Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

This is my absolute favorite area of the Yellowstone National Park.   Granted,  I loved all of the other areas,  but since I love waterfalls and canyons,  this was my favorite.  We spent an entire day in this area (September 20, 2012) ---and I'm sure I have a zillion photos... I don't know how many posts it will take for me to get through this 2nd day at Yellowstone --but today's post only includes a small portion.

We started at Lookout Point (on the NORTH RIM) ---and then hiked down to my favorite view point,  RED ROCK POINT.   From both lookouts, you can get a terrific view of LOWER FALLS.   I included a great picture of the canyon on my new PHOTO BLOG (click HERE to visit or re-visit that photo).

If you have never been to Yellowstone,  you need to know that there is a North Rim and a South Rim.  We did them both --starting at the North Rim...  There are three waterfalls in that area, and we saw all three of them.  For more information about the Canyon Area at Yellowstone,  click HERE.  If you want to see a small map of where we were, click HERE.

The picture above shows a picture of the sun early in the morning as we drove from our motel in West Yellowstone  to the canyon area.   I love seeing the steam rising from the water.

The picture above shows George and me at Lookout Point --with a view of Lower Falls in the distance.  It was fairly cool that morning --but warmed up as the day went on.  Be sure to click on the photos to see them larger.

Beautiful Lower Falls of Yellowstone;    This marvelous waterfall is 308 feet high.  We had hoped to see a rainbow at the bottom of the falls --but the lighting wasn't quite right.  We did however,  see a rainbow along the rocks when we were on the Uncle Tom's trail on the south rim (which I will share with you in another blog post).  This picture was taken from the RED ROCK POINT area.

Here is a collage showing the STEEP trail down to RED ROCK POINT.  This is a hard trail (although not as hard as Uncle Tom's) ---but it is definitely worth the hike down in order to get a better view of the canyon and Lower Falls.

While we were hiking back UP the steep trail of Red Rock Point,  I spotted a pretty little bird along the trail.  This is a Clark's Nutcracker.... Thanks to friend, CHRIS, for helping me identify this little bird...

Here's George as we hiked the RED ROCK POINT trail.

And here I am ---along the same trail... Going down was a piece of cake --but climbing back up wasn't!!!!! ha

Here's a collage of the canyon taken along our way that day.  In the bottom picture on the right,  you can see up the hill toward the next area we visited, GRANDVIEW.   The canyon photos from Grandview and from Inspiration Point are AWESOME--but that will be another post.

Here is another picture of George and me.  This one was taken at the RED ROCK POINT Overlook.  You can compare it with the picture of us above taken at Lookout Point.  See how far down we hiked?????  Gorgeous view here though!!!

Finally,  I'll close with a collage of Lower Falls.  The top photo on the right shows another overlook (Brink of Lower Falls).  We opted not to take that hike since it is hard to get good photos of a waterfall when looking from the top down...   I love the bottom left photo since it shows the distance and also shows more of the canyon in that area.

Hope you are enjoying my Yellowstone photos.  They are a little detailed --but if you ever go there,  you'll have to take this info as your 'travel guide'....

Have a wonderful weekend, and stay WARM wherever you are.  Spring has come 'officially' --but Ole Man Winter is hanging on BIGTIME in our area... It's been so COLD here... Geesshhhhhh!!!!

Hugs,

West Yellowstone on Dwellable

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More from Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio

NOTE: Be sure to read the 3 items at the bottom of this blog post.  Thanks!

If you have missed seeing my posts from our trip to Hocking Hills State Park, near Logan, Ohio,  in October, 2012,  with friends, NEAL and Patti Treadway,  click HERE.   We had such a great trip --and I'm still trying to get through my photos.  Today,  I'll share with you our crazy hike through the Cedar Falls area,  and also to Ash Cave.  Hope you enjoy the pictures and collages.. Be sure to click on them for enlargements.  AND I apologize for such a long post today.. I am trying to finish up that trip!!!!

The picture above shows more of the gorgeous Autumn Colors we experienced while in Ohio.  We were there at a PERFECT time... Hooray!!!!

We were hiking now (following our time at Old Man's Cave) on the trail to Cedar Falls.  We knew there wouldn't be much water at the falls --but the  whole area was pretty.  Top Left: Patti, Neal, George;  Middle--ME--trying to hold up a rock!!! ha;  Top Right:  George and Neal;  and Bottom: Patti and Neal.

Here is CEDAR FALLS---even though there wasn't much water coming over the falls... If you want more information about Cedar Falls and this area,  click HERE.

