Inspiring travel stories, tips, and guides from a couple exploring the world one destination at a time.
Geothermal features number more than 10,000 in Yellowstone National Park, including the world’s greatest concentration of geysers, hot springs, mudpots, and fumaroles.
These features are the visible expression of the park’s underlying volcanic system, which is powered by a vast magma chamber deep beneath the surface.
Last Updated: October 11, 2026
The Grand Loop Road was not built for cars. Army engineers laid it out for stagecoaches, and for its first decade nobody was allowed to drive an automobile on it at all.
It is the figure eight of roughly 140 miles that ties together every major feature in Yellowstone, and driving all of it in one day can take four to seven hours depending on wildlife and traffic. We spent the first part of June 2022 working through it from West Yellowstone, Montana, about an hour and a half from Fishing Bridge. We were last here in the fall of 2020.
[Read more…] about Grand Loop Road, Yellowstone: A Stagecoach Road, a Basin That Blew Up and the Head of the MissouriLast Updated: July 17, 2026
West Yellowstone in the fall is typically less crowded than summer and a wonderful time to see fall foliage and Yellowstone’s many attractions. The risk is cold weather and snow — and we had both on this trip. Because of COVID, international travel was largely off the table in 2020, so many people were exploring domestically instead, and there were more visitors than usual for the season. The animals were getting ready for winter, putting on their coats and building up reserves, and the elk rut was in full and dramatic swing along the Madison River.
