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Hope I'm not dragging this trip report out too much and boring everyone. Too many photos! This is the second of 4 trip reports from my 5-day trip to the Yellowstone area. Links to the other trips are below:
Part 1: Grand Teton National Park
Part 2: Upper Geyser Basin
Part 3: Canyon & More Geyser Goodness
Part 4: Lamar Valley, Mammoth & Fairy Falls
On our second day in Yellowstone, we decided to sleep in and drive over to Canyon Junction to check out the waterfalls in the Grand Canyon of The Yellowstone River. It was a very cold morning and not very many people were willing to hike far from their cars. We first hiked down to the Brink of Lower Falls to get a close up view.
It was a steep hike down and then back up from the Brink but well worth it. From there we went a little further down the road and got a shot from another view point.
And after that we got even further away for a view from Artist's Point.
We thought about hiking Uncle Tom's Trail but we were kind of done with the waterfalls and so we decided to drive up towards Dunraven Pass and look for wildlife.
The road was closed right at the turnoff for the north trailhead for Mount Washburn so traffic was light. We'd hoped to maybe see some bears but turned up nothing but a couple bison off in the distance.
But on the way back down the pass, Audra spotted a Coyote just standing under a tree along the road. It must have been stalking something in a hole because it just sat there and kept staring at the ground for a while, tilting it's head from side to side.
After a couple of minutes, the coyote walked away from us into the brush. It was amazing how perfectly the colors of it's coat blended with the environment. Look for the ears and you'll be able to see the general shape of the coyote.
It circled around and took a look at us before heading off. I've seen coyotes elsewhere, but never so calm like this and never so big and strong looking.
Our next stop was at the Artist's Paint Pots. I was stoked to see this spot after seeing @Bill's photos. It did not disappoint.
After the Paint Pots, we went back over to Old Faithful to walk the trail down to Morning Glory Pool. There weren't many people out there which made for a fantastic walk. I can imagine this place gets a lot busier.
We caught Castle Geyser erupting.
The end of the hike: Morning Glory Pool.
From Morning Glory, we raced back to the car to go searching for wildlife in the late hours of the day. We decided to try out the Firehole Lake Loop again but saw nothing. There was some great light on some of the geysers up there though. I believe this is Fountain Geyser. It could make a sweet place to shoot sunset up there.
We ran into more elk along the Firehole River but no bulls!
Back along the Madison, we stopped next to a large meadow and were able to watch two bull elk bugle and fight eachother for a while. They were just spikes and it was very far away, so none of the photos turned out that great. But once again, the sunset did.
Links to all trip reports in this series:
Part 1: Grand Teton National Park
Part 2: Upper Geyser Basin
Part 3: Canyon & More Geyser Goodness
Part 4: Lamar Valley, Mammoth & Fairy Falls
Featured image for home page:
Part 1: Grand Teton National Park
Part 2: Upper Geyser Basin
Part 3: Canyon & More Geyser Goodness
Part 4: Lamar Valley, Mammoth & Fairy Falls
On our second day in Yellowstone, we decided to sleep in and drive over to Canyon Junction to check out the waterfalls in the Grand Canyon of The Yellowstone River. It was a very cold morning and not very many people were willing to hike far from their cars. We first hiked down to the Brink of Lower Falls to get a close up view.
It was a steep hike down and then back up from the Brink but well worth it. From there we went a little further down the road and got a shot from another view point.
And after that we got even further away for a view from Artist's Point.
We thought about hiking Uncle Tom's Trail but we were kind of done with the waterfalls and so we decided to drive up towards Dunraven Pass and look for wildlife.
The road was closed right at the turnoff for the north trailhead for Mount Washburn so traffic was light. We'd hoped to maybe see some bears but turned up nothing but a couple bison off in the distance.
But on the way back down the pass, Audra spotted a Coyote just standing under a tree along the road. It must have been stalking something in a hole because it just sat there and kept staring at the ground for a while, tilting it's head from side to side.
After a couple of minutes, the coyote walked away from us into the brush. It was amazing how perfectly the colors of it's coat blended with the environment. Look for the ears and you'll be able to see the general shape of the coyote.
It circled around and took a look at us before heading off. I've seen coyotes elsewhere, but never so calm like this and never so big and strong looking.
Our next stop was at the Artist's Paint Pots. I was stoked to see this spot after seeing @Bill's photos. It did not disappoint.
After the Paint Pots, we went back over to Old Faithful to walk the trail down to Morning Glory Pool. There weren't many people out there which made for a fantastic walk. I can imagine this place gets a lot busier.
We caught Castle Geyser erupting.
The end of the hike: Morning Glory Pool.
From Morning Glory, we raced back to the car to go searching for wildlife in the late hours of the day. We decided to try out the Firehole Lake Loop again but saw nothing. There was some great light on some of the geysers up there though. I believe this is Fountain Geyser. It could make a sweet place to shoot sunset up there.
We ran into more elk along the Firehole River but no bulls!
Back along the Madison, we stopped next to a large meadow and were able to watch two bull elk bugle and fight eachother for a while. They were just spikes and it was very far away, so none of the photos turned out that great. But once again, the sunset did.
Links to all trip reports in this series:
Part 1: Grand Teton National Park
Part 2: Upper Geyser Basin
Part 3: Canyon & More Geyser Goodness
Part 4: Lamar Valley, Mammoth & Fairy Falls
Featured image for home page:
