Month: May 2015

We arrived in one piece at Devil’s Tower after a near miss with a young bull moose who thought it would be fun to charge at our truck when we were going 60mph. Thankfully he changed his mind at the last second and turned away. PHEW!

The campground we stayed at was the Devil’s Tower KOA right in the shadow of the tower itself. The campground is actually the filing sight from the sic-fi movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. 
The campground had an amazing playground near our campsite. B and I spent every free moment climbing, swinging and being lost in our imaginations.

 

We drove up to check out the Prairie Dog Town at the base of the tower.

 

There were thousands of them. Many had little litters of pups!

 

The fields were just packed with prairie dogs!

 

We took a guided hike around the base of the tower and learned about the historical and cultural significance. 

 

There are multiple ideas of how the tower was formed but they all seem to involve this being some sort of lava plug from an old volcano. If you look carefully you can see a few climbers on the face of the tower.

 

Our guide told us we could rock scramble up to the tree line. I didn’t want to go but then decided it looked fun. 

 

Up up up I go! 

 

We successfully made it up and down!

 

A few more prairie dogs before a storm rolled in.

We did stop for our Jr Ranger badges. Then we headed out to dinner to celebrate Mom’s 40th birthday!

 

 

We spent several days in Yellowstone so it all seems to run together. Many long days of hiking and exploring were done.

We spent out first day exploring Old Faithful knowing that the Memorial Day weekend was approaching and crowd levels would multiply. We arrived about 30 minutes before the projected eruption. It was only 4 min part he eruption time and lasted for 3 minutes and 54 seconds. We learned how to predict when he next geyser would erupt. We guessed 10:50 and it was actually 10:54. Not too bad. They give a +/- 10 minute window for all eruptions.

 

Breighton and I got along great all day. We snuggled and ate a snack before the eruption. I even snuggled him and he read to me about the Old Faithful Geyser and others in the area.

Finally the eruption came! It was SO neat!

 

Next we hiked the Upper Geyser Basin trail. We saw lots of evidence of wildlife and even a few animals. This little guy is a pika! They have no tails.

We learned that Yellowstone sits upon a caldera. This is a former volcano but still has an active magma chamber underneath. The area is filled with fumerals, hot springs, geysers and mudpots.

We saw fumerals.

We saw hot springs.

We saw geysers.

It was amazing to see all the colors in the hot springs created by the microbes living in the water.

It was a very rainy day but we managed to stay on the edge of the front so didn’t get too soaked. On our hike back we crossed paths with a coyote. He kept his distance as did we. We were finally able to pass.

We opted to participate in a Junior Scientist program and learned a lot about the thermal features in the area. We had to use an infrared thermometer to check pool temperatures. We had to prove that indeed Yellowstone sits upon an active volcano. We were successful.

We also hiked at the mud volcanos, Artist Paint Pots, and several other thermal areas.

I loved the mud volcanos. I could have watched them for hours.

I though one of the names was fantastic. There was a fumeral called Black Dragon’s Caldron. It looked like it was spitting out fire and steam.

We got stuck in our share of bison, elk, bear or unknown jams on the roads over the holiday weekend. People don’t really think. They stop their cars in the middle of the road, hop out and run towards the animals snapping pictures the whole way. Recently a young girl was gored by a bison. You are supposed to keep 25 years away but people get within a few feet to take a photo with their iPad! UGH!

We did happen across a mother black bear with her cubs (one black and one cinnamon colored). Dad drove slowly as Mom snapped the best photo she could get across the car in a moving truck!

We explored the Mammoth Hot Springs area and hiked the area of the terraces. They were cool how the layers were formed by the hot springs bubbling up the minerals to the surface.

The landscape is forever changing. Sometimes the areas close off and then reopen in other spots. So you can see the extinct areas are dry and hot looking.

The active areas are colorful and wet.

After our hike we caught a ranger program on Big Horn Sheep! We learned all about their adaptations. I thought it was interesting that they have very keen eyesight, strong skulls and horns, and special feet for gripping and climbing.

 

When the program was over we saw a pika in a fumeral a few feet away. The area was also covered in elk grazing.

We earned our Junior Ranger patches and had a fun ceremony in front of the fireplace at the visitors center.

We had dinner near Old Faithful and saw it erupt another time.

On the drive to the next point the road came to a stand still. Cars lined both sides and even the middle of the road. There was no going anywhere! We were stuck… in a BEAR JAM!  By the time the cars did inch forward we caught a glimpse of the bears up in the woods. People were still out of the cars walking towards the bears. We snapped a shot while in motion and headed towards our next adventure spot.

We took a super long hike at Artist Point. It was interesting to know that the thermal feathers are still active here as well and constantly change the colors in the valley.

 

A rainbow popped out for us to see as we were looking at the falls.

We hiked along the ridge and then down to a few lakes.

