Advertisement
Published: July 23rd 2006
Edit Blog Post
Our second day in Yellowstone gave Nancy and I an opportunity to hike while the guys took the kids on a guided fishing trip on Yellowstone Lake. There are not a lot of pictures to show for the day as Nancy and I spent most of it talking and there was no way the guys were going to manage 4 kids, a boat, 6 fishing poles and a camera.
Nancy and I were hankering for a long hike but got a bit thwarted by a bear. We had driven from Grant Village all the way to the east entrance of the park to go on a hike up to a peak but when we got there, we were greeted by a throng of flies and a park ranger who informed us the trail was closed due to heavy bear activity. It was a bit of a bummer but the scenery on the way there and the animals we spotted didn’t leave us too upset. We ended up back near Fishing Bridge and took the Elephant Loop trail which was pretty empty and had some nice views and a good wooded trail. Nancy pointed out all of the flowers (and their
names) and I kept watch for birds (I am getting pretty good at that even if I don’t know much of any names).
The guys and kids also got thwarted but this time by a fish. It turns out that some folks introduced Lake Trout to the area and they have been taking over the habitat of the native Cut Throat Trout. So, there are not a lot of Cut Throats and if you catch them you have to throw them back in. If you catch Lake Trout, you can keep them but that didn’t happen either. Michelle was the only catcher of the day but she had to send hers back to the lake. They had fun but we wish we had a tastier evening ahead of us.
Nancy and I gave the guys a break and took the kids on an afternoon jaunt to go on a short hike and see some animals. We traveled back to Fishing Bridge and were duly rewarded with a group of bison right on a ledge near a parking area. The kids all oohed and aahed (a small note here that by the end of the trip if we said
look at the window they would say who cares, it is only a bison) and we played the radio loudly on our way to the hike.
We began our small walk around Pelican lake to the sound of thunder. We have been having quite a bit of rain and we didn’t want to go back yet so we all moved on. The drops began to fall and the little kids and I had a delightful jog around the lake (1 mile). It was actually a lot of fun and we all really enjoyed it. By the time we were ¾ around, the rain stopped and we continued to jog because it was fun.
We got back to the campsite for dinner and Ed took the car to go pick up Shannon down at the Jackson airport. We played around the campground and relaxed over dinner. Shannon and Ed got back around 10pm and we sat in front of the roaring fire on the very cold night and just caught up.
Day 3 in Yellowstone dawned clear and cold (they were all pretty consistent that way) and we packed up the RV’s and pulled out to go to
our next campsite. Along the way, we decided to do the Mystic Falls hike that was rained out the prior attempt. It was a beautiful hike filled with butterflies (Danielle renamed the trail to Butterfly Falls). I had a fabulous time with Danielle who wanted to be up front, so the both of us just played around and walked and jogged at her request. We stopped and enjoyed so many sites along the way; butterflies, flowers, small waterfalls, and vistas. When we reached the waterfall, we waited on the rest of the crew and had a small snack together before heading back. Nancy, Alan, and Michelle took the long way back via a mountaintop and the rest of us headed back to the swimming hole of the first day but this time we were better prepared. We spent an hour or so just enjoying the river and walking over the rocks and playing.
We made it to West Yellowstone without incident but the trip to Madison Arm Resort Campground was far less than perfect. We made great time to the last road and were feeling pretty good until we traveled the last 5 miles along a deeply rutted gravel
road. With our teeth chattering it was hard to drive faster than 10 miles an hour which made a 5 minute drive take over 30 minutes. The campground itself was beautiful on a pretty mountain lake and we set up camp while Shannon took the kids swimming. I should give Shannon the cold swimming award as she took that responsibility almost 100% of the time and did a fantastic job.
None of us were particularly in a mood to cook so we spent the evening in West Yellowstone. We went to dinner at the local brewery only to find that they only serve two beers at a time (seems strange to us). However the pizza was a great change for all of us. Then, Nancy and I took the kids to the Yellowstone IMAX theatre while the other adults went in search of a larger beer selection.
The next morning we packed up and continued on in our RV caravan heading up to Canyon Village. Ed stayed behind where we actually had phone service and internet to catch up on some work and the rest of us decided to try a swim at Firehole Falls swimming area. The
problem was it was closed. We were all hungry and wanted to find a picnic area but it was really hard. I think they have closed almost all organized picnic table areas in the park because we sure had trouble finding one. Eventually, by 1pm we found a spot near Norris and sure enough more good swimming water was found. I’m not sure where we were but it was pretty and the kids (and Nancy, Shannon, and I) found the water and the wood fun and refreshing.
After lunch we split up as Jacquelyn and Danielle were having some serious issues with being overtired (Danielle mostly) and Shannon and I headed with them to Canyon Village while Nancy and her clan went up to Mammoth. On the way, we spotted a lot of smoke coming out of a valley and our RV decided to stop on the way and see what was up. We then spent an absolutely great time playing around the Norris Geyser basin (which none of us had been to in any prior trips). The kids took tons of pictures and just enjoyed walking the 1.5 mile boardwalk. Our timing was impeccable because as the sky
opened up and the thunder and lightening flashed, we climbed back into the RV to get to Canyon Campground. I say the timing was perfect, because it rained for the next hour solid and not just little rain, hail and big rain and all sorts of things came down that day.
We got to Canyon Village and hooked up with Ed. It was still raining pretty hard so we did laundry and relaxed and all took showers in the campground facilities. Eventually, the rain finished and we were able to eat and set up camp and explore our new surroundings.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.124s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 60; dbt: 0.075s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb