North Rim of Grand Canyon
Even if Yellowstone didn't have the unique geothermal features, the beauty of the Grand Canyon
of the Yellowstone would still qualify this area for National Park status. There are two falls - the Upper and Lower on the Yellowstone
River. It is easy to spend an entire day in this area if you do most the hikes along the rims, which is what we did. Also, they had good ice
cream at the Canyon Lodge, why wouldn't we want to stay all day and explore? The canyon is spectacular in color, much nicer than shown here by my point-n-click camera with 400 speed film. I should
have used slower speed film to pick up more of colors. We had a bright sunny day, perfect weather. Sulphur in the rocks seeps out and causes
the yellow color (thus the name: Yellow stone). Here is the view from Inspiration Point, your first stop along the North Rim (the road along the North Rim is one way). Next stop is Grandview point. The first view of the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone is from Lookout Point. There is a short but steep trail that leads
from Lookout Point to Red Rock. In the first picture below, you can see the Lower Falls, and in the lower portion of the photo, you can see
the platform that is the Red Rock lookout. The picture of Melanie and I is taken from the Red Rock platform, and so are the next two
photos of the Lower Falls - the hike down to Red Rock is worth the view! (It's not that steep) The Brink of the Lower Falls was closed for repair, so we could not get to that observation point. The Brink of
the Upper Falls allows you to look down from the top of the falls. We left our car at the Upper Falls parking lot, and walked the rest of the way around the Canyon. It is about a half mile
walk along the Yellowstone River to the bridge where you cross over and then walk back along the South Rim. This is a picture of the Yellowstone
River just above the Upper Falls. 
