Friday, December 16, 2011

THE Trip, Yellowstone National Park, The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and MORE Waterfalls

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

June 23, 2011

After our drive to Fishing Bridge and our little bear hunt gone lousy, we turned back north and drove along Yellowstone River to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone area.  This entire area is around 8000 in elevation, Man and I were having issues walking down to the view points and then back out again.  We went slow and easy and managed to fill the day, our senses, and Sony.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is on our hit list for the afternoon.  First stop on the way north is the South Rim Drive where we stop and walk out to Artist Point.  Here are some photos of the beautiful Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Below the Lower Falls:


Let's let Sony bring us closer:


Turn around from this view point 180 degrees and look up the canyon:


Sony, zooms again, the colors are muted, soft, and yet, beautiful.  The water running fairly hard, they had 4 times the snow pack the winter before we arrived, lots of melted snow down there running through the canyon:


Another view, less zoom, more overall, here it comes:  WOW!!!


One more view:


After we left the Artist Point we made our way back to Uncle Tom's Point,  we had to settle for photos from the upper edge of the canyon, as the strenuous hike down into the canyon (500 feet down 300 steps and a series of paved inclines) was deemed to be more than Man and I could manage.  Course, this is not such a bad photo, is it???  These are the Upper Falls, looking west from the south rim.


From this vantage point we could also see this water fall, between the trees and all.  It may be Crystal Falls, note the disclaimer "may".


Time to visit the North Rim, there is a one way road, North Rim Drive, not very long, but, there are 3 parking areas, with views and trails.  We will be viewing the falls and the canyon from different view points, different angles, so, yes, I will be showing some of the same water, sorry, can't help myself!  LOL

The first is Brink of the Lower Falls, see my post of December 14, 2011 for different and closer views of the Lower Falls.



More of the Lower Falls, this time from the vantage point of the Lookout Point area.


Turning and looking the other way, the canyon walls:


Another view of the canyon, overall.  When I look at this photo, it almost looks like a painting.  I might have to play with this one and some of those special effects on Photoshop.


Inspiration Point pretty much finished up our visit to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  We still had a bit of a drive to get home, we were tired from the day and the altitude, so at this point we began the drive back.  We stopped briefly in the Canyons Visitor Center area for a late picnic snack where either a mule deer or elk almost ran into the side of Big Butt, that was a thrill, not one we needed, but, you know, Mother Nature and all.

Between Madison and West Yellowstone that huge herd of Bison made themselves known, but, they were not in the road.  We managed to snag a parking place and - - well, since Bison are such an important part of the Yellowstone experience, come on back and I'll show you - -




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4 comments:

Barbara Poole said...

Now you are about to head home, hum, wonder what you'll see...more bison?
Loved your waterfall photos, they've all been great.

Susan Clark said...

I love the waterfall photos, too. I can all but hear the roar and feel the spray.

Joan said...

OMG what a wonderful set of pictures to enjoy with my morning cup of tea. Pure delight.

Michelle Goodrum said...

Beautiful pics. Would love to see what you come up with for special effects on your last picture. It's a beautiful one.