Iconic......

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5:56 am - Thursday - September 28th - 30º F (Brrrrrr!), humidity 95%, wind 2 mph out of the south by southwest....when the sun comes up it should be clear blue skies.....pitch black right now.  Why am I up so early you ask?  Well, today begins our new 9 am to 6 pm hours.  Our shift begins at 8:45 am, which means we must depart Gardiner by 8:15 am, or thereabouts. 

Wednesday would really be our last opportunity to do some more site seeing here in Yellowstone National Park.  The one iconic view we had not been able to get even close to was Canyon Falls.  Every time we would drive by the entrances to the several vista points the traffic into them was at a standstill.  Some of the entrances to the parking lots can be anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 mile in length, and the thought of sitting in stop (mostly stopped) and go traffic for an hour just never appealed to us.  We were hoping that this trip over Dunraven Pass to Canyon Village would be different.......and it was.

We left home around 11 am to make the 1+ hour drive over to Canyon Village to first have lunch with our good friend Art Young who is a manager at the Adventure Center store there.  We first me Art at Amazon in Fernley, NV when we worked Peak Season there a few years ago.  We became friends and stayed in contact.  He is the one who helped us secure our job here at Mammoth Hot Springs, and we will be forever grateful.  At any rate, we met him around 12:15 pm at his store and walked the short distance over to the General Store and their Grill for lunch.  We were quickly seated, and placed our orders for food, and then commenced a non-stop conversation for the next 40 minutes before Art had to return to his job.  He is also going to the Grand Canyon this winter, so we are excited that he will be able to join us on some hiking adventures this winter!

From there we drove a short distance south to the 'Artist's Point' vista point for Canyon Falls....as we drove past the first two entrances we saw there was NO traffic......how exciting!  There was no traffic at the 'Artist's Point' entrance and we just whizzed right into the parking lot finding a parking spot within seconds......a few minutes later we got our first view of the iconic Canyon Falls.......

.....we gradually worked our way over to the optimum viewing point, and I have to say it exceeded my expectations by a mile.....it is literally the most breathtaking view I have yet seen here in YNP.....

 

.....unfortunately, the Uncle Tom Trail, which everyone we know says to hike, has been closed all summer for repairs.....I understand there are some 300 stairs that take you right down to the base of the falls.....we will have to return to do that hike in the future.....and we will.....

.....our next stop was the 'Brink of the Falls' entrance where you can hike down from the north rim to stand on a platform right next to the falls.......I wondered how many gallons of water are going over those falls every second.......

.......we managed to view Canyon Falls from every conceivable vantage point....we were literally able to drive into each parking area and secure a parking spot with no wait whatsoever.

Soon it was after 3 pm and time to begin the laborious trek back over the beautiful Dunraven Pass once again......it is only laborious as the traffic can be very unpredictable, even on an off season day such as September 27th.....we stopped near the top to get this pano shot looking southward......again, breathtaking......as you can see, there is still a lot of unmelted snow from our last storm.......

......on our way through Mammoth Hot Springs (a little after 4 pm now) we stopped off at the Yellowstone National Park Post Office to close out our P. O. Box, turn in our keys, and get our $18 deposit back......another sign that our time here is getting shorter!

We stopped off at the Gardiner Market for some minor provisions, and were home just before 5 pm.....another amazing day in Yellowstone National Park!  In fact, what a wonderful three day weekend we had!  I was in bed by 9:30 am in anticipation of getting up by 5:15 am....okay, I need a few hours to get myself going in the morning!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission.