Saw bear, ate bear, got t-shirt. Yum!

Day 4:

  Survived the first night in Yellowstone. It was absolutely cold last night and I dressed one layer short of staying warm, so it was a restless night for me. Nathan slept a little better than me, but he had a thicker blanket so he was warmer.  We quickly changed out of our pj’s and brushed our teeth.  Satisfied, we got into the car and cranked up the heat. Our first stop of the day was to canyon junction where we got ourselves a cup of hot water from a store to make oatmeal. Gobbling down its warm properties, we felt more human. From canyon village we cruised to the start of Hayden valley, hoping to spot our first Grizzly bear. Along the way we spotted a few more buffalo, including one who’s head was coated with frost from the 32-degree night.

Frosty the buffalo.

 Another one decided that it would be fun to walk down the wrong lane of the road. Right at us! Nathan put all the training that he learned in defensive driving school to the test and threw the E-brake, cranked the wheel over and we drifted around it with ease. OK, maybe that last part is fiction! We slowed and changed into the other lane and passed it. I really didn’t know that buffalo were British! :D We kept driving, until we spotted a lookout spot on the side of the road filled with cars. Navigating the parked cars, we found ourselves a spot and grabbed our cameras.  As we approached were the people were standing, one lady told us that a Grizzly and her two cubs were out there. After giving us the general area of where they were at, we zoomed in and were able to spot them just barely. Though they were far away, it was still fun to see.

The Grizzly is the small dot in the center of the page and its two cubs are down and to the left a little

 (not the large spot on the right, that's a buffalo).

 We watched them for some time until they were too far away to see. We continued south passing herds of buffalo along the way. We stopped to get some pictures of them. Soon, Hayden Valley was behind us as we approached Yellowstone Lake. We stopped at a lodge there and grabbed a bite to eat. Looking at the map, we didn’t see anything more that looked interesting enough to visit, so we turned back around to Hayden Valley. On the drive back up, I annoyed Nathan by saying over and over again, “Saw bear, ate bear, got T-shirt. Yum!” Not wanting to get thrown out of his car, I didn’t say it too often after that! Key words, too often. :D Back in Hayden valley, we stopped at Mary Mountain Trail. We filled our canteen and water bottles, threw on our packs and headed out to the middle of Hayden Valley. Though it was afternoon, we still hoped to spot some bear. However, the only thing we saw were some buffalo that decided to rest in the middle of our path.

Looking out into Hayden Valley.

 8 miles and a few hours later, we returned to our car only slightly weary from the journey.  With still more to see, we put our packs in the car. Our next stop: Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

View of upper falls.

 The first lookout was of upper falls and was easy to get to. After getting some video and pictures, we headed down a trail to Uncle Tom’s Point. When we reached that trail, a sign warned us that the journey down and back up was steep and difficult. “So what did you do,” you ask. Well, I will tell you. We kept going! Almost jogging, we went down several staircases to the base where there was a good view of lower falls. 

View of lower falls from Uncle Tom's point.

Some of the stairs leading back up.

We didn’t spend too much time down there, since there were a lot of people. Now came the fun part, scaling up the 328 steps to the top! I decided the best way to get up was to run up them, taking two at a time, sometimes three at a time. Making it up several flights, I was short on breath and stopped to wait for Nathan to catch up to me. I took a flight of stairs one at a time, but that took too long, and so I continued my method of running up the steps two at a time. Every couple of sets of stairs I would pause for a short time to try to catch my breath and to wait for Nathan. In no time, we’re at the top of the main sets of stairs. Desperately out of breath, I sat down for a couple of minutes to try to recuperate. Not wanting to sit much longer, I got back up and managed to reach the top. I promptly rested again for a short spell.  Huffing and puffing, I made it back to car. The candy apple red hood looked so inviting that I sprawled out on it and laid there for several minutes. I think about that time I finally was able to catch my breath. The afternoon was still young…ish. We continued on to another spot that had a lookout of lower falls from a couple miles away. The view from there was breath taking.

Lower falls.

 We then crossed the river back to the other side and stopped again to see lower falls. A trail led down the mountain to the brink of lower falls. Since we hadn’t had enough exercise for one day we descended on the steep trail that was filled with switchbacks.  The path came to an end right at the edge of the falls. The view was spectacular. Finished there, now we had to hike back up the trail. After going up Uncle Tom’s trail, this seemed pretty easy, although it didn’t help my weary legs. On the way up, we actually passed some people that we saw coming up when we were going down! By now, Nathan and I had seen all that we wanted to in that part of the park so we headed to Canyon Junction. Our water supply had been drained by the day so we stopped and filled them up from a drinking fountain there. (Note to readers: Yellowstone’s water is the BEST I have ever tasted! Sooo Divine!) After the day we had, it was decided that we needed a shower, so we stopped at a place there in Canyon and had our first shower since leaving Rawlings, WY.  Feeling refreshed, we ended the day by cooking a mix of chicken gumbo and sirloin burger soups for dinner, followed by flaming marshmallows! As we let the fire die, I prepared for another cold night by adding another layer of clothing. Snug in my sleeping back, I was ready for night two in Yellowstone.

End day 4.