Tower Junction
Yellowstone NP North - Wyoming
Tower Junction is the intersection of the Grand Loop Road and the North East Entrance Road. There is a little infrastructure here like a campground and the Roosevelt Lodge where you can stay overnight.
The reason we kept coming back to Tower Junction is because of the black bears that are here in about a 10mi radius. Of course there are bears in many parts of the park, but there is no place where we have seen nearly as many bears as here.
Tower Fall
Description: Tower Fall is a waterfall on Tower Creek just before it flows into the Yellowstone River. It is 131ft high. It was named by Samuel T. Hauser. It got its name because of the stone pillars next to the waterfall.
You can also hike down a bit, but unfortunately you can't get any closer to the waterfall from the trail. After a rockfall and landslide, the last trail to the base of Tower Fall has been closed for more than 10 years. The best view of the waterfall is from the upper platform.
Our rating: Not a must see, but a nice stop on the drive through Yellowstone NP. We hiked down in 1994 on our first visit. Unfortunately, there are no more usable photos of it. It ist unknown if the trail can be hiked again. The view from the top is quite sufficient, because from here you can see the distinctive turrets and the entire waterfall.
Black bears around Tower Junction
Description: By the length of the traffic jams that form in the park, you can usually tell which animal is probably nearby. Bears can usually be seen when the traffic jam gets really heavy and the cars crisscross and stop on the road. Of course, this is forbidden, because this way there are always traffic jams, which then stop everyone. At the hotspots are sometimes also rangers present, in order to steer the people into regulated courses. At the beginning I always thought the rangers are there to protect the people from the bears, but meanwhile I think it is the other way around. Especially during bear sightings, some people get completely out of control.
Our rating: In our opinion, the bears are one of the best features in Yellowstone NP. Being able to observe a bear in the wild is just a great experience. Below are a few of the bears we were able to observe during our visit. We approached the bears up to max. 328ft. The photos are almost all taken with a zoom (400mm), some enlarged with digital zoom.
