Mammoth Hot Springs area
Orange Spring Mound
We then drove out of the park on Hwy 89 into the town of Gardiner, Montana. The Gardner River was again beside us, flowing through Gardner Canyon and provided some nice river views. Supposedly, there are warm areas in this part of the river where geothermal activity creates hot springs, but we did not venture into the water. It was just starting to get into the 50s since the rain stopped, so swimming was not really on my mind at this point.
Another wide view overlooking the first part of Grand Loop Rd with the Gardner River Bridge in the distance.
Gardner River nearing the north entrance to the park.
Hwy 89
Nice view. There's an elk scratching his back on a rock near the center of the photo.
We didn’t do anything in the town of Gardiner. We just wanted to see the Roosevelt Arch that leads to the entrance back into the park. It was simple, but I liked it. It is a reminder of why the park exists. “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People” is engraved atop the arch. I wonder if Roosevelt ever envisioned the park being as busy as it is now. Some areas, like Mammoth Hot Springs just a few miles away from the arch, are so crowded you can barely drive through.
Roosevelt Arch
Door to the arch. You can walk through it which feels like going into a castle.
Gardner River from the massive bridge on Grand Loop Rd.
A few miles later comes an overlook of Undine Falls on Lava Creek, followed quickly by a hiking opportunity to see Wraith Falls. Undine is a very nice view, but I wish you could get a little closer to this waterfall. It drops about 60 feet over three ledges. We arrived at the trailhead to Wraith to see a crowd of people. Some elk were bedded down in a field right next to the parking area. It is pure mayhem when any animal is visible anywhere in the park. Lucky for us, a big dark cloud was rolling in and people were scrambling for their cars. It was obviously about to rain, but we didn’t care. Bad weather is only bad if you let it be. Besides, it’s the only thing that clears the trail of people. Everyone was headed away from the falls and we were hiking towards it. The rain began to fall and the temperature dropped suddenly. Next thing we know we are being pelted by sleet. It was coming down at an angle with the wind and hitting our faces. It was tough, but funny at the same time. It stopped by the time we finished the 0.4-mile long hike to the falls on Lupine Creek. We got to enjoy the view all by ourselves. Wraith is 100 feet high and really more of a cascade than a waterfall.
Undine Falls
Wildflowers at the Undine Falls overlook.
Two elk lying in the grass at the Wraith Falls trailhead.
Wraith Falls
Once back to the car and heading east, traffic was low for several more minutes as people continued to hide out from the weather. We then encountered a traffic jam. After 15 minutes of barely moving we finally saw there was a bear up ahead. It was a black bear. Cool to see, but I want to see a grizzly! We have black bear in Tennessee, so I have seen plenty before on my trips to the Smokies. Then we did the short hike up to the Petrified Tree, which is just an old, dry tree stump inside a fence. The fence kind of kills the scene and takes away the natural beauty part of it. I was expecting a few more trees in this area, but the other petrified trees have fallen down and are gone.
Phantom Lake
Black bear in the bushes.
View north from Grand Loop Rd.
Petrified Tree
We made it to the Tower Junction area in the early afternoon, which is the northeast portion of the Grand Loop. We planned to exit at the northeast entrance here into Montana, but there was one strip of the loop we had not seen yet. We were greeted by some bison near the junction. Finally! I really do love seeing bison and we had not seen a single one thus far.
Bison!
We continued on Grand Loop Rd, now turning south into the Devil's Den area. Tower Fall is located in this area. The parking lot was completely full with no spots to be found, so we kept going and planned to stop on the way back. The Loop then moves into some big mountain pastures and begins a climb up to Dunraven Pass next to Dunraven Peak. About halfway up we ran into stopped traffic. We creeped up the mountain for over an hour before finally getting close enough to see what was going on. It was a bear. People were just stopping in the middle of the road going both directions. It is amazing how someone can become so completely oblivious to others around them. Just pull off the freaking road! They were literally parking in the road, taking a bunch of pictures then getting back in and slowly driving away. It was car after car of this. The bear wasn't even close to the road. We moved so slow that Shannon got out and walked ahead, snapping a few pictures and then getting back in the car before the line moved. That has to be the worst thing about Yellowstone. People are so inconsiderate of others. It cost us a lot of time over a Brown Bear. At least I had never seen a Brown Bear before so I can check something off the list for the wait.
