About My Trips to Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon

This past week my family and I went to one of America’s biggest National Parks, Yellowstone. A couple years prior we also went toThe Grand Canyon. Both were amazing trips and had their most beautiful views. Now obviously before we got to Yellowstone I would say that The Grand Canyon was my favorite. However, since coming back today, July 6, 2016, I’m not so sure of which to choose as my favorite.

The Grand Canyon was a beautiful sight from the start to finish. When we went to the Grand Canyon, we visited the Hoover Dam and the Vegas strip. The sights were unbelievable and pictures do absolutely no justice to showing the true beauty of it. During our stay, we did a 4-day rafting trip in the Grand Canyon. Each day we would travel 20 miles of water while also seeing some great sights, learning about the history, and getting wet from the rapids.

That was for the first three days so we did 60 miles total. On the fourth day, we would get back on the raft and travel a little bit to reach the drop off where we would go on our own and hike 8 miles while going over 4,000 feet in elevation to the South Rim. Of all of the hikes I have done while in Boy Scouts, this was the most brutal hike because of many reasons. It was hotter than what we’re used to, the elevation was going up which means the air was getting thinner, and that it was just really exhausting at the end. Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful and we had a great time throughout the whole entire trip and I'm glad I had the opportunity to do this.

Now how does Yellowstone compare to The Grand Canyon? Well, it’s very similar for sure of what we did. During this trip, we went white water rafting and we hiked. However throughout the whole trip, we hiked a lot more, as in way more miles hiked than the Grand Canyon. When we went to Yellowstone we saw a lot of cool stuff along the way. Of course, when you’re in Yellowstone you have to see Old Faithful and we did and it was a great sight watching the famous geyser erupt as well.

The sights were so incredible and even seeing some of the animals were awesome as well. We saw, no exaggeration, about a thousand bison or buffalo, some elk, and three black bears. We were actually able to get very close to the bison. Meaning they would end up walking on the road you are traveling on. Even the bears were close, as well. When there was a bear sighting, park rangers would show up and tell people to get back in their vehicles because they tend to be aggressive and may even attack in some cases if they felt threatened.

One of the most interesting parts of the trip had to be coming home. To get there we took a flight to Minneapolis and then to Billings Montana where we got a rental car to Yellowstone. We took this way back, however, we had a little delay... okay it was a big delay, our flight from Minneapolis to Philly was canceled due to inclement weather and we had to stay at the airport overnight. Eventually, we did get home obviously or I wouldn’t be writing this. Anyway, all was good and we had a grand time with a lot of amazing scenery.

During the trip we went to Teton (pictured above) which is another national park not too far from Yellowstone. Again the scenery was incredible. We stayed in a city right outside of Teton and we went on a white water rafting trip along the Snake River. Much like the Grand Canyon's Colorado River, the Snake River was very cold or refreshing. The mountains of Teton were so mesmerizing that they almost looked fake.

So to come to a conclusion I would have to say that it is still too hard to pick a favorite. I would have to say that they're both my favorites in different ways, and to be able to see the truest beauty of America is an honor and a privilege.