Continuing on the Figure 8 Drive to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Picture taking at the Upper Falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Next stop on the Figure 8 double-loop drive through Yellowstone is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  Crowds are a little lighter than what you find at the Grand Canyon they have down in Arizona.

And here's the canyon.  With waterfall.  I believe this is the Lower Falls.  Or should that be "these are the Lower Falls."  Is falls plural?  Or are falls singular?  Water does fall more than once, although each droplet only falls once.

Grammar niceties are not the focus of this vacation.  Viewing at the viewpoints, however, is.

An unobstructed view:

This is toward the Artist Point viewing point.

General rule:  when a place in a national park is called "Artist" something, it's generally a very good viewing point.  Why else would the artist's hang there to get there picture of the place?  These national parks go back to the 19th Century when artists actually cared about beauty and presentation.  I would avoid anyplace called "Modern Artist's Point," or, worse yet, "Post-modern Artist's Point," but a straightforward "Artist's Point"?  I'm there.

Moving on, shall we?  To the Upper Falls.

Greener.

This is a view of the canyon sans waterfalls.

Now I was faced with a dilemma.  I've heard stories of a metal staircase called Uncle Tom's Stairs.  (The Uncle Tom was some guy named Tom who used to work at Yellowstone years ago.  There is no reference here to a Harriet Beecher Stowe novel or any characters found within.)  The stairs were perched on the side of a cliff.  Gaps in between the stairs.  There were like, 10,000 stairs down to the canyon floor to get a spectacular view of the falls.  So here was my dilemma.  Should I walk down the stairs?  YOLO, as the kids would say.  On the one hand, seeing as the stairs were perched on the side of a cliff, my irrational fear of heights (and my highly-rational fear of endangering my personal safety) would kick in.  On the other hand, climbing up and down 20,000 stairs would kill my legs for the rest of the trip -- rest of the year -- presuming I could even climb my way out and I would not need to be medivac-ed out of there.  So what to do?

Problem solved.  I so totally would have walked the stairs had they been open.

 Anyway, having been spared the ordeal -- I mean, denied the opportunity -- of walking down 40,000 stairs stapled to the side of a cliff, I got back in the car to drive to the next destination.  I was headed for the Mammoth Hot Springs area at the top of the Figure 8.  But there were sights to see en route.

I don't even know what this canyon area is called.  It even had a cool rock formation along the riverside.

This is a canyon that is grand, even if it is not THE Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

I don't even know what this place is called.

Yellowstone is filled with places like this.  Incredibly beautiful, but there are so many spots that are incredibly beautiful that you can't keep up with the names of all of them.