Wildlife and waterfalls: Sunshine over Yellowstone

It was foggy and cold when I left West Yellowstone for the park.  I was hoping the fog would burn off quickly.  It's hard to take photos when you can't see what you're looking at.  Yesterday, I was a bit disappointed not seeing any bison close up.  Today more than made up for it.  I was driving east from the western park entrance when I came across a traffic jam.  Or, maybe I should say BISON jam!

I parked in a pullout and watched the show.  As I was snapping photos, I noticed a tour bus parked in front of me.  Now, remember the park flyer I mentioned in a previous post?  Visitors must stay at least 25 yards from bison.  Do these people look too close to you?  I think so!

I had my camera ready, just waiting for an angry mother bison to charge.  Alas, they nervously ran back on the bus pretty quick.  I got an up close and personal with one bison.  She's eyeballing me in this shot.

No sooner did I get underway again when I noticed some cars pulled over to the side of the road.  Usually, that can only mean animals sighted.  I immediately noticed a small band of elk feeding in the distance.

I counted eight cows and calves and one bull.  I've never heard a bull elk bugling, and I thought this might be a good opportunity to experience that.  At first, the bull seemed content to just fill his belly.  But, when the others moved down to the grassy area, he decided to announce to the world that they belonged to him!

It was awesome to see and beautiful to hear.  I drove on to Canyon Village, noticing the fog was slowly burning off.  Along the way, I stopped to look at Gibbon Falls and the Gibbon River feeding it.

When I reached the Brink of the Upper Yellowstone Falls, there was still a low mist hovering above.  Still, the falls were powerfully impressive...and upstream, too!

 My biggest adventure of the day was hiking Uncle Tom's Trail.  I had seen the metal walkway snaking down the side of the cliff on a previous visit to the park.  It looked daunting back then, but today, I was up for the challenge.  This is what greeted me on the way down.

 I carefully made my way down the steep flights of stairs.  All the way, I was thinking I would have to climb back up those same stairs.  By the time I reached the bottom, the fog was pretty much gone, and I had a great view of Lower Yellowstone Falls.

Time to go back up! Due to the 8000 foot elevation, I had to take a breather at each landing.  Hey, I live at sea level!  I'm not used to it!  While I rested, I took photos along the way.  Close to the top was a viewpoint where I got a shot of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Before heading to my car, I saw the Upper Yellowstone Falls from a different vantage point.  It didn't have the same impact as being right near the brink, but it was still wonderful to see.

Before leaving Yellowstone, I briefly stopped to check out Sulphur Cauldron and the Mud Volcano area.  At the latter, I got pics of Mud Volcano and its neighbor, the adjacent Dragon's Mouth Spring.  While walking along the trail, I also got a sweet photo of a gray jay.

You know the saying time flies when you're having fun?  Well, I was enjoying my last day at Yellowstone in the sunshine and I wasn't in any hurry to leave.  I had planned to spend some time at Grand Teton National Park in the afternoon.  But, I quickly realized it wasn't going to work.  I still stopped to get a quick photo of the mountains, though.

Tomorrow will be a museum day, then I'll be leaving Wyoming for more national park fun in Utah.  I hope the sun sticks around for awhile.