The top of Dunraven had some snow on it, as did the surrounding mountains like Mt. Washburn. You get a small descent off Dunraven to reach the Canyon Village area. This got us back to a point where we visited last time. We have now made the full loop around the park! Again, we hit traffic. It was not moving, so we flipped a U in the road and went to the village where we cooked a late lunch on the stove behind the van. That gave time for the traffic to clear up some, but it was still really congested as we tried to continue south to get to the Yellowstone Falls area. As we finally reached the point where everyone was standing in the road, we saw a group of elk. Wildlife traffic again. We snapped a few pictures as we rolled by. I've seen plenty of elk, not really worth freaking out over anymore. I might only consider stopping for a long period for a bison that was close. And I would pull off the road!
When we were here in 2016, we visited only the north rim of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. You get good several good views of the Lower Falls, can hike down to the Lower Falls, and can see the Upper Falls in the distance from that side. It was getting dark on us that day and we had to skip the south side in order to see the Mud Volcano area before dark. Since we were this close again, we had to see the south rim. The south side trail to the Upper Falls was closed, so we continued on to the main viewpoint of the Lower Falls. It was a spectacular view, I think better than any of the views on the north side. And apparently everyone else knew it. There was a huge crowd, made up mostly of foreigners with tour groups. They were in such a hurry that they were rude. They would step right in front of you as you were taking a picture, even when there seemed to be no room for a human person to fit between you and the fence of the overlook. It is no wonder people fall off these overlooks. It was hard to weasel your way to the fence and then keep your spot as you lined up the camera. I got some good shots, but then I stepped back to take the real picture so you can see that it's not really as much beautiful solitude as the pictures make it seem. We saw a little family trying to get a selfie of them in front of the falls with a tablet and couldn't keep people from ruining their shot. Every time the mom would raise the tablet, someone would squeeze between them and the railing with a stupid selfie stick. We were the only other ones standing there that spoke English, so she asked us to take a picture for them. She literally fought people off to keep them from squeezing into their family group and I did the same with trying not to get bumped as I took the shot. It was crazy, but I did get them the picture they wanted.
On the way back to the main road, I spotted a bison grazing near the road. We turned around and came back. We pulled off the road and I hopped out to get some pictures. People were just passing by, not even noticing the bison until I was standing in the field. Then they started stopping in the road to see what I was doing. Five minutes, there were probably thirty people there and we had a hard time getting turned around again in the van. I was pretty pumped to have gotten some good bison shots though. It was pretty funny that I also started another traffic jam.
Next stop was a hike on the north side down to the Upper Falls of Yellowstone. Like I said before, we had only seen this one in the distance. It was quite impressive up close, dropping much further down into a small gorge than I expected and there were tons of water rushing by at high speed. It was also crowded when we first arrived, but the crowd cleared out a couple of minutes after we reached the falls themselves. The misty spray coming up from the gorge made for a small rainbow when the sun peaked through the clouds. This waterfall drops 109 feet vertically.
After hiking back up the hill, we headed back north on Grand Loop Rd towards the northeast entrance. The bear traffic was gone so we had time to stop for a few nice views along the road at Dunraven Pass and still made it about an hour faster than the trip down.
We stopped by Tower Fall and it was not very crowded now as we reached dinner time. It's a short hike to an overlook of Tower Fall, which gets its name from a towering rock column standing at the top of the falls. This waterfall drops 132 feet among the rocks.
It was getting later in the afternoon when we made the right turn onto NE Entrance Rd. and headed for a stopping point for the night. With the traffic jams, we were later getting to this point than expected, but it was really amazing how much we had packed into this day. We saw several groups of bison in the open fields, a few elk scattered here and there, and even a small black bear and coyote playing together along the side of a mountain.
We came across a large herd of bison near the edge of the park. We stopped and watched them cross the Lamar Valley along Soda Butte Creek. They had several calves within the herd. Two guys were hiking along the bank and got blocked in by the approaching herd. The bison closed in on them to the point that the two stood with their backs together: one watching the bison, one looking for a way across the creek. I thought we might be watching two people get trampled. The leading bison got within 20 feet of them, then there was a five minute standoff that seemed to take an hour. Finally, the bison saw enough and continued on their way, leaving the two hikers to continue on their way along the bank of the creek. That was close!
