Yellowstone National Park

Monday was Columbus day. Not a huge holiday by any means but still one our banks and schools value enough to take a much deserved break from public service. Thus an opportunity for my family and I to explore the first National Park before the inevitable Winter closure. Yellowstone is a big park, so when we go we try to have a theme. That way we can explore a specific section of the park, this go round we decided to have a day of Waterfalls.

We started out our day nice and early, leaving our house at 6:00am. We packed a backpack full of water bottles and snacks and set out on our way. We arrived in Yellowstone about 8:30 and stopped at our first Waterfall of the day. Lewis Falls.

Lewis falls is the first waterfall you come to when you visit Yellowstone from the South Entrance. It's a nice size fall that you can see from the road, there is a little parking area by the falls and a nice short trail that leads up to the waterfall, with a big squared off viewing section. The hike was just intended to burn off some energy so the car ride to Canyon Village wasn't so loud, but once we set the kids on a trail they don't turn around until they are thoroughly satisfied with the hike. So we ducked under the railing and hiked up stream a bit. (there were no signs posted that instructed us to stay on the path so we felt it would be OK.) We hiked on for a few minutes until the falls were out of sight and the stream was a wide slow flowing beauty. In our discovery we found a tree that had some what we originally assumed to be fresh elk rubbings. But upon further investigation we couldn't be certain the scratch marks weren't from a bear.(All scratchings went downwards, they were quite high up on the tree, and they were small scratches, not typical of the large rubbings elk usually leave.) The sap was still dripping from the wounded tree so we decided that its best we not wait around to see what did carve up the tree.

After Lewis Falls we decided the next waterfalls to see would be the Upper and Lower Falls in the Canyon of Yellowstone. So we drove up to the Artist Point pull out, on the drive there we saw nearly a dozen Elk. Even a nice sized Elk with a huge rack that felt the road through the park was his personal side walk.

Once to Artist Point parking lot we got out and pulled on our winter coats and set out to hike to the Lower Falls,on the South Rim Trail. The hike is a nice one but a little unnerving for a mother of three extreme explorers. The path comes a little close to the edge of the canyon a few times, and can get a little bit steep. With good supervision this hike is a manageable one. The hike is about a mile and connects up with a few other paths closer to the falls. We forked off on Uncle Tom's Trails, this trail takes you down a little over 300 steps, 3/4 of the way down the falls. It's a bit more treacherous than the South Rim trail. The steps are metal and when wet they are very slippery. To top it off its a steep climb down, and rocks falling from the cliff face have left dents in some stairs so always look where your putting your feet.

We made it to the bottom and enjoyed the view for a bit before we headed back up. Jack needed a ride from Dad as it was a bit of a climb but the girls stuck with it and made it all the way back up on their own. From the the beginning of the hike at Artists Point to the bottom of Uncle Tom's trail was about 2 hours.

Once we finished the rail we thought the kiddos deserved a much needed break so we headed out to the Virginia Falls One Way Loop road for a scenic waterfall drive. There we drove along to see see the falls and Kevin spotted a cave up on the side of a hill and decided to check it out.

After the loop we decided to head over to Old Faithful, even though it is devoid of waterfalls its still has a few nice loops and plenty of geysers to check out. Here is also where we had our big excitement for the day.

We started out parked by the new Visitors Center (which is awesome) and headed out on thee Old Faithful loop. When you start this loop there is a small decline that leads to a bridge, as we were walking down this bridge Lulu fell and forgot to catch her self with her hands. Thankfully her head is a hard as concrete and she only ended up with a bloody nose a few scrapes and bruises and one huge goose egg on her forehead. As any true outdoor enthusiasts when we gave her the option to turn back or go on she chose to keep on a hiking. We finished the loop, taking a quick detour to see Solitary Geyser, which doesn't give off a spectacular eruption but a nearly constant one and even has an interesting story behind the reason for the eruptions. We took the bike path back to the Visitors Center and had a quick bite to eat at the Geyser Grill. After our late lunch (we ate at 3:30) we headed back home, while the kids got a quick nap, Kevin I saw a few more beasts of the park Including a lounging Buffalo, a wandering Moose a Doe and her fawns and, a coyote that scampered across the road as we left the park