Cold and rainy again this morning. I did my 2 miles around
the boardwalks of the lower terraces. Tomorrow I’ll do the upper parts.
Breakfast was a McMuffin from the snack bar.
Today we did the circle route from Mammoth, to Norris, to
Canyon, Lake Village, West Thumb, Old Faithful and back to Mammoth. (Note: the
road from Tower to Canyon is closed for major construction, so one can’t do
that circle). About 150 miles. Today’s weather was a mixed bag, including some
real snow in the upper elevations. We spent a lot of time above 8000 feet;
temperatures ranged from 32 to 40. It was cold!
At Canyon we stopped at most of the canyon lookouts and the
magnificent water falls. Most impressive was the “Brink of Upper Falls”; such
power! (see video below) We had our lunch on the parking lot overlooking Yellowstone Lake at the
YL Hotel.
Our best wildlife siting of the day was a WOLF in the area
about ten miles south of Mammoth. We didn’t even know there were wolves in this
area. We also saw two male elks with huge racks of antlers!
Dinner tonight at Rosie’s in Gardiner. Tomorrow we head
home, maybe going only so far as Pocatello, or Twin Falls. (We’re retired – we
don’t have to do 500 mile days anymore!)
We hope this COVIDF-19 Pandemic ends this summer. It’s a shame
what “Social Distancing” has done to the tourism industry. Here in Yellowstone,
the major hotels are all closed, all but one campground is closed, the hotel
restaurants and lounge areas look bleak since they’ve removed all the
furniture! We don’t see a lot of compliance with the mask wearing protocols. The
number of customers allowed into a gift store is limited so you have to wait
your turn.
In spite of the nasty weather, it was a good day! Once
again, we conclude that Yellowstone is a special place!
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