July 10th: What's lurking behind the trees?

A cold night - even in the cabin but at 7 am the sun was already warming up the air. Breakfast this time was a banana nut muffin and mint thee, sitting on the stairs before the shop. At 9 am we started our 4 mile climb out - and lucky slow me: I saw an elk wandering over the road about 7m ahead of me. I even stopped an upcoming car, making sure neither the persons in the car nor the elk would get hurt. The top of the climb is called the Golden Gate - as the walls of the canyon are yellow. The steady uphill towards Norris (yesterday's ride reverse) went well but the bison were off wandering somewhere else. We ate lunch at a spot overlooking Norris basin. Further down the road we took the scenic one-way ride to see the Virginia cascades: a tough but short climb. I had all forgotten about that other climb along the main road, but I knew a screaming downhill into Canyon Village was coming up. Tent spot B 36 was our home for 2 nights. The visitor center about vulcanoes was very interesting and the displays were awesome. The geology explained there made everything more understandable. After dinner I wanted to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Lucky us - a man gave us a ride to the start of the North rim. It was very quiet there - it being late already. Sofie and I both started to walk faster - especially when we took the shortcut through the woods, which seemed to take forever. Instead of being chased by a bear we had to battle musquitoes. Not so fun. Sofie looks as if she has some disease with red spots on her body.