This is a great picture of the rock formations in the Cedar Falls area...

AND THEN--- Miss Betsy led the group down the 'wrong' trail ---obviously --IF you look at the pictures!!!!!  I thought we were taking a short-cut... HA HA ----not the case though...

Here's one more collage showing the rugged trail we took (actually--not a trail I don't think).....  We were beginning to look for either a horse or a helicopter in order to get outta there!!!!!! ha ha ha  (OH--the memories we will have after this hike!!!!!!)

NEXT,  after getting back to our car SOMEHOW,  we then drove to ASH CAVE for some more hiking.  Ash Cave is not really a cave ---but a HUGE rock overhang.  For more information on Ash Cave,  click HERE.    You can see a photo of what the waterfall should look like with some WATER...   The picture above is looking back into the rock formations under the overhang.

This is a collage of us ---as we wandered around checking out the area.  Top left: Patti and Neal; Middle:  Me;  Top Right: Neal, Patti, George

Here is a picture of the almost waterless waterfall.  I would love to be there when there is alot of water coming over the falls.

You can see how vast the cave is in these picture.  George is in the one on the left and I am in the one in the middle.  Neal is checking out the water droplets from the waterfall.

This picture was taken from under the overhang... You can get some idea of the vastness of this 'cave'... The horseshoe cave is 100 feet deep,  90 feet high and measures 700 feet from one end to the other.  It's HUGE.

This ends our time at Hocking Hills State Park.  Hope you enjoyed seeing all of the beauty in that park... I will have one more post from that trip ---showing you the lake we visited late that afternoon,  and some photos from our trip home the next day.

George and I have such a great time with Neal and Patti.  The four of us have the same interests --and we just enjoy being together.   I hope we get to do several more trips together in the future!!!!

SOME EXTRAS:
1. Be sure to check out Theresa's blog  (TexasWisGirl) on BLOGGING.  Click HERE.   That gal really gets the comments ---so if you want to do it her way,  check it out.  She's the expert.

2. I am featured today on Ann's Snap Edit Scrap BLOG....  She asked me some questions which I answered for her.  Check it out --and leave her a comment.  Click HERE.  Thanks,  and thanks to Ann for inviting me to participate.

3. Because so many people these days enjoy SHORT blogs,  I am starting a new one which will contain only one picture plus explanation.  I hope that you will enjoy the new blog --and follow me on it beginning on WEDNESDAY this week.  I will alternate blogs --so you  will have some choices.  Tune in to THIS blog on Wed. and I will provide the URL for the new one.  Let me know what you think...

Have a wonderful day.

Hugs,

Emoticons

Yellowstone --Day 1 Continued

Can you believe that it is March 1st today?  I asked where January went ---so I'll ask now where February went!!!!  Goodness--time flies when we're having fun,  doesn't it?  One thing about March:  It's closer to SPRING...  Yeah!!!

Today I am going to continue my Yellowstone journey with you..  If you missed Part I,  please click HERE.   There is some great information about Yellowstone --including links to learn even more.  (Several of you enjoyed seeing the links showing more about the elk.)

I begin today by sharing a photo of two more waterfalls we saw on Sept. 19, 2012, when we were there.  We are now on the road between Mammoth Hot Springs and Tower Falls.  Undine Falls can be seen from the overlook near the road.  Wraith Falls is a short hike.  We enjoyed seeing both of these waterfalls.  Have I mentioned that the waterfalls in Yellowstone are FABULOUS???  ha

Here's a picture of George sitting at the overlook at Undine Falls.

We had a traffic jam on the road between Mammoth Hot Springs and Tower Falls --waiting on a herd of buffalo to cross the road... Hope you enjoy seeing a couple more pictures of them.

This is a photo of our hike to Wraith Falls.  The trail was in good shape --and we enjoyed the countryside around the falls.

 

This is one of the prettiest waterfalls in the park,  Tower Fall. I tried to get its picture from three different angles.  The one on the right is my favorite since you can see all of the rock designs behind it.  They reminded me a little of Bryce Canyon.  Beautiful waterfall,  don't you think? It is 132 feet tall.  To read more about Tower Fall, click HERE.

After leaving Tower Fall (and heading back toward Mammoth Hot Springs),  we stopped to see this Petrified Tree.  Amazing,  isn't it?  Reminded me of our time in the Petrified Forest... Such great memories..  (To read more about this Petrified Tree,  click HERE.)

