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Day 80 - Yellowstone Canyon and Tower

Our day began with a long easterly drive through Yellowstone park, past a herd of Bison in the river, past the geyser basins and to Canyon. We had an evening reservation for a stagecoach ride through the sagebrush and a cowboy cookout with all the fixins but no camping reservations, so we drove to a first come first serve campsite in Tower, near the stagecoach ride, while calling for a reservation at a campsite south near Yellowstone lake. Yellowstone has 2000 campsites but we ended up with one of only three left, calming our homeless fears. 

We then toured the Canyon area, site of the immensely colorful Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and her two waterfalls. The view from Artist Point was almost spiritual-- your soul was lifted by the calm coloring and elegant 300 foot waterfall beyond. Just lovely. Lanny, Landon and I then hiked down Uncle Toms trail to a powerful view of the large falls, then the full group hiked to the rainbow-filled brink at the top of the smaller falls. A final stop at Inspiration point ended our fun tour of this small but great canyon, a bonus to any Yellowstone trip. 




Steve had talked about the stagecoach ride through the sagebrush and cowboy cookout with all the fixins so much that my expectations were frankly low, since I'm not one for touristy things. But the ride and cookout were fantastic. The setting of the Lamar Valley, the powerful horses charging through Bison herds on the wagon trail, the great western singer setting the cowboy mood and the juicy steaks made for the most enjoyable evening. Afterwards, as the sun was setting, we drove south to our campsite, set up our tents and went to sleep, satisfied. 




 

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