7/17 Yellowstone - Part 2

July is a horrible time of year to visit Yellowstone.  Here is what the west entrance looked like this morning.  It was very difficult to even park a car in most areas. 

I visited three main areas today--Gibbon Falls, Virginia Cascade Drive, Yellowstone Falls, and Firehole Canyon Drive. 

This is Gibbon Falls.  It is easily accessible from one of the main areas, but last year it was too crowded to park here, so I missed it.

This is Virginia Cascade.  Like a lot of the other side drives, the road was one-way and pretty uncrowded, which was nice.  This cascade is a sort of very gentle but long falls.  It looks like something you could sit on and slide down, except it would be pretty rough and rocky.

This is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, which is where Yellowstone Falls is.  There are several parking lots you could pull off on and park. 

 

This is the only bison I saw in Yellowstone in two days.  He was busy scratching his head on a tree. 

 

 

As you drive through Yellowstone, you fill find areas where dozens of cars are parked along and on the roadway.  People will be staring through binoculars or long camera lenses.  Frankly, I never saw any actual animals. 

Several people have asked me if Yellowstone has trees after the big fires. The answer is that Yellowstone has areas with all sorts of size trees--big to small.  This is a small fire exhibit showing the regrowth.

This is the Firehole Canyon Drive.  It was a bit dusty and the road was rough in places, but it was very pretty. 

This is Firehole Falls.

Here, a lot of people are getting out of cars dressed in bathing suits and carrying towels.

It is hard to see, but there are people swimming in the distance.  The park service has built a wooden set of sets to get down to this swimming hole.

 

And here are some really brave people swimming just upstream of the other people. 

I enjoyed Yellowstone, but I think I will come back again at a different time of year.