Yellowstone - Day Ten

 `Trail ride day. I am very afraid of horses, but our kids begged us to do a trail ride while we were here. I felt like it wasn’t that unreasonable of a request, so today was the day. 

    We drove down to Teton Village this morning, and of course took Moose Wilson Road to see if we could spot any wildlife. There were tons of people there when we pulled off, and there was a moose and a black bear out today! We never could get great views of the bear as he was in the bushes eating huckleberries, but it was still fun to catch glimpses of him through the woods. 

    We arrived at our trail ride a little early and had a picnic lunch before we got on board. Kade was very nervous and almost decided that he wasn’t going to trail ride after all. All the other kids were gung ho and couldn’t wait to ride. I was a little nervous for Elijah to be riding alone, but he insisted he was ready for such things. I kept teasing the kids about how scared I was, and that I hoped they would give me a pony. They laughed at all my mom jokes, as I got on a full sized horse…unfortunately. We all got lined up with our guide and after a very brief lesson on how to ride and drive a horse, we headed West.

     Our first leg of the journey took us through a pasture with a creek running through it. It had beautiful views of the Tetons and the flat ground and nice horses made everyone a little more comfortable. We found that our horses had similar personalities as their riders. Rylie’s just wanted to stop and snack all the time, Zack’s was a stubborn hose, and Kade’s had constant gas…. We had a lot of laughs over these characteristics. The kids were so cute. They loved this ride so much. Their giggles of delight made my two hour horse ride worth it. My horse wanted to jump, trot and pass all the other horses in line. They should have given me a pony! After our pasture ride, our trail continued up into the mountains for a woodsy journey that was a little more challenging and fun. The kids just loved it. Turns out our guide was a homeschooled kid from Arkansas that has a mutual friend! Crazy how things happen sometimes.

          After our ride came to an end, we went over to Teton Village and spent some time there before coming back to our camper for dinner. We were sitting outside eating at our picnic table when we noticed other campers pointing and taking pictures right down the road. Elijah ran down to see what they were seeing which we figured was just a deer or an elk. He came running back and sat down to finish his taco. We asked him what it was and he nonchalantly said, “Oh, just a few bears…” He said it so casually that we thought he was teasing. He insisted that he was not teasing and that it was a momma and three cubs. We jumped up leaving our tacos on the table, grabbed our cameras and ran down the street. Sure enough, there was a momma and three little cubs walking through the campground! This time we got excellent photos and videos of these adorable black bears. It was so exciting. We were able to watch them for about 20 minutes before they headed back into the woods. We were glad they didn’t end up at our picnic table eating our leftovers! After dinner, we went souvenir shopping and made cookies and played games. We have to check out in the morning and we don’t know where we’re headed, but I guess we’ll figure it out tomorrow.

 

Yellowstone - Day Nine

    What an incredible day today! We took it kind of slow when we woke up this morning and headed out for the day around 9:30. The plan was to hike Hidden Falls/Cascade Canyon. 

    We drove down to Jenny Lake to catch the ferry boat across the lake to cut off 4 miles of hiking. We were not prepared for the crowds there. There were people everywhere! We had to park on the highway because the parking lots and the road down to the parking lots were full. So, we hiked a little further than we intended after all. The line to the ferry boat wasn’t too bad, and we had to wait about 15 minutes. The ride across the lake is always fun, and the views are beautiful. 

    The trail was very busy today, but still really nice. It is a beautiful mountain trail with pines and a river and lovely wooden bridges. We even had a mule deer cross the trail in front of us. The falls were flowing nicely, and we stopped there to eat our lunch. The boys are really into bouldering and spent a while climbing the rocks below the falls. Zack climbed over halfway up on the rocks and scared us a bit when he tried to cross the falls. After playing there a little longer, we headed on up the mountain to Inspiration Point. It is an overlook almost 8,000 feet in elevation and was quite a climb to get there. I had heard it was a moderate hike, but I think it might be rated a bit higher than that as you are climbing switchbacks all the way to the top. Part way up the kids were whining and a couple coming down said to them, “But don’t you want to see the moose?” They told us that on into Cascade Canyon was a bull moose by the trail! We had no idea one would be this high! That gave the kids the energy they needed to keep going, and we hurriedly went on past the Point to look for the moose. We were quite thankful that he was still there when we got there just hiding out in the woods right off the trail. We were able to get some good photos, and the kids really enjoyed seeing him. While we were looking at the moose, some other people told us that they had seen black bear on up the trail, so we took off again at a fast rate as we have yet to see any bears on this trip. 

    We never saw any bears but the views of Cascade Canyon cannot be topped! It was breathtaking! I would hike up the side of that mountain over and over just to see it. It literally took your breath away. The air is very smoky because of wildfires, so the views are not what they could be, and still it was truly amazing! The aspens are starting to turn yellow, and backdropped with the green pines and the mountains on both sides of the canyon cannot even be described! I wanted to keep hiking forever, but unfortunately our children did not. We finally turned around and headed down to catch the ferry boat. Apparently, this was the time everyone else also headed down to catch the boat because we had to wait in line almost an hour to get back across. 

