We got a fairly late start due to sinuses acting up. We also stopped at the backcountry office to discuss hikes. They were quite helpful. We’re doing the Cascade Lake trail today because it sounds like good warmup hike. It was quite pleasant. Easy to follow and little if any elevation change. Nothing earth shattering, but got us away from the bustle and out into some nice meadow and forest. Were enough other hikers on the trail to lessen nervousness but not crowd us. We did have to wait on the trail for a buffalo while hiking. The hikers ahead of us were sensible and waited too.
We enjoyed the hot springs at Mammoth and the drive there.
Undine Falls was beautiful. The petrified tree was not terribly interesting.
We saw lots of wildlife in a near Lamar Valley. Lots of buffalo, and some pronghorn. At one point we were looking at what we thought were 4-6 buffalo. When we drove further we saw that was just the tip of the iceberg. There were a few dozen more below them. Steve also saw a coyote pounce on something. We stopped at Hayden Valley for a few minutes to look for wildlife and saw a bald eagle in a tree. (If you see a lot of vehicles stopped or pulled over, look around. There’s probably animals nearby.)
Tower Falls and our first views of the Yellowstone River (the feature photo at the beginning of this post) rounded out the day’s sights.
Going to dinner at the Lake Hotel was an adventure. We got caught up in buffalo trying to cross the road. Traffic was backed up for probably two miles. At one point we were sitting stuck on the road next to a large bull making angry sounding huffy-snorty noises. We were just happy he wasn’t looking at us. And we’re wishing the people in front of us would DRIVE THEIR CAR!
Essentials
Here’s our car parked outside our cabin at Canyon Village.
Dining
We made a reservation at the Lake Hotel for a bit of a splurge. Dinner was unexciting. Food was quite good, service not so much. Steve had house salad and swordfish special. I had pear salad and sautéed duck. Pear salad was wonderful. Duck was interesting; I would eat it again. Quite meaty, more like a steak. Bulghur side dish was also good. We had to ask for bread; service was slow. I think it was our particular waiter.
Transportation
Allow plenty of time for wildlife traffic jams!