Yellowstone Day Hike, Part 4 UPDATED

Just wanted to share with you our day hike that we did on our Memorial Weekend trip to Yellowstone. We went on the hike on Sunday. It was hot and sunny that day. WE hike in the area of Tower Falls about 8 miles. We started on the Stagecoach Road that is used in the cumer months to give people stagecoach rides to a BBQ spot. We had to skirt by some buffalo at the start of the hike and at the end. I got some pictures at the end so you'll see in a minute. Our hike started out in a meadow/sage brush covered land. We saw tons of gophers running to their holes when they heard us coming. Then we cut through a tight valley that followed a creek and it was more wooded with big boulders and rocky landscape. We also saw lots of flowers along the trail so of course I had to stop, much to Erik's dismay, at about every flower trying to get a good picture. I did slow us up a bit! Here's a few we saw in that valley:

A prairie rose:

A sticky geranium:

Here's a nice shot of the trail, Erik and Elk Creek.

We came to a spur trail about halfway through our hike that connected to another trail that lead to a suspension bridge over the Yellowstone River. From the bridge we saw the river far below and beautiful in it's power. After lunch I found a spot where I could see both the river and the bridge. Maybe it will give you a small sense of what it was like to be there. Some cushion phlox on the trail after lunch:

Goofing off while replenishing our water.

After lunch our trail followed the Yellowstone River up on a ridge. This spot offered amazing views:

We also saw the two big horn sheep on this part of the trail. (see post about animals for the picture). Here is another one of the variety of views we had on this hike.

And this is the very end of the trail. We had to pass by some buffalo. They do not look very close but when you see how BIG they are you really don't want to get too close to them.

Overall, a wonderful hike, not too hard and beautiful scenery! Hope you enjoyed trekking with us! Stay tuned for the final Yellowstone enstallment: More Beautiful sites around the park. Later.....