Yellowstone Canyon

July 5, hiking along Yellowstone Canyon

Beautiful hike! We started from Chittenden Bridge and walked along the Yellowstone River to Point Sublime, 5 miles away approx. The path, relatively flat, follows the edge of the canyon. The river plunges after Upper Falls and Lower Falls, in a narrow, deep and colorful canyon. Apart Uncle Tom's Trail and Artist Point, highly accessible from the tourist route, the trail is very quiet and offers a series of extraordinary views of the canyon and the river.

We return to Chittenden Bridge following Clear Lake trail, which takes us into new landscapes of forests, volcanic areas and large meadows covered with flowers.

We then take the road to Butte Lake, on the eastern shore of Lake Yellowstone. The sky is gray now. This Monday, July 5th is a holiday. Any wild animal seen at the roadside is the pretext for endless traffic jams caused by visitors who do not hesitate to stop on the way down to take pictures. The result: a plug of a kilometer or two for each bear spotted near the road. As soon as the park authorities are alerted to the presence of a plantigrade, a ranger was dispatched on site with the mission of circulating vehicles and to prohibit visitors from approaching the fearless beast. In any case, the wild animal is usually returned to the forest for a long time when the poor victims of the traffic jam eventually arrive on the scene!

The trees at Butte Lake were victims of past fires. They are only the skeletons of dead wood. On the way back, we see many bison and even a brown bear.

The evening is even cooler than the day before, but fortunately the rain waits that we lie in the tent before to begin to fall.

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