The next morning I got up, made coffee, packed up my campsite and went to the brink of the Lower Falls. It was a 600 foot drop in elevation and more than a dozen switchbacks down to the brink. Well worth the slog back up for the beautiful misty morning views. There was an older gentleman taking a selfie using ancient flip phone with lots of tape holding it together.
A few of the trails I wanted to check out were closed, but in the end it was a good thing as I hiked up Mount Washburn which was a 1400 foot elevation gain over 3 miles. Normally that would be a good workout, though not too hard, but when the starting elevation was 8800 feet it was definitely challenging! My efforts were rewarded along the way by seeing bears in the distance and in the bushes along the trail as well as deer up very close. Beautiful views at the top, though still obscured slightly by smoky haze from the fires in Idaho. After I got down I took it easy, ate my lunch and read for a while (currently reading a book called American Pop about a fictional southern family that had a soda empire, great read!) then checked out the mud pots area.
As I headed out of Yellowstone there was an enormous elk grazing at the side of the road, completely ignoring the paparazzi nearby snapping pictures and taking video. His rack was incredible! I did one final hike before leaving the park out to Natural Bridge, a lovely level walk through the forest to a beautiful natural stone bridge. Then it was on the road for the final leg back to Jackson. Got to drive through Grand Teton Park as the storm clouds gathered, made for very dramatic vista.
