THE Trip, Yellowstone National Park, Water and Waterfalls

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

On June 23, 2011 (after a FULL day of rest, the never getting out of our jammies all day kind of rest) Man and I made our way back into Yellowstone National Park.  We missed the TWO HOUR delay of Bison on the road from West Yellowstone to Madison.  The traffic was stopped, and backed up for several miles, the delay was the chatter of the day all around the park.  We were not one bit sorry to have missed it!  LOL

This time when we got to Madison we turned north to Norris Geyser Basin area and at Norris we turned east heading towards the Canyon Visitors Center.  Along the way we took the one way side road to Virginia Cascade falls.  A little internet snooping tells us that the falls are 60 foot, there is no known way to hike any closer and that parking along the road is iffy.  Agree about that parking issue, we pulled over a bit, rolled the windows down and shot out the window without ever getting out of Big Butt.  But what a lovely way to begin our day.

Next stop, Canyon Visitors Center, still some serious snow piled up here.  Catch the short sleeved tops.

Not parking any bikes here for a while.

Inside the visitors center among the displays there is this HUGE 3 dimensional relief model of the entire Yellowstone park.  I was quite taken by it and could have studied it for longer than I had.  SIGHH.  The following photo starts to show the size of this model.

A closer inspection, details, graphically shown, gives a different impression of Yellowstone.  This must have taken hours to design and produce.

After our stop at the visitors center we headed in the general direction of  Fishing Bridge (south).  We made a few stops here and there.  At 8,000 feet Man and I both were feeling the effects of the elevation, and found this day to be the most taxing on us physically of our visit to Yellowstone.  We carried water even on the shortest of walks to viewing areas, and moved very slowly, stopping frequently.  We did not try to win any speed contests getting in or out of scenic stops.  My note taking (via Sony) lacked some on this day, but, lets see if I can muddle through.

Just south a bit of the Canyon Visitors Center is what is referred to as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  We would visit this later in the day, first we stopped at the Brink of the Upper Falls.  The Upper falls drop 109 feet.

I am not sure this little waterfall has a name:

After this short visit to the Upper Falls we drove along the Yellowstone River to Fishing Bridge.  At Fishing Bridge to the south is Yellowstone Lake and to the north is Yellowstone River.  We stopped and had a nice visit with one of the Rangers who was standing on the bridge, sharing some information on the area.  She pointed out how high the water was, how some of the hiking trails were now under water and told us of a black bear sighting just up the road.  Yes, we eventually went bear hunting, the photos were less than spectacular, translated that means, they were horrible.  But, the photo of the Yellowstone River from the Fishing Bridge area is pretty:

Since there was this bear to go hunting, we decided to take the road from Fishing Bridge east towards the East Entrance of the Park, originally we had not planned to drive any of this part of the park, but, Man was anxious to see bear.  He sorta saw the bear, photos not worth sharing, that bear was not coming close enough to show off, camera shy??  After the failed bear photo attempt we drove a bit further east to Lake Butte, 8,348 feet where I got this photo of Yellowstone Lake, well, part of the lake, it is huge.

At this point we turned back towards Fishing Bridge and north again towards Canyon Village, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone was waiting.  We made one more stop along Yellowstone River at LeHardys Rapids where the cut throat trout jump in July and August.  We were there June 23rd and there were a few early arrivals.  I highlighted the trout on Flora and Fauna, I got a photo, not the best, but I GOT the photo!  The rapids:

On the way to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone we encountered more Bison, with babies:

I took over 110 photos of the Grand Canyon and the Lower Falls.  Soon I'll bring you some of them, I promise, not all 110!  LOL




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