Yellowstone Adventures 2022, Day 4

THE DAY BEGINS

The group met up in the lobby today at 6:30 a.m. The drive to our first adventure of the day was 41 miles. You don’t think 41 miles is very far until you are drive 45 MPH or less making it seem to last FOREVER!! We stopped by at McDonalds again to let Travis get fueled up on coffee before heading out to the park. Just a reminder, we only stayed .6 miles from the entrance to the park and McDonalds is between the hotel and the park. There has been NO TRAFFIC and we were glad we picked the week BEFORE Memorial Day to travel. It was a very good choice for us.

GRAND CANYON OF YELLOWSTONE, NORTH RIM

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone’s North Rim is accessed by a narrow, one-way road with very limited parking. Our itinerary advised us to drive this road before doing the South Rim to avoid crowds. My navigation directions to Travis was lacking this morning and long story short, we had to make the loop twice before we parked due to not being able to turn around. Great thing we started early.

LOOKOUT POINT

Our first pass by the Brink of the Lower Falls was at 8:20. We “accidently” didn’t stop so we went on to The Lookout Point. At this overlook you can see a stunning view of the Lower Falls and it is also the start of the Red Rock Point Trail. We were unable to hike the trail due to closure at this time. The alternative to Red Rock Point Trail was Uncle Tom’s Trail. However, we discovered that it has been closed for a couple of years. You can see the stairs across on the South Rim in one of my pictures. Disappointing, but we still had plenty to do and see. After working on Becky’s picture taking and group selfie skills, we made the loop to try this again.

Take TWO

We arrived BACK at the Brink of the Lower Falls at 8:47. The Lower Falls is the best way to grasp the immensity of the waterfalls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The Canyon is about 20 miles long. Parts of the canyon are nearly 1,200 feet deep. The Canyon is forever growing wider, deeper and longer thanks to water erosion and not glaciation which sculpted many other canyons.

UPPER FALLS BRINK

At the fork in the path, we decided to go see the Upper Falls Brink first and there were gorgeous views along the way. Be sure to check out the videos of this trip on the FB link in the blog. For some reason I decided I would be ok wearing tennis shoes today….What was I thinking??? I managed to not step in any huge mud or water puddles, especially since this part of the trail was not paved.

BRINK OF THE LOWER FALLS

We returned to the trailhead for the Brink of the Lower Falls at 10:00. When we reached the end we were standing  at the Top of the Lower Falls and peering over the side. The water tumbles 308 feet over the cliffs. The trail is paved and short but you must return up a challenging 300-foot uphill climb after seeing the falls.

INSPIRATION POINT

The photo was taken by a nice lady, preventing us from having to attempt another selfie. We hiked back up to the top to take a short rest and catch our breath. We then headed toward the South Rim to see Artist Point. But before exiting the North Rim the second time, Travis was inspired to stop at INSPIRATION POINT.

ARTIST POINT

At Artist Point you get to see and enjoy one of the most iconic views of the Grand Canyon At Yellowstone. We had just been standing at the top of this waterfall. We were warned that this is a very popular spot and usually crowded. There were a lot of people but not to the point that parking was any trouble at all. We were able to go to the viewing spot to take our pictures, enjoy the views and off we went to the next adventure.

JUST CHECKING

Travis made a loop through Uncle Tom’s Point Just to be sure it was indeed closed. Yep……It was!!!!

CANYON VILLAGE

We headed into Canyon Village to check out our lunch options around 12:00. We were right on schedule with the itinerary. As we entered the Canyon Village General Store, we put our name on the waiting list to eat at the Soda Fountain. Travis stayed close to the line and swapped stories with a retired middle school principal working in Yellowstone for the summer as Becky and I scoped out the Bison.

LUNCH AT THE SODA FOUNTAIN

The way the Soda Fountain was laid out was really neat and efficient. They could put a lot of people in a smaller space with one waitress working in each section. Travis and I shared the $18.00 Canyon Bison Burger. Ummmmm, not that impressed….. Becky and Kenny had the Chili Cheese Nachos. The store was really large and there were a lot of souvenir opportunities. I just took pictures.

RANDOM STOP

By 1:00 we were back on the road again. Of course when you see people pulled over looking at something with their binoculars, that is your clue that there may be wildlife close by. Soooooo we stopped…..AGAIN. I don’t think we saw anything this stop. Travis and Kenny discovered that using binoculars is easier when they are propped on their wives shoulders.

MUD VOLCANO

Finally arrived to the Mud Volcano Area at 1:30. Plug your nose and plan to breathe in one of the smelliest places in Yellowstone. The Mud Volcano area is constantly bubbling, gurgling and sputtering. You will have to see the video on FB to get the true gurgling effect and Travis’s dry comments about the smell. I told him it couldn’t be worse than a middle school hallway in the hot afternoon after P.E. He agreed.

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PELICAN CREEK NATURE TRAIL

Pelican Creek Trail was a short 1 mile round trip hike that was very peaceful as we walked along the shore of Yellowstone Lake. Becky and Travis are the bear clappers for the trip. They are so good on every hike to clap and alert any wildlife that we are near. Kenny and I just wander around. The sand along the beach was black from the volcano. The white stuff you see is SNOW that has not melted yet.

FROZEN YELLOWSTONE LAKE

Pretty cool that almost the whole lake is still frozen.

WEST THUMB GEYSER BASIN

The loop through the West Thumb Geyser Basin has some interesting thermal features right on the edge of Yellowstone Lake. We went to Fishing Cone which is where early explorers reportedly used to catch their fish in the lake and cook them in the boiling water in this spring.

BULLWINKLES

Arrived back in West Yellowstone at 6:40. The decision was made on the way back into town that we would eat at Bullwinkles. There was a slight wait for a table, but not long. It gave us just long enough to look at a menu and decide what we wanted to eat. Both entrees were quite tasty. We were finished and headed back to the hotel by 7:45. I know that sounds early, but boy are we putting in some long, full days. We never had trouble falling asleep at night.

Summary of Day 4

My Apple watch says that I walked 7.8 miles, 18,959 steps, and climbed 43 flights of stairs.  I still had 1 idle hour. It must be the drive home every night. We left the hotel for Yellowstone Park at 6:30 a.m. and returned to the hotel at 7:55 p.m. We had a close walk by with an elk, saw more bison as usual, viewed lots of gorgeous waterfalls, and learned a lot about the different natural wonders in the park.