We camped in Yellowstone Park last night and I got up early for a run. The temp was in the lower 30s to start and calm. The sun came up and warmed things into the upper 40s by the time I finished the run. Very nice. I ran to fishing bridge and back which ended up being 10 miles. The elevation is close to 8,000 ft but I didn't notice it much. Maybe a little on the uphills. Average pace was 8:18. During the day we did quite a bit of hiking. Some of them had quite a bit of elevation change. One of them started at the rim of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon and descended 75% of the way to the bottom of the canyon to a viewpoint below the crest of Lower Yellowstone Falls. Gorgeous view. The last half descends down steep enough cliffs that they have an iron stairway. My son and I ran down the very steep steps. On our way back up we started to take the steps quickly taking 2 at a time. This was fine for a while but my quads and butt started to burn like crazy and I was soon reduced to a quick walk taking every step. It was quite a workout. We stopped for lunch at a picnic area that we had all to ourselves. After we finished lunch and started back down the short road to the highway there was a Grizzly feeding along the edge of the road. We turned the car around and filmed him out the car window at anywhere from 15 to 35 yards as he made his way along the side of the road and right back past where we had just finished eating. Really cool! We saw 2 more Black Bears later that day. One of them had 2 cubs.
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