Yellowstone Day 3

Duck Lake is one of our favorite spots in Yellowstone.

Today we checked out of the cabin at Lake and headed south. We had one particular hike in mind, but we had heard it was a little muddy and might even have snow on it. Still, we drove south to West Thumb so we could hike Duck Lake. We got there early, and there was almost enough snow to turn us back. Luckily, all the snow and mud was still pretty frozen from the night. We did the hike, and it was as beautiful as ever. This time, all we saw were a few leeches. The rest of the day didn’t go much better as far as animal viewing goes.

There was still a lot of snow on the trail!

We love the solitude that we find here. We have never seen anyone on this trail.  

We saw some bear tracks along the lake, but we never saw the bear! 

Leeches! Our boys are terrified of them. 

We love being together no matter the trail conditions.

We drove out of Yellowstone to the south and stopped at Moose Falls. It was raging, and we took some great pictures. The spray was flying everywhere and the boys were freezing after a few minutes of being by the water. This was the boys' favorite part of Yellowstone. They all said Moose Falls was the best. 

Lewis Lake was still frozen over. It was pretty amazing to see. 

Moose Falls was huge!

The spray reached pretty far, and the boys loved that it was so cold!

You walk to the top of the falls on this trail, too.

Seth loves taking his binoculars on our hikes.

Dad loves the waterfalls in Yellowstone. 

I love my boys!

We have a goal to take more pictures together!

Mom thinks this bridge is cool!

Dad helped Seth leap over the water on the trail.

Mark took the leap all by himself.

Dax also insisted on jumping on his own.  

Dad had the best pose for his leaping picture.

A little while later we arrived at Flagg Ranch. Dad had researched a hike there called Polecat Creek Loop. It was a little long at two and a half miles, but we decided to try it anyway. Unfortunately, this trail is also used by horse outfitters, and it was horribly dusty except for a few spots that had moist horse dung. We didn’t see much along the way, and the trail wound through a nice pine forest. But last year the entire forest was burned, so we were walking among gigantic burned out lodgepole pines. Still, the boys were good sports and didn’t complain much.

The trail was quite dusty, but Seth was happy with his hiking stick.

There was a section of the trail that was beautiful. We saw lots of ducks, but no mammals.

Dad is always so good to help Seth when he gets tired.

The boys are great hikers. Mom and Dad are pretty proud of them.

The whole forest had burned, so I missed the shade.

We decided to reward them with lunch at a restaurant. We stopped at Sheffield’s at Flagg Ranch, which was a bit expensive, but it was really amazing. Dax kept picking at Mom’s buffalo salad, and Dad’s cheeseburger had huckleberry jelly on it. Everyone ate really well, so it was a successful lunch. The people working at the restaurant were very kind and helpful. They told us all about the bears that were hanging around in the Tetons. 

Mom and Seth loved relaxing in the nice Flagg Ranch restaurant.

We love spending time in this National Park, too!

As we were leaving the restaurant we ran into Melanie and the Webb children (Jason stayed home for job interviews), and we spent the rest of the day with them. First, we took a ride out a nice little road called Grassy Lake. It was the perfect habitat for moose, beaver, and bears, but we didn’t see a thing. Next, we drove down to the Colter Bay Visitor’s Center and checked in at the cabin. The boys started their Junior Ranger activities, and we took a short hike. This hike was called the Shoreline Trail and led right around a little thumb that stuck out into the lake. It was another two miles, but the kids were hiking with cousins, so they had a great time. We stopped to throw rocks into Jackson Lake a few times, and once we even took off our shoes and waded into the frigid water. The only wildlife we saw, though, was a tiny frog.

The cousins love hiking together.

Everyone, including Randy, had fun skipping rocks along Jackson Lake.

This is the tiny frog that we spotted. Can you spot it?

Everyone wanted a picture by the sign, but for some reason Mark is in the background. 

The water was freezing, but the views were amazing!

Look how clear the water is!

The older kids created a whole munchkin army. It was pretty hilarious.

After the hike we had sandwiches in the cabin, and by then it was getting late. After a few games of hide-and-seek, we piled back in the van for a late drive. We found a “bear observation area” with a lot of lookers and no bears. Then we drove out to Oxbow Bend, but it was flooded, and we only saw a few elk. Finally we drove all the way to the end of Pacific Creek Road, which is our favorite spot to see beaver, but there were only a few elk out there. To make up for the poor animal watching day, we plan to start all the earlier tomorrow. The alarm is set for 5 am, and we are hoping to have better luck!

We love the cabins at Colter Bay. They are spacious and comfy. 

We put the cot in the middle and it's a whole wall of beds. 

Down on Oxbow Bend, the river was spreading all over onto the road.

Normally you park in front of this sign, but there is so much water this year.  

The Oxbow Bend area is so beautiful.  

