Friday May 14th Waterfalls and Canyons

Weather today was mostly clear. A few isolated showers this afternoon. Not far after reaching the top of the Mammoth canyon, out in a meadow area, we saw THREE grizzlies rooting around in the dirt – for grubs? One of the bears was a beautiful silver color!

Our trip today was to visit the Falls/Canyon area. All the facilities at Canyon Village were closed but this is the starting point for canyon views. First stop on the North Rim Drive is the “Brink of Upper Falls”. This is a really tough hike down steep switchbacks right to the top of the Lower Falls. The power of water is incredible! Sam stayed on a bench close to the top and had interesting conversations with other folks who didn’t want to make the trek. I went down to the “brink” and huffed and puffed my way back up.

From there on this one way road there were several viewpoints, ending at “Inspiration Point”. Great views of the falls and the colorful canyon.

Our drive continued around down to the South Rim Drive with views of the Upper Falls and ending at “Artist Point” with another view of the Lower Falls.

After viewing the falls, we went back to the main road and continued south along the Yellowstone River and Hayden Valley. The altitude here is much higher so there isn’t much sign of spring. Consequently, there was very little wildlife to be seen. Our best view was a Great Blue Heron fishing in the river. At the end of this valley there is thermal area with the interesting Mud Volcano and Dragon’s Mouth.

For an early dinner tonight we went down to Gardner to the Iron Horse Saloon. We tried to go there the other night but there was an hour wait! We had been there on previous occasions and really enjoyed the ambience with all the artifacts hanging on the walls.

Heading for home tomorrow; taking a scenic route via Jackson to Pocatello. Our three days in Yellowstone has been great! We’ve lost count of how many times we’ve been here. We wonder: “If you only have one day to visit Yellowstone, what should you see?” Our conclusion is that you should concentrate on the thermal areas between Norris and Old Faithful. This is what makes Yellowstone unique!