This is how our third and final day in Yellowstone started out:
As usual these days, we were slow in getting started on our third and final day in Yellowstone. We had camped at a place about 6 miles beyond the western entrance of the park (aka tourist town – we’ll avoid it when we come back). The campground was having a soft closing – meaning it a day after they were closed for the season… but they still let us camp there for $45. That’s steep for a place that doesn’t have toilets available – but it’s Yellowstone and that was actually a discount. That morning we decided to change campgrounds to save a little money and set us up for the drive towards Salt Lake City the following day.
We entered the park a little before noon and beelined it for the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We saw the lower falls (308 ft) but couldn’t get a decent shot of them from the upper rim. That explains why there was so much traffic headed to the lower rim drive. Inspiration point was closed and quite frankly… I didn’t mind. The overlooks just about did me in. The heights are impressive and, in truly unAmerican form, the fences were questionable. I think my height awareness is getting worse as I get older.
It’s progressively getting more and more chilly. We’re now dropping into the low 40s, high 30s at night. During the day we’ve been getting rain, thunderstorms (you’ll see a big mean looking one in the pictures) and plenty of sun. But it’s cold sun. We’re at the comfortable limit of what we brought for cold weather gear – jackets, scarves, mittens, sweaters….
After the canyon we headed over to the paint pots, hot springs, fumerols and more geysers.
Honestly, with as much activity as there was in the area, the walkway is a “best guess” at where to step to not win a one way ticket to the middle of the earth.
The colors are microorganisms that thrive in heat. This pool is a deep turquoise but we couldn’t see it well because of the steam.
The buffalo enjoyed the heat on this chilly fall day as well.
Happy day of adventuring.
