Saturday, July 29, 2017

Day 21

Waking early, we made a big breakfast to fuel the long day to explore the park. Staying on the lake in Grant Village kept us centrally located and gave us a head start to venture before most could get in the park. We stopped at West Thumb Geyser Basin. Here we fell in love with the color of the Abyss Pool, views of the lake and the Fishing Cone where fisherman used to cook their fish in the boiling water. Here the lake bubbled and brewed along the edge, this gave a good view of the diverse and active caldera at the bottom of Yellowstone Lake. We proceeded to Fishing Bridge, Hayden Valley, stopping at LeHardys Rapids of the Yellowstone River. Wow. Breathtaking and full of crushing power. Mud Volcano, Dragon's mouth, Black Dragon Cauldron each whose names help us convince the kids into hiking further. Along this corridor we got stuck in a "bison jam" and watched a large male bison cross the road, and swim across the river (Chris and I's favorite part). We stopped at Artist's point to view lower falls of Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This was awe inspiring. We hiked out to Upper falls, Tower Falls, Undine falls, and Petrified tree as well. Mammoth hot springs terraces were spectacular and constantly moving, growing, dying, changing. Lily's favorite part of Yellowstone was seeing all the wildlife, we saw bison, grizzly bear, coyote, badger, geese, ducks, and elk. Artist's paint pots and Midway Geyser Basin with features Excellsior And Grand Prismatic concluded a long but satisfying day. We decided to treat ourselves to a fancy dinner at the lodge, well deserved and full of yummy calories. We hiked 9.38 miles, and loved every minute of it.

No comments: