Grand Tetons Day 2 - Moose!

Our last day of exploring and we hadn't found a moose and the hikes we'd planned were closed, so we were not sure what we were going to do. We headed to Jenny lake to see about the boat ride across the lake. We stopped in the visitor center to find out that a moose had been spotted at Moose Pond (go figure!). We hiked that way and guess what we found, a moose! A female, so no big antlers but still very cool to see it. The moose was ignoring its crowd and eating and drinking at her leisure.

After a long look at the moose, we headed back to take the boat ride. It started to drizzle when we got to the boat. We waited a while and then broke out our ponchos to carry on regardless of whatever rain was coming down. We rode across lake Jenny to get over to the base of the mountains. We wandered a little ways down a path to see some rapids and decided that was enough in the slippery conditions. After a boat ride back across the lake it was time to part ways with the Campbells.

We made a detour down to check-out Jackson, WY. We wandered around and saw the antler arches in town square. We had a quick lunch at DQ and then headed out. We stayed the night in Lusk, WY.

Yellowstone Park Day 4 to Grand Tetons

We had a few last stops to make in Yellowstone before heading to Grand Tetons. We made a quick stop at Artists' Point to get the best view of the canyon and its waterfalls. Then saw more geothermal features at the Mud Volcano area - a good vat of bubbling mud and the Dragon's Mouth. We did a hike by Yellowstone lake on Pelican Creek Trail, letting the kids wade in the lake and throw rocks, of course. We had lunch at the Lake Lodge cafeteria and then skipped the West Thumb Geyser Basin (we'd seen enough geothermal features by then).

We drove out of Yellowstone and soon entered Grand Teton National Park. The mountains were gorgeous. We checked out the Colter Bay Village visitor center to learn that the hikes we'd planned for the next day were closed due to trail conditions. They also gave us a tip to go to Jackson Lake Lodge to try to spot wildlife in the Willow Flats area. We got into our cabin and found a note on the wall that said "mouse nest?". We went back to the office to ask for a new cabin and they were willing to move us, though they didn't want to move us down the road from where our original cabin was because there was a bear in the area - right then! We got keys to a different cabin, and then drove right to that end of the road and got a peak at the black bear as the rangers were shoo-ing it out of the area.

After settling into our mouse-free cabin, we got ready to head to the beach. What a beautiful location for a swimming beach! A crystal clear lake with majestic mountains in the background. The boys had a great time swimming and skipping rocks for a couple hours. Then we picked up pizza and headed to Jackson Lake Lodge to see if we could spot any wildlife. All that we saw were some elk way out in the distance, which was not very exciting as we'd seen so many elk up close in Yellowstone. We did a little more driving around after and found other groups of elk nearer to the road and saw some beavers swimming in a pond. Still no moose...

Yellowstone Park Day 3 - Mammoth, Hikes, Bison, Bear!

We started Day 3 a little later (about 9) as we knew we wanted to stay in the park until dusk to try to see wildlife. We stopped a short ways through the gates to hike to Boiling River, where a hot spring fed stream runs into the Gardner River. In some spots its really hot, in some spots its really cold, but there are some pockets that are just right. We just waded in a bit, the bottom was really rocky, so it was good to be in flip flops, but the current was enough that keeping them on was tricky.

Our next stop we'd driven by each day, but hadn't stopped yet - Mammoth Hot Springs. The terraces made by the hot springs are expansive and where the water is running over them they are a pretty coral color. At one spot an elk was laying down at the bottom of the terraces, he must have been hurt or something as this was a rare thing per the ranger there. We walked along the boardwalks for a while also finding a snake (I didn't look under the boardwalk for it) and a deer sitting by a tree. When we were done we made the drive around the upper terraces and some took a look at the view from on top of the terraces.

Brice had found a hike to suspension bridge in my hikes book and that was our next stop - Hellroaring Creek Trail. It was 600+ feet down over the 1 mile hike to the suspension bridge. The views were very pretty and the bridge itself was way safe (to my relief) and a cool thing to cross. The climb up was not so enjoyable and Gavin's drama made it extra long, but we made it with Wyatt, Jacob, Braden, and Cameron leading the way while the rest of dragged behind. I was so hot when we got done with the hike I just wanted to get the car moving to get it cooled off. Since I thought Kate & Brice knew where we were headed next, we took off. We were going to eat at the trailhead to Lost Creek Falls, which happened to be at Roosevelt Lodge, but that part the Campbells didn't know. So we were separated for about 30 minutes. Fred was none too happy with me at this point, but eventually the Campbells got the info from the Ranger Station and met us for lunch at Roosevelt Lodge and a few of us did the short hike to see the Lost Creek Falls - which were small but still pretty to see.

We had been told to look for peregrine falcon babies from one of the pullouts on the way to Tower Falls and we actually found them. Then we stopped at Tower Falls to see the tall thin falls and to get some ice cream before heading to Trout Lake trail for our next hike. This one was along the Lamar Valley road and around Trout lake. Some spots were a little iffy, but our parkour skills came in handy to get around the mud spots. The scenery here was very pretty with some mountains on a couple sides of us. At the end of the hike, Wyatt had another chance to use the toilet paper from our day packs.

We continued our drive through Lamar Valley, seeing many bison along the way, to Cooke City in hopes to spot a moose around there. On our way we spotted a bear walking through the woods. We decided from its color, shape, and the markings on the trees, that it was a grizzly - just ask Ranger Brice. We didn't find any moose, so we headed back towards home through the Lamar Valley once again - keeping an eye peeled for any more bear. We saw a fox and more bison - some chasing/being chased by a wolf and some crossing the roads.

Yellowstone Park Day 2 - Grand Prismatic & Old Faithful

We started off again about 7:10 in the morning, serving breakfast burritos to all before we headed out for the day with our picnic lunch packed. On our way to Lower Geyser Basin we took Firehole Canyon Drive to see Firehole falls. Quick little stop. A little ways down the road we say a herd of bison not too far off the road.

At Lower Geyser Basin we saw the Fountain Paint Pots and Clepsydra Geyser that erupts almost continuously. We then planned to stop at Midway Geyser Basin to see Grand Prismatic spring, but the line to turn into the parking lot was so far backed up that we didn't even know that was what they were turning into. So, we turned into park at Fairy Falls Trailhead and made the walk (~1 mile) to the Grand Prismatic overlook. This gave us a great view and we decided that there was no need to go to Midway Geyser Basin parking since we'd gotten such a good look at Grand Prismatic from the overlook.

We stopped at Biscuit Basin and laid out our blankets for a picnic lunch with a view of the steaming springs and Jewel Geyser erupting every 8 or 9 minutes. After lunch we hiked past the geothermal features at Biscuit Basin and down the path to find Mystic Falls. The boys took some time at the falls for a rock throwing contest (they were always wanting to throw rocks!). We then made a stop at Black Sand Basin to see a few more hot springs and Cliff Geyser that erupts every few minutes.

Our last stop of the day was Old Faithful. We got there about 30 minutes before it erupted. So we waited on the boardwalk for the show. It was estimated to erupt at 3:11 and started at about 3:14. I expected more from Old Faithful, but it was fun to see her. Gavin, Owen and Wyatt were working on their Junior Ranger booklet and needed to get in a Ranger talk, so we joined one about all the baby animals in Yellowstone which was given to us by a ranger who had grown up at Old Faithful. We'd walked enough and seen enough already, that we didn't even walk around to see any of the  geysers at the upper geyser basin by Old Faithful. The boys instead played a little football toss game in the parking lot while waiting for our Old Faithful Inn reservations for supper. We actually got in about a half hour early, so that was good and it was fun to see the big old inn. Quite something.

Yellowstone Park Day 1 - Canyon & Falls

We started out our morning by leaving the house about 7:15, pretty good for getting 11 people up, fed, and out with all the stuff they'd need for the day.

We entered Yellowstone's Northern entrance and drove to Udine falls on our way to Canyon Village (via Tower-Roosevelt). After a brief look at the falls we continued on. We spotted some bison on our way to Canyon Village. When we got to the Canyon Village Visitor Center we went in to see the exhibits on Yellowstone's super volcano and watch the movie.

Next we headed to the Brink of the Lower Falls trail. It made me a bit nervous with the steep drop offs next to the trail and then Brice decided to encourage Jacob to go off the trail with him and slide down a slop a bit to make their own shortcut. All survived the up and down of this hike and the view from the top of the falls was nice, but I liked the view from the bottom of the Red Rock Trail better, which we did next and had a similar elevation - go down a bunch and then have to climb back up.

After those two hikes we were ready for lunch and found a cafeteria back at Canyon Village. Then it was off to hike the Brink of the Upper Falls. Again it was at the brink of the falls, so it's hard to see the falls, but the view of the canyon was still pretty. We then found the entrance to the "Secret Hike" to Little Gibbon Falls and ventured through wildflower fields and woods that were very buggy to find the falls.

Then we headed to Norris Geyser Basin to check out some geothermal features - springs, fumaroles, and geysers. We saw some of Steamboat's minor eruptions, which I thought was fun and Gavin took as torture (as the Campbell boys stayed back at the info center there).

Our last stop for the day was Gibbon Falls, we could have seen this another day, but we were following an itinerary we'd purchased and didn't quite put that together.  We headed back to the house for tacos and chill time.

National Parks with the Campbells (Part 1)

We started off our grand adventure on Saturday morning. Jacob was supposed to have a baseball tournament game and we went to that, but the other team didn't show up. So we got an earlier start than we hoped. We drove to Dickinson, ND getting there shortly after the Campbells. We hit Pizza Ranch and the pool that night.

The next morning we headed a few miles west to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Stopping at the Painted Canyon Visitor center for pretty views and info before heading into the park's South Unit - stopping in there to check out the cabin Teddy Roosevelt lived in for a while. We hiked Big Plateau from Peaceful Valley Ranch. On this trail we got to cross a shallow river and see a herd of bison & pronghorn. Towards the end of our hike, Wyatt had is first opportunity to use the toilet paper we'd packed in the day packs and it wouldn't be the last...

We also explored Wind Canyon Trail (more bison and pretty views), Buck Hill Trail (2nd highest peak in the park), and Old East Entrance Trail (saw a wild horse and the original entrance building). Since Kate and Quinn skipped the last hike, the other 9 of us crammed in the van and ended up singing the whole 99 bottles of milk on the wall song on the way back to the visitor center.

We stayed a night in Billings, MT before heading to Gardiner where we would be staying for 4 nights. Before checking into the house, we went white water rafting. Such a fun adventure! Then we checked into the house, got settled, did some grocery shopping, and had supper.