Day 14 - Going the Grand Circle of Yellowstone

River flowing to Virginia Falls.

Buffalo Jam:  These guys love to slow down visitors in the park.

He must think he is a car!

STOP:  They have the right of way!

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  It's beautiful but doesn't compare to the one and only Grand Canyon.

Upper Falls

Lower Falls

Carol dodged a bullet because he was feeling great today.  I guess he didn't have the dreaded cold that usually gets him down for a week.

 We decided to go into the park first thing this morning.  Of course we saw several traffic tie-ups from people watching elk and buffalo.We didn't stop because we are now veterans of animal watching.   We had been seeing a loop road along the river so we decided to take it.  We did the loop but never again.  You really don't get to see much of the river and it is a very rough road.  After that loop, we took a loop road to Virginia Cascades.  It was very nice and we would definitely do it again.  I am posting a picture or two of the river that the road overlooked and passed right by at times.  We stopped and walked along the river.  It was very peaceful and beautiful.

We then headed for the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the upper and lower falls.  While we were at the lower falls, an older Japanese woman asked if we wanted her to take our picture in front of the falls.  We told her yes and gave her the camera.  She snapped one picture but she hadn't pushed the right button so she tried again but this time she handed the camera back to me before the picture was complete so we got a picture of my leg.  Her heart was in the right place!  Carol did take a picture of me in front of the upper falls.  I am posting this one as proof that I am actually on this trip with Carol and Sandy!

  There are big buses of Japanese tourists at the park and they all have cameras.  Today was "Park Visitor Appreciation Day" so anyone could get into any national park free.  We have a Golden Eagle Passport so we don't pay anyway but I thought it was nice for those who would normally have to pay.  We were told that the park service does this twice a year.  I guess they don't advertise it.

We went to the mud volcanoes next and took a short hike but unfortunately the first part of the hike was UP HILL!  It is always fun going back down.  We decided that would be the last hike we take in this park this year.  The rest of the sightseeing would be from the truck or pullouts off the road.

We did get into a big buffalo traffic jam with cars, trucks, campers and buffaloes.  The buffaloes were on both sides of the road and some were crossing the road between cars.  A couple of them crossed right in front of our truck.  Naturally, I had my window down trying to take pictures.  The males seemed upset that the cars were on their road and were bellowing.

We finished driving the entire loop around Yellowstone which is 130 miles.  It took us six hours but we made several stops to hike and look.  Tomorrow we are coming back to take pictures we have wanted to take but couldn't because of traffic.  We won't be taking any trails.

After we got back to camp, we talked to our neighbors.  They work here at Grizzley RV and are from California.  They said this is the first year they have worked as "work campers" and have really loved it.  They work four days on and three days off.  They get paid minimum wage and get a camping spot for $5.00 a night.  On their days off, they go into the Yellowstone and see other sights around the area.  They have already sighed up to come back next year.  Carol and I have talked a lot about doing the same thing but we don't want to be away from our grand kids that long so I guess we will just keep talking about it.

Fall scene in one of the many valleys in Yellowstone.