It was 36 degrees when we got up this morning. We left the campground at about 7:40 AM. We thought about leaving earlier, but this turned out to be a good time because there was a bit of fog and it was starting to clear as we entered the park. In an attempt to avoid the holiday weekend crowds we decided to head for the Lamar Valley which is in the Northeast corner of the park (about 72 miles or a 2 hour drive).
There wasn’t very much traffic at this time of the morning and the traffic that we did encounter all turned in the direction of Old Faithful (which we purposely chose to avoid on the holiday weekend) when we reached the Grand Loop road at Madison Junction. Shortly after we turned onto the Grand Loop road we encountered a huge bull Elk and stopped to watch it cross the road. This made our day a complete success and it had barely started.
Bull Elk 
Bull Elk
From there we followed the Grand Loop road which climbs to nearly 9,000 feet in a spot near Mount Washburn. We had been considering hiking one of the two trails to the ranger station at the top of Mount Washburn and we passed both trailheads. At the road to the entrance to the second trailhead (Chittenden Road Trailhead) I decided to drive up to the parking lot and investigate. The grade of the trail from the parking lot looked pretty daunting (especially considering it starts at 8,800 feet and climbs 1,400 feet within 2.8 miles) so we were immediately concerned about ever being able to hike it. We decided to conduct a quick test and hike up the trail a bit to see how hard it was. The first several hundred yards were very steep, but the grade got better after that. Even on the easier grade we had to stop every 200 or 300 yards to catch our breath. We hiked up 1/2 mile and then went back. We think we can do it, but it will take some time since we’ll have to stop regularly to breath. We haven’t decided whether or not to give it a try later this week. We’ll see.
View from Chittenden Trail in Route to Mount Washington
From there we headed on to the Lamar Valley. The Lamar Valley is famous for its beauty and considered one of the best locations for animal encounters. It was definitely one of the most beautiful places we have ever been. Our pictures don’t do it justice. We saw many, many Buffalo, some Pronghorns, and a Fox.
Buffalo in Lamar Valley 
Lamar Valley
After Lamar Valley we stopped at a picnic area along Soda Butte Creek and ate the lunch Beth packed for us. What a great place to eat lunch.
Lunch at Soda Butte Creek 
View from Lunch
We left the picnic area and headed further up the Northeast Entrance road until we crossed the border leaving Wyoming back into Montana. Shortly after that we turned around and headed back. On the return we stopped at a scenic pullout next to Barronette Peak and spotted a couple of Mountain Goats grazing on the rocky mountainside.
Barronette Peak 
Mountain Goat (Zoom)
On the way back we stopped off at Tower Fall and walked the 150 yards from the parking lot to the viewing area. Once again, this picture doesn’t do it justice. We had a great first day in Yellowstone and are looking forward to the next one.
Tower Fall