We’ve had a long day today driving back to the Canyon area to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from various viewpoints along the way including Lower and Upper Falls and the view from Artist’s Point.

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River

Sand at Artists’ Point

Yellowstone River at Lower Falls

Here’s a very shaky video that Simon took of the roaring Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River.

Some of you will recall that last year Simon did the 300 steps of Uncle Tom’s Trail and then had to climb back up the 300 again and that I couldn’t do it as I was rather ‘under the weather’. Well, it was our intention to do it again this year so that I could also experience the pleasures of the 600 step round trip. Alas, when we arrived and as advised, carrying water and snacks, we found that the trail was closed due to dangerous conditions. Oh well, at least that gives us an excuse to come back again to tick it off our list.

On the way we stopped off to take photos at Sheepeater Cliff. During our trail ride yesterday, our wrangler, Chelsea, was telling us the story of how the cliff was named for the Shoshone Indians who lived throughout the mountainous region. Their use of bighorn sheep earned them the name of ‘Tukadika’ or ‘Sheepeaters’. They would herd sheep to the top of the cliffs, drive them over to their deaths and would then go down and collect the bodies for dinner!!! Charming, but I guess that’s how it was back then!! Lucky we don’t have to do that for our meals these days.

The cliff is basalt lava that formed ‘columnar joints’ when it cooled nearly 500,000 years ago.

We also visited Yellowstone Lake in the southern park of the Park and imagine our surprise when we arrived to find that the Lake is still frozen over!! After the luck I’ve been having with mishaps lately, we didn’t think it a good idea to walk out on the ice to see how thick it was!!

The frozen Yellowstone Lake

Travelling from Mammoth to Norris we saw what is known as Roaring Mountain and today it was particularly active so we stopped to take a couple of photos. The roar of the mountain used to be heard some four miles away but today it is still very active but it is much quieter.

Roaring Mountain on the Mammoth to Norris road

Roaring Mountain on the Mammoth to Norris road

On the way back to our hotel we got stuck in a ‘bear jam’ and as this was the first bear we’d seen on this trip did try to get some photos but it was utter chaos with cars and people everywhere so we are hoping to see one before we leave the Park on Tuesday. People tend to go crazy when they see bears!!!!!!

We ate in the dining room again tonight and this time was served by Sam from Wisconsin. We had a real laugh, he was a great personality and was telling us how he had backpacked around Guatemala. He told us that we should visit Wisconsin, particularly around Lake Geneva which he said is really beautiful, so that’s now on the bucket list. We told him about our problem with the bread plates and when he saw us after that he tried to snatch our plates away.  All in all, a great guy. If you read this Sam, we will be looking for you at Lake Geneva when we visit!