Started the morning in Gardiner, MT and drove through Mammoth to the Bunsen Peak Trail Head. Lots of people headed up, but we quickly diverged to go around the mountain to Osprey Falls. Great views of the distant mountains across fields, ponds, and various dead trees. The hike is mostly flat, then you quickly descend into a gorge. Osprey Falls is gorgeous, and we enjoyed our solitude while eating lunch. I got a good picture of a chipmunk & squirrel and a crazy burnt tree. We saw some grouse & mountain bluebirds, but no good pics. After leaving the parking lot we saw 1 person. 9+ miles and just one person!  In picture 12, the whole falls from a distance, Sue is sitting about 1/2 way up on the right - the tiny little dot.

On the way back to Gardiner we stopped and took some more pics of Mammoth Hot Springs in better light. Those springs are crazy, the water flow moves all the time, so they are never the same twice. The terraces shown in these pics started 5 years ago. Everything with color is new since then.

Then at Roosevelt Arch for the setting sun.

Dinner was on the Iron Horse Saloon's deck overlooking the Yellowstone River in Gardiner.

http://matthewmperry.zenfolio.com/yellowstone05/slideshow