Tuesday, September 5

After filling fresh water tank and emptying gray and black tanks I head north to Yellowstone National Park.  I hope that I can drive the 125 miles to Norris Campground in time to get a site there.  This campground is first come first served, so I have a shot at it.   I get to Norris about 2pm and snare the last site which will (barely!) fit the Nash. Woohoo!  I pay for 3 nights ($10/night with pass).  After I plan an itinerary, I will see how many more nights I will stay.

Wednesday, September 6

Norris CG is centrally located and in the middle of the two main driving loops in the park.  I decide that since I am here and in a campsite, I will stay six nights and tour all the areas of the park.  Even though we are past the main season, there are still pretty good crowds with lots of tour busses.

This morning I plan to go to the south rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and hike some of the trails in that area. I get there about 8am to be ahead of the crowds.  Aaarrgh, all the trails here are closed for maintenance.  So I walk down to the viewpoint for the upper falls.  The canyon is beautiful for sure!  I love the yellow rock and all the colors.  Pictures don’t really do it justice though.

From here I continue south thru the Hayden Valley.  This is the prime location for bison viewing.

I continue south to the Mud Volcano area.  There was a ranger interpretive hike about to start so I joined.  I like ranger hikes as I learn more about the geology and other stuff of the area.

After Mud Flats, continued south to the West Thumb area which is on Yellowstone Lake.

It was early evening by the time I got back to Hayden Valley and of course there was a Bison jam 🙂