Today was one we were all eager to start. Our plan was to end up in Lamar Valley by early evening, home to thousands of roaming bison. When speaking with the family from Michigan about their vacation they excitedly told us about their experience here. Ever since listening to them and seeing some of their pictures we have been anxiously awaiting this day. Lamar Valley is in the northeast section of Yellowstone about 2.5 hours away from where we have been entering the Park. The drive there goes through half the upper loop so we planned to make several stops along the way.
Gibbon Falls was our first stop. This was a beautiful overlook of a huge waterfall. There was a short trail to the lower overlook and another to the upper overlook. We walked both to see the spectacular view from each vantage point. No matter how many times we have had the opportunity to see a waterfall, each time has still been enthralling.
The next stop was Artists' Paintpots. This is a one mile trail that enters through a lodgepole pine forest, then winds across a meadow on a boardwalk and ends at a geothermal area with hot springs, mudpots and small geysers. The final part of the trail climbs up a hillside with beautiful views of the features below. This area had a much stronger sulfur smell than any locations we visited yesterday.
As we continued the drive we noticed a sign for Virginia Cascade Drive which forked off the main Upper Loop road. This was a very narrow 2.5 mile road that was mostly gravel with steep drop-offs. There were very few areas to pull over and they were all too small to fit the truck so we just drove through slowly enjoying the scenery along the Gibbon River and the Virginia Cascade as we passed it. Unfortunately we had a hard time getting decent pictures from the truck window.
As we continued on the loop we entered into Canyon Village. We made a brief stop at the Canyon Visitor Education Center. There were some very interesting exhibits inside and we really wanted to stay but unfortunately could not. We quickly walked through and tried to see as much as we could. On our way back to the truck the girls took notice to some very cool trees.
From Canyon Village it was a short drive to Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. There was a North Rim and a South Rim. At first we attempted to take the North Rim. There were so many other people trying to do the same we could not even turn down the street. We decided to continue on and do the South Rim instead. It was extremely crowded here but fortunately we found a parking spot. There are two main viewing areas on the South Rim, Uncle Tom's Point and Artist Point. Uncle Tom's was closed for restoration so we walked the short paved trail to Artist Point.
This was by far the most spectacular sight of our entire trip (and probably our entire lives). The viewpoint has a magnificent view of Lower Falls plunging 308 feet. The framing and color of the canyon walls, forest, and sky looks more like a painting than reality. We stood there in awe looking at the detail of it all.
While Adam and I continued to soak it all in, the girls went off to play in the trees on the other side of the walkway. There were some downed trees and they worked together to move the logs and create a seesaw.
When we were headed back to the truck a very special car caught our eye in the parking lot.
At this point it was already 1:30pm. As we drove down South Rim Drive back towards the loop we saw a picnic area and stopped to have our lunch. There were some picnic tables set up in the middle of the woods. We sat surrounded by the trees and very much enjoyed the views while we ate. Lily was hard at work putting together her lunchables.
As we got back on the road continuing towards Lamar Valley the views with blue skies and rolling hills were absolutely breathtaking. The road climbs and descends Mount Washburn peaking at 8,859 feet as you drive over Dunraven Pass.
The Roosevelt Lodge was our next stop. It is in a historic district at the northern part of the park that contains cabin's, camps and corrals. The lodge itself is primarily a restaurant now. The district was built around a campsite once used by President Theodore Roosevelt. We went inside to see this historic building. There was a large porch with rocking chairs but sadly they were all taken. We then wandered over to the General Store and bought ice cream popsicles.
As we left the lodge we entered Lamar Valley. We drove slowly keeping our eyes peeled for wildlife as this is the area most known for it.
As we rounded a bend there was a large group of animals grazing on a hill. We thought they were deer or elk and pulled over to watch with binoculars. We quickly realized these were actually pronghorn antelope. This was our first pronghorn sighting so we sat on the side of the road observing for a while.
We continued along and saw groups of buffalo in the distance. We pulled over to watch them with our binoculars too.
While we sat there, up ahead by the road something caught Adam’s eye. From where we were it looked like it may just be a large rock but it piqued our curiosity and we went to check it out. As we approached it was obvious it was not a rock but it was large. Laying all by it’s lonesome was the most incredible buffalo. There was nobody else around. We sat on the opposite side of the road and just watched him. He rolled in the dirt, stretched, scratched his face, yawned, turned around...every move he made was captivating. We were mesmerized while we alternated between our cameras and our binoculars.
After a very long while here we continued on. Everywhere we looked we could see buffalo roaming in the distance. As of August 2017 it is estimated there are 3,969 wild buffalo in Lamar Valley.
Slideshow of buffalo roaming throughout the valley
We got to an area where there were tons of buffalo right up close. It was here we saw several adorable baby buffalo. They were crossing the road and grazing right along the edge causing a traffic jam. Most people come here for exactly this reason and did not mind. At least one car seemed frustrated and started honking at the buffalo followed by foolishly swerving around traffic and animals to get to their urgent destination.
Suddenly Ella shouted for us to look to the left because she spotted a coyote walking among the buffalo. It also decided to stop traffic and cross the road.
Up ahead there was a small pullout and we were lucky enough to get a spot. This gave us an opportunity to get out of the truck to take some pictures. We were very careful to keep a safe distance from the animals.
There was a stream on the side of the road and we watched as the buffalo walked right through it.
We all got a good laugh as one of the buffalo stood in front of a car on the road and refused to move. While he stood there he kept sticking his tongue out. The girls were cracking up while we watched this take place.
We got back into the truck and started to move forward again. We had to stop several more times for buffalo crossings.
We had spent a couple hours in Lamar Valley and it was already after 6pm. Knowing we had a 2.5 hour ride back we begrudgingly turned around. The ride out of Lamar Valley was absolutely gorgeous. I continually felt compelled to take pictures to capture this sheer beauty and did just that until the camera battery died.
As we exited the park we stopped in the town of West Yellowstone to eat dinner at the Slippery Otter Pub. It was about 8:30 and we were starving. The kids each got a pizza from the kids menu shaped like a bear. After such a jam packed day they finished these quickly and were still hungry so we ordered them a regular small pizza to share too. Adam and I had burgers. When we finished it was quite late and we were all exhausted from this long but spectacular day.
