we made it all the way to Splendid Point, which unfortunately was less splendid, that many of the sights on the way there.

On the way back dark clouds started gathering and suddenly it was pouring down and thunder and lightning was all around us. We got soaking wet and magically Line forgot all about vertigo and ran the last 1.5 kilometers in record time. Apparently she was more afraid of getting wet that falling off a cliff.

At dinnertime we cooked “one-pot-pasta” (basically you add the pasta directly to the sauce which makes cooking easier and the pasta gets a better taste) inside the park. A huge success!!

On the way back we drove down towards fishing lake to cover the only remaining part of the Yellowstone Grand Loop. That included the continental divide and some viewpoints around the Yellowstone Lake. A nice drive but the main attraction was a small heard of Elk and a male with HUGE antlers.

On our last day in Yellowstone we did the Faire Falls hike. That included a side-loop to see the Prismatic Spring from above.

Overall a minor disappointment as Prismatic Spring is actually prettier from the boardwalk and the hike was very flat with little change of scenery until you reach the Fairy Falls. The waterfall was nice though and with lots of fallen trees to climb and chipmunks to watch so we ended up staying about and hour.

Afterwards we did the Firehole River Drive which included a chance to take a swim in the river and for Noah and Jesper to jump from the rocks (actually prohibited but everybody does it anyway and the 5 meter jump was simply too tempting).

It was a long time since Noah had done any rock jumping so it took him about 10 minutes to find the nerve to do it – only when half the people there were cheering for him did he finally take the plunge.

We ended up cooking another round of one-pot-paste next to the river and fantastic scenery. A great way to end our Yellowstone adventure.