The campground we planned to stay at was full. It was too far to drive back to try another campground in the park, so we continued east, quickly leaving Yellowstone National Park and coming into the town of Silver Gate, MT. We didn't know much about camping outside the park so we just kept driving and watching for signs. We passed by two campgrounds that were still closed for the season. As we entered back into Wyoming we came across a National Forest campground that appeared to be closed, but as we passed by Shannon noticed the gate was half open. I turned the van around and we went back. Sure enough, the campground was open and had plenty of available campsites. It was called Crazy Creek Campground in the Shoshone National Forest. As we pulled in, there were new signs posted everywhere that said, "Grizzly Bears Currently Active in This Area." Shannon was not fond of that. Honestly, it made me a little nervous too being in a tent. She was hesitant to stay there after reading that, but we were running out of daylight quickly and had to find a place. I compromised with her by telling her we would sleep in the van. We set up the tent, then moved our bikes and gear from the van to the tent. We rearranged the inside of the van and ended up with room to spread out our mats in the back. It actually turned out to be very nice as we stayed warmer in the van and had no worries at all about being visited by a bear.
We got everything situated just minutes before dark. We could hear rushing water in the distance and saw a hiking trail a few sites down from ours. We set off on it to see what the water was. After crossing over the main road, the trail ran along Crazy Creek. That rushing sound was a serious amount of water coming off Crazy Creek Falls. It was spectacular. There was SO much water coming down the hillside. I wouldn't really call it a waterfall, but it was an impressive cascade. We didn't hang around long as it was pretty much at darkness now and Shannon was getting a bit paranoid looking for bears.
Crazy Creek Falls was a pretty cool way to end an action-packed day. A video is posted below of some of the sights we saw during our two days in Yellowstone. It's got everything from Terrace Springs and Norris Geyser Basin to several waterfalls in it. The trip had been great so far and we still had a week to go. I was itching to get back on my bike and would get the chance the following day. More on that in the next post!
Brown Bear way down the hill. Had to really zoom up for this.
The top of Dunraven had some snow on it, as did the surrounding mountains like Mt. Washburn. You get a small descent off Dunraven to reach the Canyon Village area. This got us back to a point where we visited last time. We have now made the full loop around the park! Again, we hit traffic. It was not moving, so we flipped a U in the road and went to the village where we cooked a late lunch on the stove behind the van. That gave time for the traffic to clear up some, but it was still really congested as we tried to continue south to get to the Yellowstone Falls area. As we finally reached the point where everyone was standing in the road, we saw a group of elk. Wildlife traffic again. We snapped a few pictures as we rolled by. I've seen plenty of elk, not really worth freaking out over anymore. I might only consider stopping for a long period for a bison that was close. And I would pull off the road!
Snow atop Dunraven Pass
View from the top of Dunraven Pass.
Elk near Canyon Village
When we were here in 2016, we visited only the north rim of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. You get good several good views of the Lower Falls, can hike down to the Lower Falls, and can see the Upper Falls in the distance from that side. It was getting dark on us that day and we had to skip the south side in order to see the Mud Volcano area before dark. Since we were this close again, we had to see the south rim. The south side trail to the Upper Falls was closed, so we continued on to the main viewpoint of the Lower Falls. It was a spectacular view, I think better than any of the views on the north side. And apparently everyone else knew it. There was a huge crowd, made up mostly of foreigners with tour groups. They were in such a hurry that they were rude. They would step right in front of you as you were taking a picture, even when there seemed to be no room for a human person to fit between you and the fence of the overlook. It is no wonder people fall off these overlooks. It was hard to weasel your way to the fence and then keep your spot as you lined up the camera. I got some good shots, but then I stepped back to take the real picture so you can see that it's not really as much beautiful solitude as the pictures make it seem. We saw a little family trying to get a selfie of them in front of the falls with a tablet and couldn't keep people from ruining their shot. Every time the mom would raise the tablet, someone would squeeze between them and the railing with a stupid selfie stick. We were the only other ones standing there that spoke English, so she asked us to take a picture for them. She literally fought people off to keep them from squeezing into their family group and I did the same with trying not to get bumped as I took the shot. It was crazy, but I did get them the picture they wanted.
