Day 47

Date:  Friday August 21, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: Grant Village Campground

Distance to drive: 78 miles (round trip)

Hours to drive: 2

Destination: the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River

Planned activities: a few hikes down the Canyon to see the Upper and Lower Falls from different vantage points (neither hike is recommended for people with heart lung or other health conditions)

Quote of the day: “A hiking we will go! A hiking we will go! There’s lots to see when you hike with me! A hiking we will go!” (That’s right we were singing and supposedly this is the version on Daniel Tiger)

Today my girls were rock stars.  We hiked down to the brink of the lower falls, a steep trail, with switchbacks, which descends 600 feet over the course of 3/8 of a mile.  There we were at the top of the falls that we could see the water plummeting 308 feet into the river below.  After checking out the two water falls from a couple of look out points and traveling along the rim of the canyon by truck we took Uncle Tom’s Trail to see the Lower Falls from part way down on the opposite side of the canyon.  This trail consists of steep paths and 328 stairs that go down the side of the canyon.  I now know that neither of my kids of issues with height, but there were moments on the way down where I was definitely outside of my comfort zone.  Most people were impressed to see my two girls going up and down these trails on their own.  We spent some time singing and observing our surroundings to keep their minds off the effort they had to exert, but they managed both trails with little difficulty and very few complaints.