After a short night of sleep we look forward to our first day in Yellowstone. It is still cold in the morning (about 43 Fahrenheit / 6 Celsius) when we leave the Hotel at about 8am.

Shortly after entering the park we see the first elks, then we stop at glass clear lakes and rivers, steaming geysers and fumaroles and lots of breathtaking colorful meadows on our way passing Madison, Mammoth Hot Springs and Tower Roosevelt towards the Northeast Park Entrance. There we get a coffee and turn around to drive back again through Lamar Valley with all its Buffalos – some of them cause a real traffic jam because they are walking on the street and between the slowly progressing cars. For them cars seem to be just another species living in their habitat and roads an easy path to get from one place to another. At some point Marco point into the sky where a bald eagle is watching out for prey.

Back at Tower Roosevelt we turn south along the Yellowstone river all the way to Hayden Valley, where we find more Buffalo herds and Canada Geese “fishing” for grass in the Yellowstone river. The blue river amidst the beige golden colored fall grass and trees is just unbelievably beautiful.

Meanwhile it is late afternoon and the light is getting warmer and the colors even more intense. On our way back to West Yellowstone just a couple miles before Madison we get surprised by an animal we have never seen yet on any of our trips to Yellowstone: two wolves are roaming around, a white one and a black one. The black one soon disappears between the trees, but the white one looks around and then crosses the street and walks off up hill into the woods – what a fascinating moment!

After about 200 miles and 11 hours we are back in West Yellowstone, looking for an affordable place to have dinner. At the Outpost Restaurant we have a burger before we get back to the Hotel, tired but happy.