We only saw elk on our evening drives today.

Yellowstone Day 2

Our traditional Yellowstone photo!

We didn’t wake up too early for once. We got moving about 7 am and spent the morning at Old Faithful. First, we walked around the Old Faithful Inn where we were staying. In the middle of the building is a huge dance floor. There are restaurants and stores around it, and the rooms extend out in several different wings. When you stand in the middle of the floor, you can look all the way to the top, and there are three more levels of rooms with balconies around the floor. The stairs keep going up, winding all the way to the top, but they don't allow you to climb to that dizzying height. It was fun to look over each of the three balconies down onto the floor below. Historically, the orchestra is said to have played high above while people danced on the floor below. All this was observed from the balconies. It is really pretty cool just to walk around the Inn.

This was our first time staying at the Inn at Old Faithful. We really enjoyed it!

This is our view at the Inn.

Seth liked sleeping on the cot.

This bison greeted us in our room.

The Inn is amazing inside.

The boys posed on the balcony for a picture.

It was hard to get a good picture because it's so dark inside.

There are many levels, but you can only climb three.

The Inn had a very antique feel.

Then we watched Old Faithful and finished up our Junior Ranger stuff. Mark and Dax are Bear Level Junior Rangers and Seth is on the Geyser level. Finally, we made the long hike all the way to Morning Glory Pool. Seth had never made this hike, and neither Mark nor Dax remember it. I think it's been six years since we walked the entire way. Along the boardwalk we saw quite a few eruptions, though some were from far away. We saw Beehive, Anemone, Giant, and Castle while we were around the Basin. The boys were excited even though it got a little long.

Seth, the geysers are behind you!

This mountain bluebird was so bright!

We like to walk this walk through the geyser basin.

It was difficult to tell what the osprey was carrying.

We learned that this geyser was probably formed from minerals crystallizing on small trees.

Dax really wanted to see Riverside Geyser go off. 

The boys hadn't been to Morning Glory Pool in a long time.

Seth is becoming a pretty good photographer!

The ranger had a hard time keeping people back from this bison at the Inn.

Mom made sandwich lunch in the car before we took the short drive to Biscuit Basin for our second hike. We hadn’t done Mystic Falls since Mom and Dad’s first trip to Yellowstone fourteen years ago, and we weren’t too sure what we were in for. In fact, Mystic Falls was most likely our families first hike ever. This hike wasn't so long, though, and the boys did very well. We made it to the waterfall, and it was really rushing. We took a few pictures, but we didn’t really see any big animals, just squirrels and chipmunks and a few pretty birds.

Mom made lunch for us in the parking lot.

Seth is probably our best poser. He wants to take a picture by everything. Then he asks, "Is that an Instagram?"

This photo was taken at the end of the boardwalk before heading into the forest toward Mystic Falls.

Seth is good at helping Mom.

Mystic Falls is pretty large.

You can never find a good photographer when you need one.

Dad took a nap as Mom drove the boys over to Canyon, stopping at Firehole Falls and Virginia Cascades along the way. The boys also enjoyed telling a progressive story two words at a time. It is one of their favorite games. At Canyon we didn’t do much. We stopped for our traditional picture at Artist Point, but there were so many tour buses that we were lucky to get any picture at all.

The boys posed at Firehole Falls.

We were in Yellowstone so early that there was plenty of snow!

Another photo by one of the boys.

We checked in at our cabin at Lake around four o’clock and then went to lunch at our favorite restaurant at Fishing Bridge. We hadn’t seen anything all through Hayden Valley, and in fact we hadn’t seen any wildlife really all day. Luckily, we had one more hike.

We’ve done Storm Point quite a few times, and we always love it. Since it was nearly 7pm when we started, we hoped we’d see something really awesome. We spotted a few duck varieties in the pond, but we had to keep moving because it was so late. After awhile we reached the marmot colony, but there were only two marmots there. That was a surprise since we usually see more than a dozen. As the trail turned back into the trees, though, Mark spotted three deer just off the trail. As we were watching them a snowshoe hare hopped behind us on the trail. Then we saw another one just off to the side. We kept going, and the sun was just going down when Mark spotted a baby elk. It was laying only about ten yards off the trail, and it couldn’t have been more than two days old. It lay very flat and still and didn’t move, but we only watched it for a few seconds and took a picture. The boys really wanted to hurry on so the mother elk would come back and take care of her baby. She was so beautiful, though! It really was a great end to a great day!

Storm Point is one of our favorite hikes in Yellowstone.

The boys stopped to throw a few rocks.

Seth hiked so many miles on this trip! We did 15 hikes in 4 days!

Storm Point Trail weaves in and out of the trees and along the shore of Yellowstone Lake.

We take a picture together on every single hike!

The deadfalls weren't cleared on this hike yet.