Leaving Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, we drive across Idaho into Montana, continue southeast through the state to the northwestern corner of Wyoming, and into Yellowstone National Park. This is the longest drive of our trip, about 430 miles (692 km) and does fill the day. We enter Yellowstone at the West Entrance, just outside the town of West Yellowstone.
Driving across the park to our hotel in Canyon Village, we stop at Gibbon Falls for our first views of Yellowstone scenery. Gibbon Falls drops 84 feet (26 meters) and then flows into the Yellowstone Caldera, about 1/4 mile (0.4 km) downriver. As the falls erode the rock at the bottom, the falls continue to grow higher and migrate farther from the rim of the caldera.
Gibbons Falls
Leaving the falls, we pass through meadows of grazing bison, some of them walking down the road to the next field. Traffic does tend to slow down or stop to view the bison and to avoid them when they're walking down the middle of the road.
Bison in the field
Bison in transit
Bison stepping off the road to let us by
When we arrive at Canyon Village, we first spot the signs warning us to stay at least 100 yards (91 meters) away from bears and wolves and 25 yards (23 meters) away from bison. The park rangers tell us that more people are injured by bison than by bears as people tend to get too close to a bison (for pictures) and annoy the animal (it's rarely good to annoy something that weighs up to 2,000 pounts, 907 kg, and stands around 6 feet, 1.8 meters, tall). We do note that it is difficult to stay 25 yards from a bison that is walking on the road by our car, but at least we're in the car.
Keep your distance
The other warning that we view has to do with bears. The park is full of both brown and black bears and a bear encounter is quite possible. The advice from the park is to be alert, make noise (they tell us to clap our hands and say "Hey bear" as we walk along the forest trails to avoid surprising a bear), and to carry bear spray. We rent bear spray for our trip and do actually encounter a bear a few days later alongside the trail on which we're hiking (about 20 feet, 6 meters, away), but the bear is busy and not interested in us.
Bear encounter instructions
We also occasionally see elk also grazing in the fields (and one moose later in the trip).
Elk
We arrive in Canyon Village, centrally located in the park near the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (a 20 mile, 32 km, long and 1,000 foot, 305 meter, deep gorge carved by the Yellowstone River), staying in the National Park Lodge (Canyon Lodge and Cabins), and head over to dinner at Canyon Eatery food hall, a collection of varied dining options ranging from hearty "home-style" meals to ramen and pho bowls.
We've arrived in Yellowstone and have a lot of exploring to do the next few days!