    We told the kids we would just spend the evening at the campground and rest, but much to our delight, an old friend of mine happened to be in the area and looked us up at the campground. After meeting each other’s families, we enjoyed a wonderful evening of laughter and catching up on the last 20 years. My kids especially enjoyed having other kids to talk to after not seeing their friends for awhile. After our friends left, we drove around a bit looking for animals, but only spotted one elk.

Yellowstone - Day Eight

     We left Yellowstone with mixed emotions this morning. It was a wonderful, maybe once in a lifetime, experience to camp right in Yellowstone, and we were not even able to see most of it! I love it so much that I was a little teary about leaving. After our hike to Mystic Falls yesterday, I realized how many hidden gems are off the road that need to be seen. I guess I will just have to come back some day. One the other hand, we were excited about seeing the Tetons and what they have to offer.

          We packed up our camper fairly quickly and even had time for some last minute souvenir shopping before we headed out. Yellowstone offered us a last minute experience with a herd of bison walking down the highway as we passed through. We also enjoyed the sights that the south entrance has to offer as we drove towards the Tetons.

          We arrived at our campsite at Colter Bay a little after lunch and quickly set up camp. Our only disappointment is that the smoke from the wildfires is so thick here that you can barely see the Tetons. I am praying the wind shifts while we are here. After a quick lunch, we walked around the campground to see what it has to offer. We are close to the shores of beautiful Jackson Lake, and enjoyed some time playing down there this afternoon. The water is crystal clear and the rocks so colorful. We hiked around the lake and went into the visitor’s center for a bit. We came back and hung out at the campsite before heading down to Jackson.

          On the way down to Jackson, we stopped at Schwabackers Landing to look for moose. We didn’t see any moose, but the views were still lovely and the reflection of the trees and mountains on the river was nice. We headed down Moose Wilson Road for another chance at spotting moose, and this time we saw three!! It was very exciting for all of us. Moose are such cool creatures. We also saw a couple of elk, but no bear. We drove on into Jackson and grabbed some dinner before heading back to camp. The kids are getting a little homesick now, but I think they are just tired. Hopefully everyone will get a good night’s sleep tonight and be ready to go tomorrow.

Yellowstone - Day Seven

    Our last full day in Yellowstone, and we made the most of it! We started our day off with a look at the tallest waterfall in the park – the Lower Falls. It is spectacular! The smoke from the forest fires was pretty heavy today, so the sky was very gray instead of blue, but the pictures were still amazing. It was a bit cool this morning, and it did not warm up as quickly as it has the past few days, which we think was due to the smoke covering the sun. After spending a while enjoying the views of the Lower falls, we drove down to the Upper Falls overlook. These falls are both part of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, which is in fact, pretty grand! I’m not sure how many feet down it goes, but it is a lot! The canyon walls are colored in many different hues, and I think you could look at it for hours.

          We went on a moose hunt next. We were determined to see some down by Lake Yellowstone. We were not so lucky, as no moose decided to make an appearance for us. We did get to spot a few elk alongside the road though. The lake was fun anyway, even without the moose. We went to the docks, and to the iconic Yellowstone Lake Lodge. We stopped at Grant Village and had a picnic on the lakeshore. The lakeshore is made up of very tiny volcanic rock. The kids found this  interesting and would have stayed there for hours if we had let them. They played in the rocks and in the water and we had a nice lunch with a view. Zack even napped on the beach.

          We stopped at the geyser basin on the lakeshore and took the boardwalk through it. Some of the geysers are even in the lake.

          Our next stop was the Old Faithful area because I had seen a souvenir I just had to have. I checked my Yellowstone app to see when Old Faithful would go off, and it said, 3:34. I looked at the clock and it was 3:32! We parked quickly and ran across the large parking lot to see the eruption. We arrived breathless only to find out I had been looking at a clock in our home time zone, and it was an hour from eruption…..

          We got our souvenirs and headed to our hike of the day – Mystic Falls. This is a tremendous hike that I would highly recommend. It starts out in the Biscuit Basin geyser area, and then winds through a pine forest alongside a beautiful mountain creek. The prize at the end is a massive waterfall roaring out of the mountains. The waterfall is still in a thermal area, so there are little hot springs running into the water at this spot. It was fun to feel the hot water mix with the cool mountain stream. The kids loved climbing the boulders and feeling the wind and the spray from the waterfall. The rocks are not slick like the ones at home, and it makes for jumping from one to the next a lot safer. After taking many pictures, we hopped on the high trail and hiked to the top of the mountain. I would guess we were around 9,000 feet up by then. There were a lot of switchbacks to get up to the top and pretty precarious ledges. All in all the hike was fantastic  - the pine trees, the mountain stream, the waterfall, and the panoramic views were all wonderful!

          Everyone was tired and hungry when we got back to the car. So with just a quick drive through Firehole Road, we headed back to our campsite. We finished our evening with dinner and a campfire. Tomorrow we head down to the Tetons.