Yellowstone National Park
Fishing Bridge Campground – East side of Yellowstone
Driving from Montana back into Yellowstone, we passed
through Mammoth Hot Springs village. Since we had already been there, we just drove
right through the area. This time we drove east on the Grand Loop Road towards
our destination of Fishing Bridge Village and Campground. Along the way, we
stopped by the Undine Falls overlook to see the terraced falls. Further down we
stopped at the Tower-Roosevelt area for a break and Kurt hiked back into Tower
Falls. I let the dogs get out of the truck for awhile and took them for a walk.
There was major road construction in this area, the asphalt had been removed
and the road was packed dirt with gravel. The speed limit was 20 mph and it was
a grueling, slow drive. Ugh… Finally we were back on real road and continued to
Fishing Bridge Campground. This area of Yellowstone had some pretty mountains
and high meadows. There were many areas that were obviously part of the 1988
forest fires in Yellowstone. There were many young trees growing back, but it
was sad to see the landscape like this. Canyon Village was also along the way.
This is the area where the Yellowstone River flows through the canyon. There
are two major falls, the Lower and Upper Falls of the Yellowstone. After
realizing that this is a major feature of the park and river, we were making
plans to spend some time back here after setting up camp. Along the way there were a couple of places
where the traffic was almost stopped. As we slowly moved forward, we discovered
that some visitors were stopping in the
road to look and take pictures of wildlife. This is not allowed in the park
to stop on the roads, but so many people are so self centered that they don’t
care and will block the traffic for their own pleasure. It’s so frustrating!
Finally, we pulled into Fishing Bridge Campground and got registered for our
site. Wow, this campground had the RVs packed in. We barely had room to setup
our chairs in some space outside our camper and there were no campfires allowed.
We were able to roll out our awning only about five feet. However, this
campground is the only one in Yellowstone that has full hookups, which I
reserved well in advance. Also, the campground only allows hard-sided RVs, as
this is major bear country. (We never saw any bears in Yellowstone anywhere
near the campground!) After setting up camp, we rode our bikes over to the
Visitor Center to get information on hiking and possible kayaking. After
returning to our campsite, we started Happy Hour and I made beef stew on our
outside kitchen, which turned out really great. We settled in for the night and got some rest.
The next day, we drove back north on the Grand Loop to Mt.
Washburn. Kurt had decided to ride his bike back up a gravel road to the top of
the mountain. I needed to get online and there was a signal at this high level
of the mountain. I sat in the truck with the computer and was able to get some
internet stuff done, but the signal was not strong enough to upload my pictures
to Picasa. Kurt enjoyed his ride up the mountain, but didn’t continue up the
hike to see the peak. Oh well, it was not that beautiful of a ride or hike. We
continued back south on the road and stopped at a picnic site to eat our lunch.
After that we went on a hike that went back to Cascade Lake. The trail followed Cascade Creek through a
beautiful mountain meadow. As we approached the lake, we saw a grizzly mama
with two cubs about ½ mile away. I tried to move closer, but an off-duty ranger
that was hiking near us advised us to leave the trail and head back. I was very
aggravated as the bear was so far away and there were other hikers that were
much closer to the bear and people fishing on the lake. The ranger got very
belligerent with me and treated me like a child because I wanted to go just a
little closer and get some pictures. Kurt got mad and started retreating, so I
finally turned around and we headed back to the trailhead. As we have seen in
the past, many rangers tend to blow things out of proportion! We were about ½
mile away and the bear was no danger to us. However, Kurt is the one who thinks
that bison are not that dangerous and will get within 75 feet of one! Oh well, an awesome hike spoiled…
On to the Canyon! After researching the canyon views,
overlooks and hikes, we headed to the north rim of the canyon. We first drove
the north rim drive, stopping along the way to do some hikes and overlooks. The
first stop was the “brink of the lower falls”. This was a paved, switch back
trail leading downward a couple of hundred feet. When we reached the brink, it
was amazing to see the top of the falls and the amount of water and speed going
over the brink. There was an overlook, where the view was back into the canyon
and the river. I can’t even explain in words how amazing this looks. The pictures
don’t even do it any justice! Not only do the pictures look like a painting,
but the real view looks like a painting! It’s stunning! We also hiked along a
rim trail that went down to another overlook, which looked back to the lower
falls. After a few hours of viewing the north rim, we were exhausted and headed
back to camp. At the end of the day, we were actually in love with Yellowstone;
the canyon is really the highlight of the whole park!
The next day we headed toward the south rim of the canyon to
see those sights. We first walked to an overlook to see the lower falls. It was
an amazing view. We then found a picnic area at the brink of the upper falls,
but we didn’t stop at one of the tables, Oh No! We headed down right by the
river just above the brink and brought our chairs, cooler and food. This was an
amazing place to watch the river flow right over the brink. Again, Kurt had to
stand out on one of the ledges for a picture.
Imagine that! After that, we hiked down Uncle Tom’s Trail, which is a
very steep series of steel steps and landings to get down near the bottom of
the canyon for a view back to the lower falls! There were over 300 stairs and
it was so nice going down, but the trip back up was grueling. However, it was
so worth the effort. At this point, my feet were giving out on me, so Kurt
hiked down to an amazing overlook called Artists Point. This is the location of
most of the popular paintings of the Yellowstone Canyon portray. I drove the
truck to the parking area and waited for Kurt. When he arrived, we were again
stunned by the view and can understand how this is one of the most popular
views of the canyon. After a few hours and dealing with too many people
crowding and pushing their way into the area, we headed back to camp. An
exhausting and amazing day in Yellowstone!
Our last day in Yellowstone was planned to ride our bikes
back into the forest to a place called Natural Bridge, adjacent to Yellowstone
Lake. The trailhead was at the Bridge Bay Marina, which we walked around and
checked out first. We then rode our bikes about 1.5 miles back to the arch
area. It was very beautiful and is much like some of the smaller arches in
Utah’s parks. There was a short hike back up to the arch, but the trail was now
closed to walk over the arch. After viewing this, we headed back on our bikes
and back to camp for lunch. Kurt wanted to go on a hike by Yellowstone Lake
called Elephant Back. Since my feet couldn’t take another hike, I stayed with
the dogs at camp and also got some laundry and housekeeping taken care of.
That’s kind of like a down day for me. Anyway, later be began prepping for our
move the next day. Heading to Cody, Wyoming and we are looking forward to this
place. So many people we have met told us this was a great place to visit. We
will see!
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