Yellowstone Day 3

Our third day in Yellowstone was a transition day. We would be leaving the park and heading down to the Tetons. We started the day by spotting a mother grizzly and her cubs. They were playing right along the road in Hayden Valley, and we watched them for a long time.

We spotted this beautiful great blue heron on our way to find some bears.

We watched the momma and her two cubs for a while.

The cubs weren't too sure about all the people watching them.

They were just up the hill, so it was a great sighting.

 

Next, we drove out and threw a few rocks in Yellowstone Lake before stopping for our next hike. We really love Storm Point because there is so much wildlife. We identified a variety of birds like goldeneyes, mountain bluebirds, and pine siskins. Of course, there were dozens of marmots, as well as a few buffalo and an injured deer. It was a nice hike, and it never really rained on us, though it was misty and muddy for much of the distance.

We saw this buck on the way out to Yellowstone Lake.

Then we spotted some elk.

We love throwing rocks at this spot.

Yellowstone Lake is a nice lake!

This marmot was right by the window when we turned around for our hike.

Pretty mountain bluebird.

Seth liked sitting in the back so he could get snacks easily!

We love the Storm Point trail.

It was weird to be all bundled up on June 28th!

We saw a bunch of marmots. Here are just a few.

A beautiful butterfly posing again!

Mom likes to find all the colorful wildflowers.

Dad and Seth love hiking together.

Another adorable squirrel enjoying breakfast.

 

The boys wanted to stop at Old Faithful, so we made the long drive around the Grand Loop. We spent a little time in construction, but it wasn’t a major delay. We arrived with about a half hour to spare before the next Old Faithful eruption, so we walked up to Anemone Geyser, which we love because it goes off every 8-10 minutes. We weren’t disappointed. Then we turned around and walked back to Old Faithful. We stopped on the south side of the geyser for a change, right where the path comes up from the river. There was a bison sitting between the geyser and us, which we thought would be pretty in pictures. It was pretty, but we got pretty wet when the wind blew the spray right over top of us!

The bison made for a pretty iconic picture.

We always enjoy this hike around the geyser basin.

Anemone geyser is a family favorite.

It was a quick stop at Old Faithful, but a fun one.

We didn’t stay long at Old Faithful. We ate a quick lunch out of the back of the van and started south. We wanted plenty of time in the Tetons on this day, too. We skipped most of the short stops like Moose Falls and went straight to Colter Bay to check in. The boys wanted to go do a hike immediately.

The one stop we did make was at Kepler Falls.

Our hike of choice in this area is Heron Pond and Swan Lake, but we found that the main trail was closed and we’d have to take a different route. Still, the boys wanted to do this one badly. It turned out to be amazing. We saw another mama bear with her two cubs and close to a dozen beavers. There was an osprey diving in the water, and we spotted a downy woodpecker, too. It seemed like animals were everywhere! We walked farther than we wanted to, and ended up getting back late for supper.

Seth really wanted to throw more rocks.

The bears were through the trees, so it was hard to get a great picture, but the cubs were adorable.

A hairy woodpecker

We saw so many beavers! It was crazy!

There were a bunch on the beaver hutch and some on land in this pic!

This place is super pretty!

Beaver swimming away from us!

We saw a bunch of yellow dumped warblers, too. This guy looks very fierce!

Enjoying the rainy outings as much as we can!

Turned out to be a great hike!

Wow! This momma has her hands full!
 

Mom made pasta on the camp stove right next to the parking lot on a picnic table. We ate really well and got all cleaned up in a hurry. When we are in the Tetons, the boys don’t waste a second. They just want to look for animals. This meant a drive out to Oxbow Bend. The water was really low, the lowest we’d ever seen it, but we did spot a lot of wildlife. Most amazingly, we saw another half dozen beavers. One sat on the edge of the pond not 20 feet from us. Some people got even closer, but we didn’t want to make the beaver nervous. He just chomped on his stick and ignored all of the humans. We got home late, but the cabin in the Tetons was really snug for the five of us. It had been another great day!

We luckily got dinner in before it started to really rain!

Mom takes a picture by all the wildflowers.

Oxbow Bend was super low this year.

Dax even took a pic with the flowers.

We were able to walk in areas we can't normally explore because of low water.

Mark found a huge egg shell.

We found a lot more beavers!

These three were having out together. But we saw some more on the other side, too.

I love the way this picture turned out with the reflection and lighting!

This beaver swam right over by where we were standing.

It was the year of seeing a million beavers.