Jun 23 (Tue) Yellowstone, Hayden Valley and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Our first stop today was the Fishing Bridge over the Yellowstone River, where anglers used to line up shoulder to shoulder to fish for cutthroat trout.  Fishing is no longer allowed here but it is worth the stop for the beautiful views of the river. 

A big treat was a large bison that trotted across the bridge, bringing oncoming traffic to a standstill as everyone stopped to take pictures. 

At the Fly Bridge Visitor Center Chloe and Liam picked up their Junior Ranger books so that they could work on the tasks needed to get their Junior Ranger Patch.  Then it was off on a drive into the park.  Of course there were more bison to be seen along the way.

Our first stop was the LeHardy Rapids where the water was pretty...

and the bird watchers were helpful.  A couple of birders has some good binoculars set up and we were all able to get good views of some of the birds.  They were able to give us some names, including the harlequin ducks, that had lovely colorful plumage.

We also saw a really major flying bug that Chloe drew in her journal.  No idea what it was.

We then stopped at the Mud Volcano area that featured lots of bubbling, plopping mud pots

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and the Black Dragon that breathed sulfur smelling steam. 

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We also ended up in a major bison traffic jam as three bison wandered down the road from one area to another. 

The drive took us through the Hayden Valley, a broad rolling valley with the Yellowstone River and several streams meandering through it. 

The views were beautiful and there was a mass of people at the pull out with large cameras and telescopes set up on tri-pods.  We’ll have to check out the pull-off later to see what the attraction is.

Our major destination today was the North Rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  We took the drive along the north rim and made several stops to walk out onto the overlooks. 

We could see the stairs on the opposite side of the Canyon Walls.  Looked pretty steep.

The Lower Yellowstone Falls were pretty spectacular with lots of water cascading over the rim. 

There were also great views of the yellow, gold, and orange walls of the canyon itself.  It is an incredible sight. 

We saw a very large nest on top of a pillar with some baby birds and a parent periodically returning to the nest.  Some people said it was an osprey nest.

We then went to Canyon Village for lunch and shopping at the General Store.  We found a larger Junior Ranger vest for Chloe.  We had picked up vests for both Chloe and Liam in Denali National Park but they were outgrowing them.  Several people saw the kids in their vests and wanted to know where they could get them. 

The drive back yielded many bison sightings. 

We are at a lovely hotel right on Lake Yellowstone with rooms overlooking the lake.  Only down side is that the facility has absolutely no wireless internet service.  Talk about going cold turkey with no phone access.