Next, we drove back through Mammoth Hot Springs and went north to the north (northeast) entrance to the park.  We drove to Gardiner.    The collage above shows the beautiful Gardiner River in the top and bottom photos (what a fabulous drive),  and we enjoyed seeing the BIGHORN SHEEP (middle photo) on the top of the ridge while driving to Gardiner.   (To read more about fly-fishing in the Gardiner River,  click HERE.)

The reason we drove to Gardiner was to see this gorgeous arch,  the ROOSEVELT ARCH.   Isn't it beautiful?  If you get to Yellowstone,  don't miss the drive between Mammoth Hot Springs and Gardiner... FABULOUS!  (To read more about the Roosevelt Arch,  click HERE.)

Throughout Yellowstone,  we saw ELK... Almost every morning we were there,  we would stop along the way to see the elk.  Beautiful animals!

On the way back to our motel in West Yellowstone that night (9/19/12),  we saw (as we did most evenings) a beautiful sky and sunset. 

 

I'll close Day 1 (of 5 in Yellowstone) with a collage of George and I.  We took our picture together at many of the places we visited each day.  Such GREAT memories!!!!

Hope you enjoyed one of our days at Yellowstone.  Obviously, there is much more to come!!!!

Thanks to those of you who added an email gadget to your sidebar.  I now have about 56 followers who were nice enough to add it, and I am getting your blog posts via email... I wish ALL of you would put that option on your sidebar... Sigh!   Thanks again to those who do!!!!

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

Hugs,

Yellowstone on Dwellable

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Yellowstone ---Day 1

We finally got to beautiful Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming on Day 7 of our West Trip this past September (Sept. 12-27, 2012).  We spent five busy days here --and could have stayed many more since this park is HUGE.

We divided our days up into different areas of the park.  On this first day,  we visited the northwest areas (including the Norris Geyser Basin,  Mammoth Hot Springs,  Tower Falls, and Gardiner).    I'll share this first day's experience in two blog posts since we have SO many photos....

The good news for us waterfall lovers is that we saw FIVE new waterfalls on this first day...  The waterfalls at Yellowstone are fabulous.   BUT--we saw lots of wildlife,  geysers and basins in addition to the waterfalls.  What a fabulous place!!!! Hope you enjoy our pictures.  Be sure to enlarge them for better views.

Above is one of many beautiful pictures showing all of the different colors.. This area is called ARTIST PAINTPOTS...  One can see just why artists would love being here.  To learn more about this area, click HERE.

We really enjoyed the NORRIS GEYSER BASIN...  Here is a picture showing some of the area --including our FIRST geyser,  LEDGE Geyser.  Doesn't this area just look like another world?   You need to see it in person to grasp the feelings one gets from visiting here.

Here is the PORCELAIN TERRACE SPRINGS area at Norris Geyser Basin.

This picture shows more of the colors formed in the areas of the geyser basin. If you want to read more information about this area,  click HERE.

This collage shows some of MANY photos we took of ELK the entire time we were there. We saw elk everywhere throughout the park --but loved seeing the ones right in the middle of town at Mammoth Hot Springs... It was Sept ---so that male was quite interested in the ladies (as you can see from the 'sniffy sniffy' photo in the middle on the top).... ha ha.....  If you want to hear a Bull Elk bugle/holler (during rutting/mating season) ---click HERE.   Here's another video taken a couple of weeks after we were there.  This one shows a couple of Bull Elks fighting.  Click HERE for that one.

George took this picture of a Happy Girl ---after seeing this beautiful waterfall.  This is GIBBON FALLS.

Here is a collage I made showing Gibbon Falls --and also showing Rustic Falls...  This is the first two (of 5) that we saw that first day at Yellowstone.

Look at this Buffalo..... Besides elk,  we also saw lots of BUFFALOES  in the park...  I'll share a collage in another blog post.

Here is a collage showing more from Mammoth Hot Springs.  According to a friend who lives near there,  this area was not as pretty as it usually is due to the drought in the area... BUT--it was pretty to us.  To read more about this area, click HERE.

I'll close with a picture of George and me taken  at the Norris Geyser Basin.

There will be many more pictures to come.   This was only 'part' of the first day we were there... It's hard to pick a favorite area since they are all unique and fabulous.

GOOD NEWS for ME:   I went to the doctor yesterday for my annual physical.  Got the best report I have gotten in years... All of my weight loss, healthy eating, and exercise is paying off..... Don't have to go back for a YEAR.   YEAH RAH!!!

Have a great day.

Hugs,

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