The crowd and noise around me fade away. I feel like a child peering through a knothole in a cosmic fence at the creation of the world. Some of Moran's paintings and memorabilia can be found in the museum at Mammoth Hot Springs.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is one of the biggest canyons in the USA next to the Grand Canyon in Arizona and Hell's Canyon on the Idaho/Oregon border. It cuts across Yellowstone's landscape for about 20 miles and at 1,200 feet, it is one of the deepest canyons. The Yellowstone River runs through the Grand Canyon, and two waterfalls have been created from the Yellowstone River. The waterfalls are a gorgeous shade of emerald green from all of the minerals that go through the waters and canyons of Yellowstone. They are very powerful and high falls with the Lower Falls going down 308 feet, and the Upper Falls plunging 109 feet into the Canyon.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone has many paths to walk to and from it for all levels of difficulty, but are OK for beginners. The paths are very steep and can get slippery. My sister Erika fell down two times trying to get down the Canyon and skinned her knee pretty bad. She was so upset about falling, she stormed back up to our car in tears and waited in the car for Dad and I to finish the trip. Also if it has snowed or rained in Yellowstone, the roads leading to the Grand Canyon may be closed. So, call ahead to see if the Canyon roads are open before making the trip.

Our trip to the Grand Canyon and its scenery is one of my most fondest memories of our trip to Yellowstone.

As we watched in June 1990, a crowd gathered and we realized that a rescue was in progress on the opposite wall of the canyon. Two young men had decided they could climb down the slope, and indeed they made it to the bottom -- and almost back up again. But they were stalled short of the rim and park rangers were summoned. The rescue crew rappelled down from the rim and brought them out safely. We trust their fine was severe, for they put themselves and their rescuers at considerable risk.

Less risky, but still challenging, is a trail, far down the canyon wall to near the base of the falls. It's like walking up and down the Washington Monument. The stairs are endless. Try it only if you have lots of time and are in good condition. A sign at the top gives that warning. The view at the bottom makes it all worth while -- especially the rainbow we saw in the mist from the falls.

Back at the rim, a viewing platform at the edge of the falls allows a look nearly straight down at the huge free fall and the cloud of spray rising from the base.

There is however, a trail down to a viewpoint that gives a much closer view of the lower falls and provides a nice photographic opportunity. I enjoy the quiet of the trail down and back from the viewpoint enough that I am never in any rush so the difficulty of the climb back up from the viewpoint does not bother me. In fact, I recommend just walking down to the viewpoint and then do your looking around at other sights from the trail on your return. This should keep you pausing often enough to counteract the difficulty of the climb.

The trail is well maintained and getting down to the the viewpoint is a fairly easy downhill walk. The walk back from the viewpoint is quite strenuous and most people will find they need to rest a time or two to slow their heart rate before they get back up to the start of the trail.

Allow 1 to 1/2 hours to take advantage of this viewing opportunity and do not try it if you have any concerns about climbing back up from the viewpoint.

It is not accessible for wheelchairs.