The next day, since we were staying in the Tower-Roosevelt area, we spent the day exploring Lamar Valley, which is appropriately known as America's Serengeti, because of its abundance of wildlife.
Later that day, as the rain poured, we hiked up Specimen Ridge and got some wonderful views of the canyon's lower reaches. Also here, a layer of basalt was present (had also seen this in other places in the park). This layer looked like hexagonal columns of stone. They were formed when a several foot layer of molten lava cooled quickly.
Looking below, we also saw ospreys sitting on their nests, as well as a family of mountain sheep. The osprey were observable through binoculars, but too far away to get a descent picture of.
This family of mountain sheep weren't all that concerned about us, but the mother did lead her lambs to the cliff in short order. It amazed us, watching these ungainly looking animals as they easily maneuvered what appeared to us, to be a completely unnavigable cliff face.
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