We started out mid-morning heading toward the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Our first stop, however, was the Artists’ Paintpots, bubbling pots of splattering mud.

We walked a one-mile loop that was partly on a boardwalk and partly on dirt and gravel with steps.

This was a good stop because the bubbling pots were different from the geysers we saw yesterday. The summer heat causes the liquid in the pots to be thicker and the bubbling is caused by carbon dioxide gas, not heat.

Our trail climbed up to give us an overall view of the area. Scalded earth.

Then we came back down from the overlook.

Another bubbling geyser.

Blood Geyser is so named because it contains much iron oxide and stains the rocks red. This one has been erupting since at least 1882 and can go up to six feet tall while discharging 150 gallons per minute.

Next stop was Artist Point, one of the most photographed views of the Grand Canyon in Yellowstone. Here, the Yellowstone River drops 300 feet over the Lower Falls.

Here’s another photo from 2010 when we were hiking a little closer to the falls.

There are several hikes that either go near the Upper Falls or the Lower Falls but we decided we did not have time to do one today. This map provided some guidance as to the location of trails. If we’d had one more day at the end of the trip, we would have come back here for some hiking.

This photo of the canyon walls at Artist Point shows how Yellowstone derived its name.

We leave here and venture on to the Wapiti picnic area for lunch.

After lunch we wanted to seek out wildlife so we drove south from Canyon Junction into the Hayden Valley area and were rewarded with the sighting of several cars stopped along the road which could only mean one thing – bison.

They were across the Yellowstone River from us and we had to walk through sage brush to get close enough for a photo.

These ladies were probably way too close.

After an hour or so of watching, we continue south and make a few more stops to check out thermal features including the incredibly smelly Sulphur Cauldron. We did not linger here. This pool has a pH nearly that of battery acid.

We also noticed that the hillside was incredibly bumpy and lumpy. A sign indicated that this was due to volcanic lava pushing up from below.

We continued south until we reached Fishing Bridge and crossed the Yellowstone River there to stop at a General Store. These souvenir stores were always located near a Visitor’s Center. Without much trouble we managed to find ice cream and then headed back north and out of the park for the night.

Along the way we saw a couple of Mule Deer.

Dinner tonight was from the Red Lotus in West Yellowstone. The lemon chicken was good and so were the egg rolls but otherwise we thought most items were a little light on vegetables.

When we were in the park in 2010, we stayed a couple of nights at the Yellowstone Lodge along Lake Yellowstone which was just south of Fishing Bridge.

From here, we had a great view of the lake as well as the Tetons.