Yellowstone Day 3
Once again we head back to Yellowstone, thru the northwest entrance climbing up Dunraven Pass (8859 Ft) First stop of the day is the Upper & Lower Falls, parking is very hard to come by and with an RV it is even harder, we end up parking on the side of the road at a very steep angle. The Upper & Lower Falls contain lots of overlooks and lots of walking up & down steep switchbacks. The Yellowstone River here is a mighty powerful, beautiful emerald green, water spills down the falls.
The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is gorgeous – steep cliffs, white and orange colors from the steam vents in places. From the falls we head down to Fishing Bridge – very scenic along the river with foliage starting to change to yellow and red. We made stops at Sulphur Caldron and Mud Volcano both are spectacular and very reminiscent of Rotorua thermal area – steam vents, boiling water, bubbling mud. The mud volcano boardwalk takes us pass Black Dragon’s Cauldron, Sour Lake, Mud Caldron and Dragon’s Mouth Spring.
After a very long day, it’s time to leave and find a place to stay for the night, we head out the West Entrance along 20 for 10 miles then make a scary turn off the highway onto 057 Forest Rd. The first part is not bad, a gravel road but a steep incline, then things get worse it turns into a narrow, rutted road but we continue on. After traveling a mile down the road straddling the ruts, we come around a corner to discover a partially downed tree blocking the road. We hop out, and after assessing the situation decide to push on anyway, after removing as many of the branches blocking the road, I quickly drive under the tree with only a little scraping on the roof. The road goes on for another 2 miles to the campsites by the river but we take the first one we come to a little way down. Pushed our luck enough for one day.