Day 7 Yellowstone National Park

We got off to an early start as we set out to do more exploring of the Park. Our first stop was in the Hayden Valley where we viewed the rapids on the Yellowstone River (longest undamed river in the U.S.).In July this spot is full of trout swimming against the rapids to get to their spawning spots. You can see the fish jump about every 15 seconds!

Sulphur Caldron was next. The pH of the pool is nearly that of battery acid and the yellow color is caused by bacteria living in the pool.

Mud Volcano thermal area was just a short distance away. You could smell it from inside the truck! This is where we saw our first bison. They like to spend the winter here because the ground is always warm. We saw 4 bison up close! This one was rolling around on his back (like Dudley) to scratch!

 

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is where we spent most of our day. It is spectacular and get up close to the falls! The canyon is 1,200 feet at its deepest point, 4,000 feet across and 24 miles long.The Upper Falls is the shorter of the two and is upstream from the Lower Falls. This is a distant view (across the canyon) of the Upper Falls.

We got right next to the spot where the water begins to go over the falls!

At the lower falls there us a path that leads to the bottom of the canyon. It is very steep with lots of switchbacks, but we made it! Climbing back up was the hard part, but it was well worth it.

The canyon walls from the bottom!

And from Inspiration Point!

We headed north and stopped at several overlooks. The scenery often changed and we saw lots of animals--bison, elk, moose, and geese. This bison was right next to a smelly geyser!

Tower Falls

We also took a side road to see the petrified tree. It started to rain and did so for the rest of the drive.  We went to the North entrance and briefly left the park so we could see the Roosevelt Arch. We were actually in Montana at this point and the rain stopped for a very short time.

Love the inscription--"furor the people."

It rained all the way back to our campground. The sun came out briefly, giving us enough time to walk to the store for coffee and ice cream. After dinner, it rained some more. We sure are glad we are not using a tent anymore!