Yellowstone: Grand Canyon & Virginia Cascades

    And now the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone! Thursday morning we drove 26 miles northeast to Canyon Village where we parked and walked around the Upper Falls area. Talk about feeling small. All you had to do was look down! Everything in Yellowstone is on a MUCH larger scale than what I'm used to seeing in Georgia. Every place you turn you can see the history. Being surrounded by something that has been around for so long kind of puts you in your place. Here's a photo from the Upper Falls of the Grand Canyon:

Upper Falls, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone

   Then we took a short hike on the North Rim Trail and arrived at this lookout point of the Grand Canyon:

North Rim Trail, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone

Me and my honey! (representing our home teams)

    After a few hours seeing the Grand Canyon, we made a couple stops on the way back to our campsite. The first was the Virginia Cascades. There's a few different pullouts along the Cascades and it was a really peaceful place to read and take photos.

Virginia Cascades

Virginia Cascades

Virginia Cascades

    After Virginia Cascades, we stopped at Gibbon Falls. Leaning over the rail to get a good shot was definitely not the most comfortable feeling in the world...it's a LONG way down! But I sucked it up. About 50 photos later, we got back into the car and headed to Madison campground where we celebrated our last night in Yellowstone with a warm fire and some nice whiskey :)

Gibbon Falls

    The next morning we would pack up camp and say our goodbyes. Our route home took us through the Grand Tetons (BEAUTIFUL!). I'll be posting one last blog with photos of the trip home. Thanks for reading!

Yellowstone: Mammoth Hot Springs and more...

     After visiting Old Faithful Geyser, we were ready to relax at the campground. Madison campground was nice because you're surrounded by people, but you still feel like you have space. Here's a couple photos to give you an idea. They have a gravel section that is boxed off for your tents and then a picnic table. In front of each campsite is a paved pull-in for your car. The restrooms were also nice. Can't complain about running water and flush toilets!

      Later that same evening, Karl and I walked across the street to Madison River that runs next to our campground. I set up my tripod and took, you guessed it!, some photos... :)  Throughout the trip, I used a new filter on my camera called a circular polarizer. It's pretty easy to get the hang of, but you need to have plenty of sunlight to work with or you can't really see the difference. It's great for nature/landscape photography because it cuts down on haze and gives you more saturated colors (like a bluer sky, for instance). That's definitely something I'll be blogging about more at a later date because I saw a massive difference in my photos after using a circular polarizer!

Madison River

Madison River

       On our way back to the campground, we came across a female elk grazing right across from our campsite! She hung around for a good 30 minutes and then meandered over to the next lane of campsites. Absolutely beautiful!

 

        The next day, Tuesday 31st, we headed towards Mammoth Hot Springs about 35 miles north of our camp.  Along the way I took a few shots from the car.

Driving towards Mammoth Hot Springs

Driving towards Mammoth Hot Springs

    When you reach Mammoth Hot Springs, the lower terraces are visible from the road. We parked near Liberty Cap which is right before you enter the small "town" of Mammoth. There's a lot more to the Springs than what we saw, but here are a few photos.

Map

Liberty Cap

Devil's Thumb at Mammoth Hot Springs

     We spent most of our afternoon in Mammoth, going into the General Store and looking for souvenirs to bring back home. During our drive back to camp, we stopped along the Gardner River and did some sightseeing and also had our first major encounter with a buffalo, but that's for next time.

Road Trip to Yellowstone

      On Friday, July 27th, my honey and I set out at 7:30am to start the long and arduous drive to Yellowstone Park. We left Georgia and drove through Tennessee, Kentucky, cut through the bottom tip of Illinois and traveled across Missouri. I tried to save my memory cards for Wyoming but that didn't happen. While passing through St. Louis, Missouri we saw the Gateway Arch. I was able to get this photo as we passed by.

      And some Missouri fields...

    From Missouri, we drove along the border of Nebraska and Iowa and then into South Dakota. Driving through South Dakota we saw a lot of bikes and trailers headed for the Sturgis Rally not to mention a very interesting (and rather random) outdoor museum of giant statues. I fought the urge to snap away. I'm still waiting for Yellowstone! But here's a windshield snapshot of a South Dakota cloud.

    And then sweet Wyoming!

   At this point in the trip, we'd been driving for 2 days. Time for a hotel :) The next morning we got up bright and early and made our way through Bighorn National Forest. And that's where I finally lost control of my shutter button. But that's for my next post!