Back to Yellowstone... Harder than it seemed!

I began the morning in Cody, WY and the sun was shining! As I drove westward, the sky darkened and it began raining as I approached the East Entrance to the park. When I arrived, there was a line of cars stopped at the entrance. The ranger advised us that it would be another hour or two before the entrance was opened because of snow in an 8000 foot pass! So, I backtracked a bit to a scenic overlook, got out a good book and read in my Element for a couple hours. When I returned, the gate was open once again. I've added a picture of August snow (perhaps and early pretense for a great ski season?).

I got into the Canyon campground near the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone park and had lunch, then it began sleeting! Back to the book! But magically around 2 it stopped preciptating. I figured I had the time necessary before dark to do the magical circumference trail around the canyon and their awesome waterfalls. The trails were at 8000 feet elevation and about 11 miles in both directions in a "U" shape. I took several descents to lookouts that were much lower. I figure the total uphill was around 1500 feet or so. The falls and the colors of the canyon walls were amazing! The Lower Falls is higher than Niagara! On the hike, I saw an osprey, an osprey chick, a couple of whitetail bucks and an enormous elk on my journey. I thought that this day was the most special at Yellowstone.