We started out in the late morning so we could stay out into the evening and have a better chance for wildlife viewing.
We began our drive towards Canyon Village. We stopped at the Lower Falls, the biggest waterfall in Yellowstone at 308 feet. Almost as impressive as the falls is the canyon’s rocky walls that are a pasty yellow, white, orange, and a hint of red.
We encountered a couple of deer sightings on our drive to the Mt. Washburn Area. We made the trip to the top of the mountain, but, did not see any wildlife. We did find 2 hikers that had lost their way and gave them a ride to the bottom of the mountain. That’s a good reason for 2 old people like us not to hike in unknown places!
We continued on towards Mammoth Hot Springs. As we approached the area, we could see the white terraces made up of deposited travertine. We drove into the town of Mammoth and were immediately drawn to the Elk herd that lives in the town. The Elk attract many tourists to the area. We secured a picnic table in the grassy area and enjoyed a great view of the Elk Herd. After dodging Elk poop and enduring the wind, we packed up our lunch, jumped in the jeep, and headed towards the Lamar Valley.
It was our lucky day! As we drove along, we spotted Big Horn Sheep and two Black Bears along the roadway! Of course the traffic was backed up and congested as we neared the animals. We had never spotted these animals in the park before, so we were excited!
As evening approached, we pulled off the road into a large pull-out area in a wide open, grassy area where there was a good chance of spotting wildlife. With our binoculars we were able to spot Elk move out of the woods toward the river. We were joined by many other tourists with the same idea. Most were equipped with cameras, tripods, and binoculars. We waited for about an hour and then decided to give up since we had a long drive back to West Yellowstone.
Darkness was approaching as we started on our way. Unbelievably, we encountered more elk on our drive than we saw while sitting in the valley. Finally, darkness set in, and it was slightly scary to drive on the dark road through the park with bison, elk, and other wildlife. Thankfully, we made it safely back to our RV around 9 PM!
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