Lower Falls of Yellowstone, the largest-volume waterfall in the Rocky Mountains. Peak flow from Spring runoff this time of year can reach 63,500 gallons per second!
The Lower Falls of Yellowstone is 308 feet tall, which is nearly twice as high as Niagara Falls
What it really looks like at an overlook in Yellowstone. You have to fight off a lot of people who only want a picture to post on Twitter. Amazingly, nobody had a selfie stick poking up when I took this picture. Selfie sticks are everywhere.
On the way back to the main road, I spotted a bison grazing near the road. We turned around and came back. We pulled off the road and I hopped out to get some pictures. People were just passing by, not even noticing the bison until I was standing in the field. Then they started stopping in the road to see what I was doing. Five minutes, there were probably thirty people there and we had a hard time getting turned around again in the van. I was pretty pumped to have gotten some good bison shots though. It was pretty funny that I also started another traffic jam.
Bison on the south rim of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.
Next stop was a hike on the north side down to the Upper Falls of Yellowstone. Like I said before, we had only seen this one in the distance. It was quite impressive up close, dropping much further down into a small gorge than I expected and there were tons of water rushing by at high speed. It was also crowded when we first arrived, but the crowd cleared out a couple of minutes after we reached the falls themselves. The misty spray coming up from the gorge made for a small rainbow when the sun peaked through the clouds. This waterfall drops 109 feet vertically.
Yellowstone River just above the Upper Falls
Top of the Upper Falls of Yellowstone
You can see a bit of the rainbow in the mist in this shot.
Further down the canyon beyond the Upper Falls.
More snow on Dunraven Pass
North side of Dunraven Pass on Grand Loop Rd.
We stopped by Tower Fall and it was not very crowded now as we reached dinner time. It's a short hike to an overlook of Tower Fall, which gets its name from a towering rock column standing at the top of the falls. This waterfall drops 132 feet among the rocks.
Tower Fall
Tower Creek above the fall.
We continued north beyond Tower Fall, stopping for a few more views of the canyon and cliffs near the road. We then reached our final stopping point on Grand Loop Rd. at the Narrows of Yellowstone Canyon. It was an awesome view, one you shouldn't miss if you ever get to visit this part of the park. I really enjoyed the moss-covered trees, as well as blue streaks of minerals in the cliff wall.
The Narrows of Yellowstone Canyon.
Another viewpoint of The Narrows further down the paved trail that connects several overlooks.
The far cliff at the Narrows. There is a vertical band of basalt columns along the top, then blue streaks in the rocks lower down.
It was getting later in the afternoon when we made the right turn onto NE Entrance Rd. and headed for a stopping point for the night. With the traffic jams, we were later getting to this point than expected, but it was really amazing how much we had packed into this day. We saw several groups of bison in the open fields, a few elk scattered here and there, and even a small black bear and coyote playing together along the side of a mountain.
Distant bison
Lamar River
That dark speck on the hill is a black bear.
Black bear and coyote playing together. We watched them running around together for about 10 minutes.
Bison on the bank of the Lamar River.
Field of bison
Bison calves
These two hikers got boxed in on the creek bank.
A moment of stand off...
...and then the bison decided to keep going along the bank.
We got everything situated just minutes before dark. We could hear rushing water in the distance and saw a hiking trail a few sites down from ours. We set off on it to see what the water was. After crossing over the main road, the trail ran along Crazy Creek. That rushing sound was a serious amount of water coming off Crazy Creek Falls. It was spectacular. There was SO much water coming down the hillside. I wouldn't really call it a waterfall, but it was an impressive cascade. We didn't hang around long as it was pretty much at darkness now and Shannon was getting a bit paranoid looking for bears.
Crazy Creek was definitely crazy.
So much water coming down this hill!
Video: Crazy Creek Falls
Crazy Creek Falls was a pretty cool way to end an action-packed day. A video is posted below of some of the sights we saw during our two days in Yellowstone. It's got everything from Terrace Springs and Norris Geyser Basin to several waterfalls in it. The trip had been great so far and we still had a week to go. I was itching to get back on my bike and would get the chance the following day. More on that in the next post!
Video: Yellowstone National Park Clips
