Yellowstone, the sequel

Upper Firehole Canyon Falls

 Off we set for Yellowstone this morning!

Much traffic.

Much traffic.

It deserved repeating.

More than when I did the Northern loop in August.

So, of course, I took side loops.

The first was Firehole Canyon.

The road was short and sort of paved.

Not too many people took that turn off,

at least not compared to the traffic on the main road.

Lower Firehole Canyon falls.

I got impatient with the traffic and seeing nothing but trees so

I turned onto Fountain Flat Dr.

I'm so glad I did! 

This is what I saw.

Three groups of bison, likely the same large herd!

They were all sort of ambling southward.

After hitting the end of the road and turning around to start back

One of the groups had come really close to the road.

In fact three of the bison where rolling in the dust.

Of course, the idiot humans were out in force, 

perhaps 10 feet away,

taking pictures.

Park regulations say to stay back 50 feet from bison, elk, deer, etc 

and 100 feet from bears and wolves.

Had there been a Park Ranger near all this idiots would have been charged with harassing wild life.

Not to mention the danger they had placed themselves in.

Bison are huge!

could easily total a car or kill an unprotected human stupid enough to get too close.

I was so touched by the herd in it's natural place, doing it's natural thing.

I had tears in my eyes from the beauty of it.

All those people hurrying off to see Old Faithful missed it.

What a shame.

I skipped Old Faithful going out to get around the traffic.

Instead, I went on to Yellowstone Lake.

On the way I stopped at ISA Lake.

Another place hardly anyone was stopping.

What a shame.

I would guess that no other lake in the country does what Isa lake does, 

sitting on the Continental Divide.

Half the lake drains to the Pacific-the EAST half-while the WEST half drains to the gulf. 

Another parking spot overlooked this valley.  

I could see the Tetons in the distance

but they are too far away for even the telephoto lens.

Arriving at the Grant Visitors Center Quinn and I took a little walk down by the lake.

Enjoy.

We headed back towards West Yellowstone from here.

Got off at Old Faithful.

Only to be confronted with arces of parking lots filled with cars.

Much walking to be done.

Quinn in car, too warm to leave her for long.

I was not comfortable with taking her near the hot geysers.

Didn't stop.

If you really want to see a photo Google it- pictures abound!

On the way back I stopped to take these of mountains I'm sure are in Montana

 and the Madison River.

I had thought I might go down to the Tetons tomorrow BUT

I'm tired, really tired.

So I think instead of driving around 300 miles down and back

We'll stay here 

and take a short dirt road adventure!