Summer 2009 - Day 7

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Yellowstone National Park

Got out of the tent around 7 and it was quite cold, probably around 38 degrees. Got dressed, walked around and woke everybody up around 8. Today was going to be a less hectic day than the previous few. Everybody got dressed and we left to go to Old Faithful. Once again we stopped at the General Store in Grant and ate breakfast in the car. We arrived at Old Faithful around 9:45am, Old Faithful had just erupted, so we had about 40 minutes to look around. We started out at the visitor center, and then went to listen to a ranger talk about wolves, it was for the kids but very informative. Around 10:15 we made our way over to the bleachers that surround the geyser. Behind us was construction work taking place. While we all awaited the eruption, Noah preferred to watch the construction. About 10:40 or so Old Faithful put on her show; the whole Old Faithful area is a bit to commercial for me, but it is a must see when you go to YNP. Ethan and I then walked the geyser loop looking at the other guysers and springs; while Amy and Noah watched the construction a bit more and waited for us to return. After Old Faithful, we went over to the General Store at Old Faithful (there is a General Store in each area of the park) and bought lollipops for the kids. We then got back in the car and decided to drive north to the Artists Paintpots. The kids were hungry for lunch so we decided to stop at a picnic area first. The picnic area we had chosen was way to crowded when we arrived. So we deicided to keep driving and go to to the next picnic area. Unfortunately it was past the Artists Paintpots; so we skipped that and continued driving. Just past Madison there was horrible construction which delayed us even more. A little while later we came to a very nice picnic area and had lunch - our usual turkey sandwiches, chips, cookies, apples, water, etc. After lunch Ethan and I took a short walk into the woods, where it opened up into a huge prairie and there was a buffalo back there eating grass, we went back to the car to get our cameras and returned to take some pictures. After all that excitement, back into the car we went and drove into the Canyon area again. We made a pit stop at the visitors center; then drove to the North Rim - this was an area we missed earlier in the week - not sure how we missed it with everything we did! There was a trail I had originally picked out by Glacier Boulder. Our first stop was at the Brinks of Lower Falls. We got out of the car and found out the trail was 3/8 mile long and a 600’ change in elevation - unfortunately to steep for Noah - so Amy and Noah stayed back and let Ethan and I go. It kind of really sucks that Amy is having to miss out on some things, but I think she is getting to see almost everything. We made the hike down to the falls, pretty easy downhill with many switchbacks. When we got down there it was an amazing site. Our hike up was steep, Ethan held his own only asking to stop a couple of times and apparently I am in better shape than I thought, at 7500’ I was unfazed! When we finally reached the top we were greeted with what was a better site than any waterfall - Amy and Noah awaiting our arrival!
We loaded back into the car and made couple more stops that gave views of the Falls. Our next stop on the North Rim took us to Inspiration Point which was 50 stairs down to a not so great view of the falls. Our last stop took us to Glacier Boulder, we got out of the car and started down a beautiful trail, but it was too long of a hike, so we just stopped at the “big rock”, took some pictures and got into the car to start our drive back to the Grant Area. We stopped at the West Thumb Geyser Basin, which we had yet to see, we all made the 1 mile or so hike around the basin, it was pretty cool along the lake. As we were driving a long line of cars was pulled over on the right side, so we decided to stop and see what was going on....there was a few Elk and Mule Deer grazing close to the road, I jumped out and took some pictures, then Amy - hanging out the window of the car yelled for me, there was an elk closer to the car, so I quickly made my way over and got some great pictures. We started to drive again and about 5 miles down the road, a car was stopped and Ethan said he saw a male elk with antlers. I quickly stopped and jumped out with my camera to check it out - he was right, a got some okay pictures, hopefully we can spot some more before the trip is over. We arrived back at the Grant area around 5:30pm, all Noah wanted was to eat....so we did. Tonight we ate at the Grill restaurant instead of cooking on the campfire. While eating Noah saw some tour busses outside the window, he was having a blast now! We then shopped in store and had ice cream. On the way to the campground we stopped in the registration area for Grant so the kids could get the final sticker in their activity book. When they did, they also got a prize; they each got: a little stuffed moose and a free sundae coupon (we just had ice cream and are leaving the park tomorrow am). We went back to our campsite, made a fire for the boys, Amy and the boys got ready for bed and I stayed up a little longer to make sure the fire burned out.

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