The Great Western Road Trip 2018: Yellowstone (Day 2)

We set the alarm super early on Thursday morning with the hopes of driving out to Lamar Valley to catch either a bear or a wolf pack:

Tower Falls

First Lamar Valley overlook

Marmet, sunning himself

Side view

Further into the valley -- lots of pronghorns

And bison (but no bear or wolves)

 One of the side benefits of seeing the parks in July is the wildflowers, which bloom for only a very short season:

After Lamar Valley, we headed back to Roosevelt Junction and took a short "secret" hike behind Roosevelt lodge (there is only one marked hike here, but our guide book mentioned a second unmaintained trail to some waterfalls, so we decided to give it a go):

 

Hidden Creek Falls

At the end of the trail

 We continued along the upper loop, stopping again for a recommended hike to Wraith Falls, which the guide suggested would be through "fields full of wildflowers":

Wraith Falls

Bridge over the little creek

 We stopped one more time for a third waterfall - Udine Falls - but this triple waterfall was right off the road:

We finally made it to Mammoth around lunchtime. After checking out the visitor center and having lunch in the lodge, we were able to meet up with the cousins. We briefly checked out the thermal features in Mammoth (it was hot and we had already seen a lot of thermal features) before taking the road north towards Montana:

Mammoth Terraces

Mammoth has its own elk heard that likes to just hang out

Also lots of whistle pigs. These two were singing up a storm on the porch

On the road towards the North Entrance

Brian and Benji in the guard tower of the Roosevelt Gate

Original entrance to the park

 We spent a little time in Montana, checking out the cute little shops, but we hightailed it back to the car when Chris called to say that they had spotted some big horn sheep on the drive back to Mammoth:

Look at that nimble sheep jumping the log!

And running up the steep rocky side of the mountain

Baby sheep! (also a benefit of the July trip - everyone had babies)

Back in Mammoth - more elk just hanging out - this one is checking out the contents of the pick-up truck

The last leg of our drive for the day was Mammoth to Norris Junction and then back to Canyon:

Rustic Falls

This little mountain pass is known as Golden Gate because of the coloring and because in the old days it was how many people entered the park

We got back to Canyon early enough to hit the visitor center to get Benji's passport stamped (and take silly pictures)

 After a stop at the cabin, we headed back out to the parts of Canyon we had been rained out of yesterday. We walked the rim trail for the beautiful views of Upper Falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone:

Benji loves being with his cousins

 After dinner back at Canyon Village, we hit our last stop for the evening - Artist's Point for sunset. We were running a little late and missed seeing the colors changing, but the views were still beautiful: