The drive from Mt. Rushmore to West Yellowstone is a long one! We headed West after one night in Keystone, South Dakota which is the town at the base of Mt. Rushmore. We had to drive through Yellowstone to get to our cabin in West Yellowstone, Montana. With no passing, and a speed limit of 40 to keep wildlife alive, plus crowds sightseeing throughout the park, it took us about three hours to cross it.
It was in good because we got to see much of the park on the drive, bad because we had already been in the car for over seven hours.
I told Del that I was fine to stay in a cabin, as long as there was not going to be a checklist of things for me to clean before we checked out at the end of our stay. I was not on this trip to clean microwaves and wash sheets! So Del found a brand new two bedroom cabin that had a maid service. What he did not realize was that it was literally sitting right in the center of town. Not quit as rustic and adventurous for the kids as he had been hoping. But it ended up being a good thing because we kept a pretty full schedule in Yellowstone and we were too exhausted at the end of the day to do much cabin yard running around anyway. The cabin was great as far as I was concerned because it had plenty of room to sleep, the kids loved hanging out on the bunk beds making up games, the kitchen was tiny enough that I felt no guilt for not cooking, and Del and I had our own room to hide in! Ha!
Yellowstone is huge, and all the must see sights are quit a few miles from each other! There is a lot of driving involved in getting around the park. A 14 to 21 mile stretch between each intersection. We spent a lot of time in the car during the three days. But we did manage to get to most of the park. Except the most Southern point near the Grand Tetons. We decided not to go through Jackson Hole on the way to Utah in the end. It was going to add hours to a week full of driving.
Getting all set to watch Old Faithful do her thing!
Goofs.
Walker had a huge melt down minutes after this photo. I just love it when we become the sight for all the tourists to gawk at. Hauling him out of the visitors center with all limbs flailing, and lungs wailing had me spent. It was at that moment that I decided that the Jr. Ranger program the park offers inside the visitors center was not for us.
All four of my kids came with very spirited personalities. This trip was great for our family, but it definitely tested me and Del to our limits of patience. Our kids are very strong willed, and riding the tide of emotion and will leaves us feeling drained sometimes. But we are determined to have these experiences, even at the expense of our sanity apparently.
Our cabin had some books about the Park in it, and I picked one up that told the stories of deaths that have occurred in Yellowstone. The hot pot death stories are horrifying, and I was very paranoid, and full of warnings for my family when it came time to stop and view them. Boiled to death is not the way I want to go, I know that! I could just see it being our family that had an issue! I was a nervous wreck taking this photo!
One of my favorite things to come across, these lilly pads in a calm section of river. Some of the naturally occurring beauty in Yellowstone is so unbelievable Del and I wondered out loud if there is someone who sets out the lilly pads every morning, just so. It is such a concentrated area of amazing landscape, it feels almost spooky. There is a definite aura in Yellowstone. Part of that in my opinion is because there is a sense of awe and danger being surrounded by such raw and untouched extremes in nature. What an amazing spot on Earth!
We found picnic spots for lunch each day. The kids loved these stops. We took our time, and let the kids do some exploring. The boys found many an adventure, and Walker found a quiet spot to sit in the sun and have some quiet time to himself. I could see him from the picnic table, but I could tell he felt like he had all the privacy in the world, and it was fun to watch his little boy soul connect with nature.
I learned on this trip that my husband will do just about anything for a wildlife sighting. He had us all in a hustle to get in position whenever an animal was sighted. This was a very cool view of a huge elk! He was sitting in the shade under a tree, and as we were walking along the side of the road looking at the female, a man in front of us got close enough to this big guy, that he stood up from his shady spot to make himself known. The man was completely startled. He played it cool though. He stepped back slowly and started talking softly. But then he flipped on his camera and stood just feet away taking video! I thought for sure we were going to see him get gored!
This is after the elk walked away from the man a bit! Makes my heart pound!
Here is a picture of the back of my head while I am taking a picture of an elk. I am just being the dutiful wife, trying to get the ever important wildlife shot!
We found the spot where the buffalo roam! The bison were in rut. We came across several herds while in the park, but this valley had the largest one by far, and we did see some half hearted head butts from some males. These guys were right next to the road. It was so cool!
Babys drinking mama's milk.
When we heard that the hike to the Upper Falls also included a 300 stair climb down to a view of the water fall on Uncle Tom's trail, we jumped at the chance to really wear our kids out. So we went for it, and they all did really well! Walker went down the whole way by himself and climbed half of it on the way up before we decided we didn't have the patience for his slow pace.
We are all starting to look a little worse for wear in these photos.
The people on the right cliff hiked the Lower Falls trail down. One year in the Winter, a 12 year old slipped on that path and flew right over the Falls and died. Yes, you can thank my terrifying cabin read for that tid bit.
Last set of steps. If you can, hike to Artist Point. I wish we had. I would have loved to get that shot.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
We took the kids on a hike the next day. It was two miles in to a lake. They were really good the entire way in. Walker kept up pace with the rest of us. There were signs warning us this was bear territory everywhere in this area. It was a section of land that caught on fire twice in one decade. That means that the pine cones dropped, and opened up in the heat to release new seeds for regrowth, which can be really good for the land, were also burned shortly after they started to recover. The land was a graveyard of trees. Their skeletons were lying in crazy shapes all over the trail. We only passed one other group of people on the trail. A family that had camped for the night at the lake.
I loved this uprooted and burned tree.
New life springing out of this burned stump. This really did look like a dinosaur skeleton.
When we finally reached the top of the mountain, we were super disappointed to see that the lake was back down the other side in this valley! I had to make a mom decision at this point. I knew that the kids would not last for the hike back up, plus the whole way back to the car if we went down. I also knew they would be wet and hungry if we did it. Del and and the boys wanted to try, but Georgia didn't feel good, and I could tell that Walker was fading. He was SO tired! So we turned around at this point to head back. Some day, when they are all a bit older, we will be able to go the whole way in these situations.
I knew Walker was not only tired, but exhausted, when I found him making an uncomfortable looking nap spot for himself on a rock and a log! Super comfy looking!
Sure enough, as soon as we got our pace going on the way back, Walker asked to be held, and he was out for the entire return hike. He did manage to hold on to his stick until we were about a half a mile from the car.
Georgia found a hurt butterfly on the trail.
We learned soon after our hike that they were not kidding about this being bear territory. About two miles up the road from the trail, there was a huge traffic jam. We drove into one of the pullout areas, and got our first view of a grizzly bear in the wild! Del's life was made! It was really far away, so these shots are obviously not very clear. But I will let Del tell you about how he got yelled at my the ranger after he took these pictures. He did not want anyone to leave the parking lot pavement! We now know that for certain!
The boys were thrilled to be able to tell about how they saw a grizzly bear! It is intimidating to be even this close to one! It does not look big in these pictures, but these bears are massive! He was sitting under this tree, eating something. Probably berries. We saw a lot of wild berries on the trail we hiked. It made us wonder if there were any bears hiding nearby on our hike. I am sure we gave them plenty of warning with our noisy family hiking around.
We covered as much of the park, and crammed as much as we could into our three days there. We drove on a dirt road through the hills behind Mammouth Hot Springs, hoping to see something interesting, but all we saw was a lone antelope. Mammouth is a cute little town inside Yellowstone, with what looks to be a nice hotel. It would be fun to stay there sometimes. Huge elk and their babies were just walking on the sidewalks and grazing on the grass next to the shops. Very cool!
We tried to get a good nights sleep, and then we headed for Utah the next morning!
