After hanging in out in Victor, ID area, the whole group relocated together that weekend and headed up closer to the west side of Yellowstone NP at Henry's Lake State Park in Idaho. Very pretty park with a lake and mountain view.
We were about 15 minutes to the town of West Yellowstone, MT and from there you enter Yellowstone NP. Just after entering the park you cross into Wyoming. Three states in 15 minutes.
The next two days we spent with the Miragliotta's in the park and seeing as much as we could with them.
Headed to Mammoth Hot Springs
and then on to the Roosevelt Lodge area to go on a wagon ride out to an old west barbecue. When we arrived it was raining and with the sun behind the clouds it was quite chilly. We hid in the car until the last minute before boarding the wagon and the sky opened up and the sun came out. The wagon ride was a lot of fun and the guides did their best to keep us entertained while we headed out to the barbecue area. Our guy was a little goofy, but he was trying.
After we arrived there was an all-you-can-eat buffet of steak, baked beans, corn bread, coleslaw, and cobbler. It was very good and while we ate there was a cowboy playing music on his guitar, and coffee over the fire pit.
They did a very good job and I would recommend it!
From there we headed out into Lamar Valley to try to see some wildlife in the evening. We saw tons of bison and Elk, but were still looking for a bear.
The last day that Jon, Steph and the kids were with us we took two cars and headed into the park as early as we could and made a few stops on the way down to Old Faithful. We did a hike called Fairy Falls that took quite a bit longer than we anticipated, but we all made it and found a great vantage point along the way to see Prismatic Spring from above.
Made it to Old Faithful and after some faulty information are lucky that we got there just in time to see it go off.
Headed to dinner at Grant Village Visitors Center before saying our goodbye's.
They had to head down the Jackson Hole for the night so they could catch their early flight out of the airport there.
We headed back toward camp stopping to see some of the springs at night. Throughout the rest of that week we spent our days exploring the nooks and crannies of the park, attending several ranger programs and catching Old Faithful a few more times.
After leaving the Fishing Bridge area, one evening we drove into Hayden Valley hoping to see some more animals and sure enough a bunch of cars were pulled over and someone told us it was a grizzly way down by the river. We had to borrow someone's binoculars to make out that it was in fact a grizzly, but sure enough. A closer view might have been cooler for us to see, but now that I realize the importance of keeping bears and humans apart I'm glad it was so far away.
The narrator of one of the park films hit the nail on the head........I can't remember his exact words, but my version is.........Yellowstone is a place where you see the beauty and peacefulness of nature meet the explosive heat below us. It's like two contrasting worlds coming together.
During one of the talks we attended, the ranger said that the most dangerous animals in park are the Bison. They have already sent 5 people to the hospital this summer with serious injuries. The bears avoid humans, but the Bison don't care and if you get too close they will pick you up with their head and throw you like rag doll. The second most dangerous, according to the ranger, are the elk. Especially a momma elk.
While strolling the geysers and springs near Old Faithful we walked up on one that went off and it was pretty special because it isn't predictable and can go days without going off. There was a guy there watching and waiting to report back to the ranger station on any activity. He was telling us how cool it was that we got to see it.
We visited The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center and were able to see the grizzlies up close and watch how they search for their food.
The bears rotate and in between bears, or groups of bears, the workers hide food in various places throughout the yard. They talked about the importance of keeping the bears active in finding their food and catching their fish in the pond.
After hearing the stories of the bears that are being kept at the facility we realized how important it is for humans to not attract bears. All of the bears at the facility became acclimated to humans either because they were fed or by getting into garbage, and after several attempts to relocate them these particular bears kept returning to the human food sources they remembered. At that point they have two options, either put them down or put them in a facility like that one.
This discovery center helps to test "bear proof" containers and help manufacturers fine tune their designs. Some ways that they recommend to help keep bears from ending up in this situation is put our trash out the morning of pickup instead of the night before, bring bird feeders in each night, no dog food on porches and have electric fence around gardens and chicken coops. Bears have to eat so many calories a day that if they see our homes as an easy source for those calories they will keep coming back and it can be very dangerous. The girls were part of a group who went inside the bear's yard, while they were out of course, and hid the food. Pretty cool.
We attended a rodeo just outside of West Yellowstone and it was great. The girls chased a poor little calf around the arena and had a blast. It's amazing what those cowboys/girls can do on those animals.
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| It stays dark so late up here we had to have a daylight fire. I think it's around 8 or 9 pm in this shot. |
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| It was a week of bison traffic jams. |
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| Gibbon Falls, I believe |
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| Part of Mammoth Hot Springs area |
After we arrived there was an all-you-can-eat buffet of steak, baked beans, corn bread, coleslaw, and cobbler. It was very good and while we ate there was a cowboy playing music on his guitar, and coffee over the fire pit.
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| Sofia is pretty excited about a steak :) |
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| Taylor enjoying her corn muffin |
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| Farewell song around the fire. |
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| Wagons ready for the ride back. |
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| Fairy Falls in the background |
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| Prismatic Springs from the back side up the hill. |
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| Can't remember which spring this is, but a cute shot of the kiddos. |
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| Old Faithful in the background |
They had to head down the Jackson Hole for the night so they could catch their early flight out of the airport there.
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| Saying goodbye |
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| Grand Canyon of Yellowstone |
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| Hike down the Uncle Tom's Point |
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| Upper Falls |
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| Upper Falls pouring down into the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone |
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| Uncle Tom's Point |
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| Goofing off while hiking around the Upper Falls |
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| A different view of Upper Falls |
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| There is a grizzly out there, just very hard to see him with our cell phone camera. |
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| Sun setting in Hayden Valley |
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| The girls playing a game with the other kids in the ranger program. |
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| Grotto Fountain |
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| Swimming Hole |
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| Swimming Hole that our girls would not swim in :) Too cold outside. |
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| Castle Geyser I think. |
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| Morning Glory Pool |
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| Castle Geyser |
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| Midway Geiser Basin pouring into the river. |
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| Loop near Old Faithful |
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| Loop near Old Faithful |
The bears rotate and in between bears, or groups of bears, the workers hide food in various places throughout the yard. They talked about the importance of keeping the bears active in finding their food and catching their fish in the pond.
After hearing the stories of the bears that are being kept at the facility we realized how important it is for humans to not attract bears. All of the bears at the facility became acclimated to humans either because they were fed or by getting into garbage, and after several attempts to relocate them these particular bears kept returning to the human food sources they remembered. At that point they have two options, either put them down or put them in a facility like that one.
This discovery center helps to test "bear proof" containers and help manufacturers fine tune their designs. Some ways that they recommend to help keep bears from ending up in this situation is put our trash out the morning of pickup instead of the night before, bring bird feeders in each night, no dog food on porches and have electric fence around gardens and chicken coops. Bears have to eat so many calories a day that if they see our homes as an easy source for those calories they will keep coming back and it can be very dangerous. The girls were part of a group who went inside the bear's yard, while they were out of course, and hid the food. Pretty cool.
We attended a rodeo just outside of West Yellowstone and it was great. The girls chased a poor little calf around the arena and had a blast. It's amazing what those cowboys/girls can do on those animals.
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| Luna about to chase the calf. |
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| Bull Rider |
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| After the show with a cowboy. |
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| Rodeo Sunset |
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| Double Rainbow..........What does it mean??? |
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