Sept 12 - Yellowstone Canyon

Day 10 Sept 12 Yellowstone – Yellowstone Canyon

Slept in until 9 AM. It was freezing in the room and we found out later that the  temperature was 19 degree Fahrenheit. NO WONDER it was cold. Had breakfast at the diner – set up like an old diner as in Happy Days.

Travelled the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone – left the best till last! First stop was a bison jam and when we stopped the Ranger moved us on. Started the North Rim Drive with our first stop – Brink of the Lower Falls. The water flowing over the waterfall was like a huge torrent – imagine what it must be like after the melt. Next stop Lookout Point which gave us an even better view of the falls and our first real look at the depth and colour of the canyon walls. Grand View, our next stop, gave us a even more spectacular view of the falls, river and canyon. Inspiration Point took our breath away. The sheer depth and colours of the canyon can’t be described and the photos will not do it justice.

Our next stop was the Brink of the Upper Falls, followed the South Rim Drive and stopped at Uncle Tom’s View Point which gave us an even better view of falls, canyon and walls. Artist’s Point was picture perfect. The view looked like an artist’s canvas.

Just as we were leaving the South Rim Drive, we could not turn left as a herd of bison decided to wander onto the road, then just as we got across, they decided to surround us. I was going click, click as we sat and waited until the Ranger arrived and sounded his hooter until they moved off the road.

Further down the road, we saw a lot of cars stopped so out we got. A guy with a huge 1500m lens allowed us to look through the lens and we saw a grizzly lying between two trees. He was a long way off. Went to Lake Lodge which sits on Yellowstone Lake, to do our washing. After an early (for us) dinner, we set off home. At the same spot we had seen the bear jam before, we stopped as there was another jam. A very nice man, allowed us to look through his spotter lens and we could clearly see, two grizzly bears – one was eating the carcass of a bison while the other had a cub. We were so lucky to have experienced this.