Day Four

On Monday morning, we headed out early for the first of an epic two-day tour of Yellowstone National Park. On our way north, we visited some famous spots in Grand Teton National Park, including Snake River Overlook, Oxbow Bend, and Jackson Lake. We saw our first bear, a cinnamon colored black bear, just a little north of Grand Teton National Park. Shortly after entering Yellowstone, we were struck with the amount of snow banking the road. As I mentioned in a previous post, the area received a record snowfall this year of over 700 inches and this Spring has been unseasonably cold and rainy. 

Our first stop in Yellowstone was the West Thumb Geyser Basin, a collection of thermal features bordering Yellowstone Lake. We hiked the mile or so boardwalk taking in the unusual sights, including active geysers and hot springs just visible below the surface of the lake. This particular portion of Yellowstone Lake is the deepest, exceeding 390 feet in places, which is a result of a large volcano eruption thousands of years ago. As we continued driving along the edge of Yellowstone Lake we were treated with expansive views of the lake and snow-capped Absaroka Mountains in the distance. Yellowstone Lake is the largest high altitude lake in North America and is truly impressive in its size. 

At the Fishing Bridge Junction, we turned north and drove along the beautiful Yellowstone River. After a few miles, we entered the Hayden Valley, which is a favorite of mine for its scenic overlooks of the meandering Yellowstone River and herds of grazing bison. We spotted a few bison off in the distance but nothing quite as impressive as we would experience later in the day. 

Our next significant stop was at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. This is one of the most impressive features in the park. The canyon is over a mile deep in places and 3 to 4 miles wide. We parked at Artist Point, which is famous for the view of Lower Yellowstone Falls first painted by Thomas Moran in 1871. The view is impressive, but it is typically crowded with tourists. We visited the site briefly and then hiked along the South Rim Trail. Away from most of the crowds and without barriers, the view of the canyon and falls took on new meaning. After a mile or so of hiking we made it to Uncle Tom's Trail, which takes you down over 350 metal steps along the canyon wall to the brink of Lower Yellowstone Falls. The hike down was incredible and well worth the extra effort to get back up.

After leaving the Canyon area we headed north towards Tower Junction. On the way we crossed over Dunraven Pass, which takes you up to about 9,000 feet. The views were incredible along the way and the snow level was mind boggling. The snow pack on the road sides was at least 10 to 15 feet in places! We descended from the pass and made our way down to Tower Junction and the Roosevelt Lodge, where we would be staying for the evening in the Roughrider Cabins. Established in 1903 as a commemoration to Theodore Roosevelt's camping trip to the area, the Roosevelt Lodge has a very different feel than other destinations in the park. The mood is laid back and there's less tourist traffic. The food is also really good and reasonably priced. We had a delicious group dinner, including elk burgers and bison chili, and then checked into our cabins. 

The other nice thing about the Roosevelt Lodge area is that it's conveniently located to one of my favorite places in the world, the Lamar Valley. Also known as the "Serengeti of the East", the Lamar Valley is a great place to spot wildlife. Just a few miles into the valley and we were surrounded by bison. They were all over the road, on both sides of us, and everywhere we looked. There were thousands of them. We inched along in the van, slowly making our way through the valley at bison speed.