Day 5 - Yellowstone Falls and more sleeping buffalo

Today our itinerary was to go take in Yellowstone Falls. Our first stop was Terrace Spring. Short little hike with some neat geothermal springs.


Connor hiking on the boardwalk between the springs, full of vim and vigor!



Bubbles caused by gases deep in the earths core.

This spring was right next to the road and had different coloured spots in it, I imagine from  hotter areas within the spring.

It was interesting seeing some of the plant life in this area as it was similar to a mountain meadow.

Next was Gibbon Falls, which were stunningly beautiful.

80 + ft drop and marks the edge of the original volcano caldera.

Then we visited Beryl Spring, a very pretty spring that required very special engineering to get the road across. As the pictures show, there are geothermals along and under the road. It was engineered so the water, steam and gases can still escape but leave the road unscathed. Unless you get out of your vehicle to check out the spring, you would not know that. The only reason we knew is Tim has a really cool app on  his iPhone that commentates on sites along the road. Very informative and information that isn't necessarily at each site.

Beryl Spring is named for a jewel by the same name.

The bridge almost "floats" above the geothermal features but you wouldn't know when you are driving on it. Solid as a rock! Now that is some great engineering!

Finally we made it to the Brink of the Lower Falls and I made the executive decision that we should go all the way to the bottom to view the brink. It was 600 ft of elevation of switchbacks over 3/8 of a mile. My right knee did not like going down much and the climb up was very taxing. I didn't wear my heart rate monitor but the ol' ticker was getting a work out for sure. I sweated up a storm as well.

Upper Falls from the Lower Falls hiking trail

The turbulent waters of the Yellowstone River to...

the brink!

Down to the bottom and flowing to...

the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone!!

Lower Falls from the lookout. You can see where we were at the brink.

The view uphill from the brink... I have to climb all the way to the top!

I think this is midway... wait a minute, it looks the same!!! WTF!

By the time we had finished this challenging hike, we were overdue for lunch but we still had the lower falls lookout. I let the boys do that one alone as on the descent to the brink, my Montana sized blister on my left heel let loose and I didn't want to over do it and save my walking for later viewing of the upper falls. We finally exited the Lower Falls loop and stopped in Canyon Village for a picnic lunch.

At our picnic site, we had really cute little ground squirrels chirping at us, I think they were after our nuts... LOL! They appeared to be a family, a mom, dad and some little ones. They pretty much harassed all the tourists but everyone refrained from feeding the little buggers so I am sure they were getting frustrated. They were super funny, when they made noise, they moved everything from their nose to their tail.

We headed down to the Upper Falls loop, and there were signs to "do not get out of your car for the next 2 miles". We didn't know what that was about but saw some bunyaks getting out of their cars to photograph a buffalo. When we arrived at the upper falls view point, there were a couple of rangers there and Tim overheard that the area that was blocked off was a wolf migration path.



Apparently this guy took the Stop sign literally and chose to ignore the "no stopping for 1/2 mile" signs.

Buffalo cavorting and taking dust baths in the Hayden Valley

 There was an enormous traffic jam in the Hayden Valley, Tim inquired and apparently there was a bear. So he pulled over and he and Connor went to investigate. The sow and her two cubs were feeding on a carcass in a meadow across the river... even with the zoom on the video camera, he was unable to capture anything great. I waited in the car with my sore foot and sunburnt back... I was sunned out!

Our next stop was the Mud Volcano, home of the Dragon Breath Cave. Connor loved this one because as the waves go in and out of the cave vent, it growls and emits steam so it sounds like a dragon lives in there.

The water waves in and out of the cave, hissing and growling.

There were also some neat vents and of course, mud pots!

This mud pot was very liquidy...

and this one was thick and the bubbles blurped!

After a long day of hiking and sightseeing, Connor was still going strong!

We headed back to West Yellowstone and stopped in at a bakery for Cinnamon Buns for breakfast the next morning and cannoli for dessert. Upon returning to the campsite, we steamed some baby potatoes, barbequed some t-bone steaks (Connor and I shared one) and had an Asian Salad. It was super yummy.  We then hopped on our bikes to pick up coffee cream and pay a visit to the Old Fashioned Candy Store. Tim bought a bag of saltwater taffy to share with me and Connor got a few braces friendly hard candies. We then returned to our campsite and lit our Campfire in a Can and chillaxed by the fire. All in all a productive and busy day!