We continued to explore more thermal areas. We saw Steamboat Geyser. It is predictable in the short term but the major eruptions are not that predictable.

We saw more hot springs. The sulfer smell is very strong.

The area was very beautiful with all the thermal features. Even the crowds of people didn’t distract from the beauty.

We never did see a moose, but not for lack of trying.

We had a lazy day the last day in Yellowstone.

We stopped at Fishing Bridge for a ranger program and got to explore some animal pelts.

Mom did laundry, we changed and cleaned up our beds, Dad made dinner and worked on refreshing the water holding tank. We wrote in our journals and caught up on other cleaning tasks.

Sometimes we just sit and read and behave!

We are heading into the last hurrah of the big plans of the trip. Up next is Devil’s Tower National Monument and then off to Custer State Park for Mt Rushmore and several days of exploring and celebrating birthdays. Birthday week is upon us Mom (28th of May), Dad (June 1) and Breighton (June 3).

We drove about 2.5 hours down to Jackson, Wyoming for a day of parades, crafts, exploring and a rodeo! The day started VERY wet. We managed to find a covered stop on the parade route. It was Old West Days and part of the celebration was a parade and activities in the town square.

Just as the parade started the rain paused.

We just happened to be at the stage area so got to see all the groups preform. We loved the Golden Girls dance troupe (women 65-94) as they danced to Uptown Funk!

One lady even did a huge split at the end!

 

 

We saw a bagpipe group. Weird for in the middle of the west!

I loved all the horses and carriages.

After the parade we wandered town a bit to let the crowds die down. We had some baked goods and ate pizza for lunch.

We were able to get in a few crafts before the rain picked back up. I loved making imprints into a leather necklace.

 

We also made dipped candles.

 

We wandered some more, grabbed a few groceries, hit the hardware store and found mexican for dinner.

After a drive out to see a historic bridge we headed back to Jackson for the rodeo!

We had great seats in the second row behind a couple from Jacksonville, Florida.

Sorry the photos aren’t the best but I can promise you we laughed, cringed, gasped and nearly cried watching these brave people on bulls and horses.

They even had a little cowboy that was only 5 years old ride a bull, with help.

 

 

This was an insanely long day. After the rodeo ended at 10pm we had to drive the 2.5 hours back to Yellowstone. We were all exhausted again. Oh, and more bison jams!

 

 

 

 

 

We drove the camper to Yellowstone National Park and hocked up at Fishing Bridge Campground. We used this as home base for a long week of fun and exploration.  Our first day was back south to the Grand Teton National Park. We had grabbed Junior Ranger books on the way through the prior day to Yellowstone. So we worked on them in the evening before so we didn’t have too much to do at the park for the books.

 

The Teton mountains were snowcapped and spectacular.

We decided to do some scenic drives and then hike a trail at Jenny Lake called the Hidden Falls Trail.

 

 

We had a great time hiking up the steep and long trail.

 

 

 

As we were going along an animal darted in front of us. Shockingly it was a SILVER FOX! A silver fox is very rare to see in the wild. It is a red fox lacking red pigment. They used to be hunted for their pelts. Mom was quick on the camera as it darted by our path.

I didn’t like hiking on the trail and preferred stomping through the snow along the trail.

And I had to keep stopping to throw snow in the air and pretend it was actually snowing.

There was a beautiful waterfall at the end of the hike.

We opted to take the shuttle boat back across the lake rather than hiking the few hours back. We were all tired so this was an excellent choice.

 

We walked down and dipped our hands into Jenny Lake. Jenny Lake comes partially from the glacier high in the mountain.

 

We had a fun day in Grand Teton and wrapped up with a nice dinner at the lodge.  We also picked up out Junior Ranger patches and badges.

Mom and Dad had ELK! ICK!

On the way back we got stuck in a bison jam on the roadway.

 

 

 

There were lots of bison calves as well!

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Our last day int he Dinosaur National Monument area we opted to go for a drive out to the Fish Hatchery. We got to see the areas where they raise different types of fish to restock local rivers.

 

The runways were jammed packed with fish.

 

It was neat to watch them jump at the end like they were trying to swim upstream.

 

 

A nice man came up to us and gave us each a cup of fish food to toss into the fish.

It was hilarious to watch the fish jump all over to get the food.

 

 

 

Next we toured inside and saw itty-bitty fish.

 

The facility was HUGE. It was picked for this location due to a source of water. The views weren’t that bad either!

 

We learned about whirling disease and how it is harming the fish. Fisherman have to take extra caution to wash their gear.

 

We took the truck in for an oil change and then visited the Vernal Town Historical Museum. We did a scavenger hunt as we explored and learned.

We spent the evening inside with our technology when Mom and Dad enjoyed a long campfire outside. We had to use up the wood we bought before heading back into a National Park.