On Friday the 31st of July, we got another early start so we could tour the northern loop of Yellowstone NP.
We drove into the park one final time, through the east entrance and over Sylvan Pass.
And then we turned right at Fishing Bridge to do a counter-clockwise loop around the northern or ‘ Upper Grand Loop‘ of the park.
But first, we stopped at the Fishing Bridge General Store to get a fishing license. Kaan wanted to try his luck, and well – so did I 🙂 The license was $18 and is valid for 3 days. Kaan didn’t need a license as long as he’s with me, however, the nice clerk gave him a souvenir license anyway.
We stopped at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River once again because we missed the Inspiration Point drive when we were here before. Now, I think we’ve seen it all.
After turning north at Canyon Village, we passed by some more falls; Tower Falls. It required a little hike, but it was worth it.
And after a very scenic drive in a counter-clockwise direction along the northern grand loop, we made it to Mammoth Hot Springs.
Of course, we stopped at the visitors center and toured the wildlife displays but a large section was closed due to an unexpected power outage. Oh well, off to the Upper Terrace Drive we went…
We took some of the boardwalks to see the magnificent area.
This little geyser popped up through the asphalt in one of the parking areas. They blocked it off with the concrete barriers. The scenery here is always changing due to the geo-thermal conditions.
View of the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District and Fort Yellowstone in the distance from the Upper Terraces area. Interesting history here from my friend wikipedia™.
A small deer was hanging out near the hot springs.
Kaan just had to touch the water to see how hot it was… don’t worry, no damage was done to either himself or the environment.
After spending time at Mammoth Hot Springs, we continued on our counter-clockwise loop until we found a picnic area. Stilla packed us some lunch as she had each day prior, but this time we needed a picnic table to make our sandwiches and cut up our vegetables. Sheepeater Cliff was a really unique and picturesque area and we had it all to ourselves for quite a while.
We continued on past Norris and then back to Canyon Village where we had started our northern loop. We did it! We finished the whole park… it took us 4 trips, but it was worth it 🙂
By now, Kaan was getting pretty antsy about putting a pole in the water since we got our license earlier at the Fishing Bridge General Store. So we stopped along the Yellowstone River between Canyon Village and Fishing Bridge.
We followed the rule book that we got along with the license and pinched down the barb on our artificial fly. Kaan had fun but quickly got bored when we didn’t catch anything. We had to use a clear bobber so the line had some weight in order to throw it out in the current from the shoreline. Probably not the best method of fly-fishing but Kaan had fun.
Coyote across the river. Little “Coach” didn’t like him and barked out the window. But, he does that for the buffalo too. As a matter-of-fact, he does that for all wildlife 🙂
We made it back to our campground (almost 200 miles driven today) and had another enjoyable quiet evening without internet or cell phones. Although, Kaan always has the X-Box hooked up the back TV so he can entertain himself for hours with MineCraft.
Authors Note: We’re currently in Thermopolis, WY and I’m trying to get the blog up to date… check back soon for an update on our day of rest at the campground (1 Aug) and our drive here to Thermopolis (2 Aug). Today (3 Aug) we plan on visiting the hot springs here and maybe the dinosaur museum.
