Since we arrived in West Yellowstone, MT three weeks ago, it has rained every day. The locals are happy about the rain, as they did not have much snow this winter. As many have put it, more rain in May means less smoke (forest fires) in August. I’m thinking it will be a bumper crop for mosquitos this summer!
The forecast for this past Sunday indicated it would be nice until the afternoon, so we decided to get up early and head over to Yellowstone National Park for the morning. We got up bright and early….to thick fog! The best wildlife viewing is early morning or just before sunset. We decided to wait a few hours for the fog to lift, so we were not expecting to see much wildlife on this visit. Since we are here for the Summer, we have decided to do the park in small sections. The park is divided into eight sections, and we decided to head to the Canyon Village area, to view the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, along with the Upper and Lower Falls.
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
The canyon is over 24 miles long, and is continuously changing, due to wind, water, earthquakes and other natural occurrences.
Along the way to several viewing positions, remnants remain of the glaciers that melted over 10,000 years ago. This boulder, as big as a small home, remains nestled in the pine trees.
glacier boulder
At 308 feet, the Lower Falls is the tallest waterfall in Yellowstone National Park.
Lower Falls
The Lower Falls
The Upper Falls, is named because it is at a higher elevation on the river. However, the waterfall is only 109 feet.
The Upper Falls
We did stop and view one geyser on our way to the Canyon Village area, but I forgot to take a picture of the sign, so I have no idea what this one is called. It was very small and all by itself.
unknown geyser
The highlight of the day was encountering two beautiful Elk that were hanging out near the parking lot by the Upper Falls viewing area. Elk shed their antlers late March thru April, and then begin re-growing them almost immediately. They can grow as much as 2 inches per day. They are velvet covered during the period of growth, and by summer the blood flow stops to the antler, and it hardens. The Elk scratch their antlers along trees to scrape off the velvet.
Big Daddy
Hello!
We are very excited about having the entire summer to take our time exploring the park.
Quote for the day: “Think of your life as a waterfall; it may come crashing down at some point, it may have it’s ups and downs, but in the end, it will continue to flow.” – unknown
Liv2RV 
Hey, great to hear from you. I love the pictures as I’ve never been there. Your last little quote does make sense. J I’ve been doing a lot of golfing and I have much more ahead during the month of June. Whistling Straits, Black Wolf Run, Austin Mn. For a Ladies three day invitational and Dakota Dunes on a golf with the governor outing (business deal and Jack is going but I’m golfing). You actually just play one hole with him. Our Jack Link’s Packer Party is on October 18 and I was wondering if I could buy your tickets for that game? It’s the San Diego Charger’s game. It was in the 80’s here today, with humidity. I think there are some storms predicted for tonight. Jack’s in Chicago on business so I hope they don’t scare me. Ha! I sleep so sound I may not even hear them. J Enjoy your new adventures……. Oh, our new “Missing Link” is complete and we did our inaugural family trip over Mother’s Day, which was baby Jack’s first birthday. We were in Cabo, I’ll have to send you some pictures of our cute little boy. J L, MJ
Mary Jo you and Jack would love Yellowstone, but Jack can’t do any hunting in the park!! I’ll e-mail you about the tickets!
so very beautiful!! I feel like, with both your fabulous photos and your descriptions, I’m right there. What a wonderful adventure.
Since a lot of the roads were still closed for the winter, we didn’t get to see the falls. We’re hoping to get down there again while we’re still ‘up north’. We’re loving Montana 🙂