Back to Yellowstone... I finished walking around the Norriss Geyser Basin, and I was sad to read that one particular geyser called "The Minute Geyser" used to go off every 60 seconds, but because people are awfully destructive, and threw rocks and dirt into the geyser, it has become clogged and only erupts every 5 or so minutes now. I didn't know this when I hung out by the amazingly blue and yellow pool. I was probably there for about 3 or 4 minutes before continuing on, just my luck.
After all of that I headed north to Mammoth Hot Springs, which was the way I came into the park earlier. Those springs were pretty cool. It looked like a cliff made of white sand. There was a plateau at the top of the hill, that was just covered with hot springs, and red and orange waterfalls bubbling down the white cliffside. It was so Alien looking! Steam Everywhere. It was incredibly hot. I walked the boardwalk around the springs, and was just amazed at how close I was to scalding water.
There were also these amazing ginormous Dandelions growing, and I wanted to pick one more than anything, but they were just out of reach. I wanted to lean over and grab one, but I could picture myself tumbling over the rail and sliding down the hill into the sulfur water, leaving with 3rd degree burns, just to make a wish that my trip turned out well. I let my mind wander around a lot, day dreaming. Anyway, I walked around in amazement and in frustration with the ridiculously slow and unhappy people around me. After I toured the hot springs I drove up to the gift shop to get some change for my campground. It was soooo busy, so I went to the restaurant and ordered a salad for $4. I overpaid. It was very little iceberg lettuce with one slice of cucumber, doused in ranch dressing. Oh Well. I was just bummed that I was trying to be healthy, when french fries were only $2 and they came in a heaping serving. I ate the salad regardless, got my change and headed towards Canyon Village. The drive was gorgeous, just never ending natural beauty. I was okay driving slow with all the traffic, there was just so much to look at. Mountains, after cliffs, after rolling hills, after plains, and forests. I didn't bother pulling over at any of the .2 or .3 mile hikes because there was no parking anyway. However, I did drive to the petrified tree. I pulled down the road surrounded by meadows, and when I arrived at the parking lot, it was of course full. I backed my little car into a tiny space on the side of the road. There were so many people, and I could see the tree from my car. To be honest it looked really boring, like a stump, that hmmm... let's see, was petrified. I was about to just get back in my car and leave when I saw this guy pointing into the trees. There was a brown bear, with 2 cinnamon colored black bear babies. The mom was leading her cubs down the trail, that was relatively close to us, but headed in the opposite direction. Everyone was scrambling for their cameras and I , with my shitty Iphone was clicking away. I got a few pictures, but I mostly just watched the little bears tumble there way down the steep mountain side. They were adorable. I was pretty excited that my first bear sighting was not 1, but 3 bears, and I was surrounded by a dozen of extremely loud people. After the bears gathered behind a bush, out of sight from the onlooking tourists, I got back in my car and headed for Canyon Village. About 5 minutes later I came to another stop. A guy had parked his car in the middle of the road. He was pointing out his window, and I followed his sign towards yet another bear! I didn't even bother with pictures, but I watched the bear forage for food, until we had a little bear jam behind and drove on. Just around the bend, another bear jam! This time there were at least 40 cars stopped in both directions. Everyone had just parked their cars in the road, and had gotten out of their cars to take pictures, even though in every newspaper, and brochure it said not to stop or get out of your vehicle. I pulled over, instead of leaving my car in the middle of the lane, and walked up to see what was going on. In a huge meadow on top of a rock was a baby bear, and then a mama bear smelling flowers. Fully aware that these bears can run 10 times faster than me if they wanted to, and all of the people that could potentially piss them off, I went back to my car, pulled back into traffic and waited for my turn to be up close and personal, behind the shell of my little yaris. I got a few pictures, but mostly just stared, and took a video. 
It took me almost an hour to get out of that traffic. Some people were getting very angry, threatening to run people over, but I was perfectly content watching the bears in safety. That made 6 bears in like 10 minutes. When I finally got through, I was so close to Canyon Village. I was listening to Cassadaga that was giving me permanent chills.
I found the turnout for Lower Falls, which is the largest waterfall in Yellowstone. There was a 3/8ths of a mile hike down to the crest of the falls and I saw quite a few families say "oh this is a long one, maybe we should skip it" Ridiculous. I walked down there, and it could have very well been the most amazing thing I have ever seen!
Although it was a short hike it descended 600 feet in no time, and I thought about hiking up to Avalanche Lake and how it was only a 500 foot ascent over about 40 minutes. I was a little nervous about the trek back up, but this was really my only hike in Yellowstone. The closer I got to the falls the louder the water, I could see the river flowing swiftly, but couldn't see the falls yet. As soon as I got to the crest I was in awe. The water was so clear, yet this lime green jello color. It was rushing so fast, and not only did the color resemble jello, but as it cascaded over the falls it resembled jello as well. I stood there at the corner of the falls, just mesmerized by the water. It looked so peaceful, but so chaotic at the same time. Huge fold of jello careening over the edge, while billions of other molecules of water flailed and scattered, looking terrified as the plummeted, not being able to congeal peacefully. Near the edges of the waterfall, gallons of water were caught on rocks shooting into the air as if they were struggling to not fall over the edge, which they quickly did. It was intense to say the least. This was just the beginning of the fall, that I couldn't peel my eyes away from. If you looked towards the bottom of the falls, the water was smashing into the lower canyon river, it was disastrous. Broken green jello, turned into an immense amount of white water rushing through the yellow and orange canyon walls. I think this was the highlight of my day, and of yellowstone. I hung out for a while wanting to collect a few purple flowers hanging over the edge of the waterfall, but imaging falling over the rail, and having the hundreds of tourists, videotaping me fall instead of helping me back to safety. So I left the flowers and hiked back up the 600 feet. I couldn't knock the smile off of my face. Others were huffing and puffing up the switchbacks, but I made it to my car in less than 10 minutes. It took me less time to walk up than it did to get down. I don't know if I was just preoccupied by the beauty of what I had just seen, or if it was easy because I had expected the climb to be really difficult, but either way, it was a breeze. I left the lower falls parking lot and drove to another "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone" overlook, and it was beautiful, but nothing compared to what I had just seen.
I headed back to my camp listening to Lime Trees (My favorite song of all time) over and over again. I saw a few bison, they were huge! 
I got back to camp and wanted a hot meal sooooo bad! I tried to start a fire, which I only accomplished for a measly 10 mins. Just long enough to heat up a pot of beans, kind of. It wasn't satisfying at all. I expended much more energy than I consumed. I was getting a little grouchy, from a lack of filling hot food. I thought about how much longer I wanted to spend in the park, and I decided the only thing I still wanted to see was Old Faithful, which I could stop at on my way to The Grand Tetons tomorrow. So I read a little, and mentally prepared myself for tomorrow, very excited to camp at a free campground, and fell asleep. 
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