Adventure Vacations with the Yelton Family: Day 7 ~Yellowstone Day 3

Day 7 ~ Yellowstone Day 2

Today we purposefully set out to find a black bear or a grizzly bear. A ranger had told us yesterday where the best place to find all the animals would be. The biggest problem we are having at Yellowstone is that two places in the loop are under construction, so we have to go way out of our way and often back track to get to each place. Another problem is the heavy, heavy traffic. I heard there would be a lot of people here, but…..Wow.

So on our way to Haden Valley, where we planned to see bears, we stopped at Gibbon Falls. Loved this place. We messed around getting a group photo with the tripod and camera.

More bison.

Yes, we were really, really close to this one.

We might gripe about our aches and pains and how out of shape we are, but this guy is taking his time and seeing Yellowstone on crutches.

Rattle Bear Hole

Then we stopped at Geyser Basin in Norris to see some more volcanic heated springs. We spent more time doing this than we should have, but the trail was longer than we anticipated. Mostly this looked like what we saw yesterday. The sulfur smell is pretty overpowering sometimes. We did get our exercise in!

While I was taking a picture, I fell off the boardwalk a little bit. I said, "Oh, my gosh! Look at my shoes, they are melting from the acid." Mike quickly looked very alarmed. Then he laughed and I snapped his picture.

The active volcano underground keeps the pools of water simmering.

The Pearl

This land looks so desolate. There are SOOOOO many contrasts at Yellowstone.

In Hayden Valley we saw a lot more bison. Mike said it was a bi-centennial.

Mike told me this was a rattle bear egg. I am not sure if I believe him or not.

Yellowstone River.

Yellowstone Lake.

Then Mike let Harrison drive. Harrison pulled into Canyon Rim, which didn’t look like much from the parking lot. Natalie and Mike opted to stay in the car. Who stays in the car at Yellowstone????? They missed Canyon Falls! This was another way, way amazing sight. My camera really didn’t capture the intensity of these falls. We stopped at some other overlooks to see the Canyon Falls, but none compared to the first sighting.