Wednesday, June 10th – Yellowstone National Park – Upper Falls [Day 7]

I had a few books I was using to help me select activities to pursue at Yellowstone. One book mentioned a short and level hike that would take us to the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River. Getting there is a direct route out of the Yellowstone Lake area, through the Hayden Valley, and with a trailhead just south of the Canyon Area.

Hayden Valley is beautiful and contains lots of wildlife. It is easy to see buffalo here, as well as an elk or mule deer. The Yellowstone River flows out of Yellowstone Lake north through the Hayden Valley.

Following the instructions we looked to park near the trailhead but the parking lot was roped off to be repaved. We ended up parking on the road but was able to pull well off. The trail we took north towards the Upper Falls was actually an old road, the original road that used to take visitors via stagecoach to see the sights. We made it quickly to the Upper Falls and enjoyed the view.

Further expanding our dinner possibilities, we headed to the Lake Lodge’s dining room which is pretty much a cafeteria. The Lake Lodge is a beautiful building with a large front porch allowing for guests to sit and ponder the spectacular Yellowstone Lake. The food was good. I was beginning to feel guilty about not preparing dinner myself back at camp. It is hard to look yourself in the mirror and attempt to convince yourself you are “camping” when your dinner meal isn’t coming off a campfire or Coleman stove.