Day 5: Yellowstone

Our first full day in Yellowstone and of course I pulled out the list of places to visit. First drive was the South Rim to stop at Artist Point . . .

We then headed to the North Rim and hardly anyone was out this morning! At one point we were the only car in the parking lot.  We stopped at Lookout Point and Inspiration Point.

Finally a photo of me enjoying the views . . .

I thought these trees were really neat looking.

We were done with all the things on my list before 11 so I had to regroup and find somewhere else to explore. I decided we should head to Tower Fall.  Along the way we saw snow at the Mount Washburn Trail . . .

. . . of course we had to stop and play for a few minutes! After several stops to watch wildlife, we finally reached Tower Fall . . .

Colin was sure being still (and cute too) . . .

. . . and then I realized he was stalking the critters to take photos!

And if you are wondering, NO we did not feed them . . . not that he didn't want to, but he knows the rules when in National Parks.  There was road construction so decided to turn back and head to the cabin and do a short hike behind our cabin to the Grand View of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

And just about then it started raining . . . we were about a half mile from the cabin when we got caught so we hiked/ran faster. I figured I could dry off with the hairdryer but arrived to a cabin without power. The storm had knocked out all power in the Canyon area. We thought we would grab something to eat or visit the Visitor's Center to only find they too had no power! What a mess and a lot of rain too. The Ranger Program did still happen even if it was half dark and it was good. They decided to start this specific talk called Wildlife and You after two deaths last year in the park. One was a young child attacked by a bear and the other a man killed by a bison. Shortly after the talk was over the power was restored!   I had scheduled an Evening Wildlife Tour on the historic yellow buses at 4:15pm but wasn't so sure with the weather. I went to check and found the tour was going but the yellow bus was in the shop . . . the yellow bus was about 80% the reason I booked this tour.

I told you they were cool looking . . . this was another bus on a different tour; those lucky ducks!  We went anyway. Everyone else on the tour either cancelled or rescheduled so we had a private tour; pretty cool!   Our guide, Dave, was very knowledgeable and knew where the animals were!

 

 

We saw black bears, elk, pronghorn, osprey, sheep, wolf, and bison.  The tour would have been easy to do on our own . . . just drive to Lamar Valley and you will see animals BUT having a guide who knew exactly where to go was worth it and for the fact I did not have to drive!  His knowledge was amazing and the fact we were the only people in the van.  The Yellow Bus would have been great but the weather was cold and rainy so having the open top would not have happened anyway.  No regrets at all.  We also stopped at Soda Butte . . .

 . . . it is a travertine mound that was formed more than a century ago by a hot spring.  As we walked around it we saw this little guy hiding out . . . I think he wanted us to leave his home.

We finally got back to the cabin for the night.  We were all exhausted.  I noticed it was awkwardly quiet so I  turned around and found this . . .

. . . I swear this has only happened a few times in his life.  I guess it was a successful day!