I went on a camping trip to Yellowstone with my two sons, Malcolm and Colin.    From southern California, it is a long drive (about 17 hours, depending on traffic), and did it over a day and a half so we are not getting up in the middle of the night to drive nonstop.  A long stretch along the I15 highway, then US20 to enter Yellowstone at the western entrance.

We stayed at the Canyon campground, which was somewhat close to a several hikes.  It was also essentially central to Yellowstone, allowing us to drive to many of the locations in the park, including the Norris geyser basin, Old Faithful, Yellowstone lake, Lamar Valley.  The Canyon campground has the Canyon Village adjacent, so for many of the things we might need, such as food, we could go to the village.  The village also includes a few places to eat, although the food there is nothing spectacular.

Once we finally checked in, time to set up camp.  Once set up, then take some time to orient ourselves and come up with a plan for what we would like to do.  This included reviewing hikes, along with activities to view parts of the park.

On the first full day at Yellowstone, we visited the Norris Geyser Basin, along with the Old Faithful Geyser Basin.  We watched many geysers erupt, but the highlight has to be the Grand Geyser.  This is actually three geysers adjacent to each other.  After waiting for perhaps 45 minutes, we were rewarded with the eruption.  This turned out to be three eruptions, lasting over 10 minutes, the first time since the beginning of the year.

On the second full day, we drove up the Lamar Valley to go find wildlife.  We first found a bison taking a drink from the river, and upon getting in the car and turning the corner, we found a whole herd of bison grazing in the meadow.  We spent many minutes watching and photographing the bison.  Continuing on with the drive, we encountered more herds of bison.  When we turned around to go back to the camp, we came across a herd of pronghorn, with more time spent photographing them.

On the third full day, after taking some time in the morning to take it easy, Colin and I went to the hike at Mt Washburn.  On the way up, came across a single pronghorn snacking on flowers, and later ran across a group of female bighorn sheep.  The view from up near the top of the lets you see large portions of the Yellowstone.