2013 Western Trip – Yellowstone’s Upper Loop

Our second day in Yellowstone began with the upper and lower falls on the Yellowstone River which we didn’t do on the previous day’s lower loop tour – this was my main want-to-see in the park.  We went out the north rim and didn’t get a great view of the upper falls, but did get a good one of the 328 stairs leading to the bottom (what a hike).

Known as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, it is pretty spectacular in its own right.  This is the lower falls and a couple of shots of the deep gorge.

From there, we headed up over Mt. Washburn for some vast scenery views,

then out into the Lamar Valley toward the NE park entrance hoping to see more wildlife and we did see many more bison but nothing else.  While we saw plenty of bison and elk in the park, we did not see some of the other park residents – such as moose, bear, eagle, wolf.

We finally drove over to Mammoth Springs for a view of park headquarters, which reminded me a lot of a small military post. The thermal feature there is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine, which was difficult to see without climbing lots of stairs and was not as impressive as the other features we’d seen.  The first shot is mine and I lifted the others from the web.

I know we did Yellowstone an injustice by spending only two days there and regret we missed some of the sights you suggested, but I think we got to see a little of about everything - the lower loop contained the most.  It would have been nice to have been in shape to see a little of the back country but such is life.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

9/3/2013 event date