On the last day of September we drove down from Bozeman and entered Yellowstone through the Roosevelt Arch at the North Entrance. The Mammoth terraces glowed white under a blue afternoon sky, and we caught Gibbon Falls in the early evening.
The next morning the geyser basins were wrapped in thick fog, steam and mist blending into one. Once it lifted we watched Old Faithful erupt, walked the turquoise hot springs along the West Thumb shoreline, and stood beside Grand Prismatic surrounded by bands of color and drifting steam. Toward evening we passed bison grazing by the road, and that night, from our lakeside cabin, watched Yellowstone Lake turn pink and orange at sunset.
On our final day we reached the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, where the Lower Falls pour between golden canyon walls — a fitting end to three days in the park.