Last day at Yellowstone

Aug. 23: Today Jan and I went back to the canyon area for a morning hike. Since we have to travel through the buffalo area, we were expecting delays. Luckily, we only saw a few older buffaloes resting around the area. Further up the road we saw folks standing on the side of the road looking far into the distance. So not to miss anything we pulled off into a pull-off to see what was happening. Our first sighting was a wolf and a couple of pups. There was also, we learned, a female grizzly and 3 cubs in the same area that caused some confusion as to which one was seen. Sadly, the distance from them was too far for a picture. Then about a ¼ mile on down the road we watched a grizzly walk back into the woods. From there we went on to the canyon. When we first viewed the lower falls the sun created a beautiful rainbow at its base. This was spectacular. Proceeding on to the trail, we were greeted with more wonderful views of the canyon and the falls. This trail followed the canyon back to the bridge above the upper falls then across the road to a grass covered knoll that over looked the Hayden Valley. At that point we met a group of hikers from Missouri that we had met at the falls. They had chosen to go the reverse of the trail, as we talked we began being peppered with sleet. Hardly a common occurrence back home at this time of the year. We started out our hike with the temperature around 45 and a brisk breeze. I had to keep checking the date on my watch to believe that today was Aug. 23. The trail climbed into an area full of hot mud pits then on back to the canyon. This was one of the most diverse trails we have ever done.
Aug.24: This will be our last morning in Yellowstone. I entered this park with a a lot of skepticism, and now we leave it with at least a tremendous respect. The diversity is so overwhelming. First animals, almost any wild animal that inhabits the mountain west is here. Scenery, rivers everywhere beautiful fast flowing and placid streams. Mountains and plains, trees and meadows all magnificent. Of course the geological uniqueness, with geysers and smelly muddy steam popping through the soil almost anywhere you go. Rocks that I had never seen except in science class (a few years ago). It is all here. God put it all in one place for all to enjoy. We left Yellowstone after an early morning outing to see if any animals had come back to a carcass of a buffalo (no I did not shoot him). The carcass had been down for 3 or more days and was pretty well picked clean. No matter. For the first time in days we had an early morning fog. It really hampered our visibility. We (Steve, Anne, Jan and I) went back to the café for breakfast before Jan and I left a day early for the Tetons. The drive was beautiful and was very nice for our final day in Yellowstone. As we arrived in the Colter Bay RV park the man who signed us in was from Whitwell, TN about 70 miles from Cookeville. He told us there was a celebrity in the park. Of course we had to find out. It ended up being Elle MacPherson, the former supermodel. Wow what a beautiful RV. We did get to see her a couple of times in the market and at her RV before she left.
Jan and I decided to do a ride around to see an overview of the area. There some beautiful places around here.