Yellowstone

A year ago we decided to take a year off from swim camp to go to Yellowstone.  It was eight years ago (a year before Drew was born) that we last went as a family.  Camille was three and Alexa was two.  Looking at our summer after reunions and the time the garden would be producing, we decided to go the first week of July.  We invited my Dad and John to go during the Hansen reunion, and were happy that they were able to go.  We left early Wednesday morning and met my Dad and John in Rexburg.  We arrived in West Yellowstone about 10:00 in the morning and waited to enter the park for about 15 minutes.  I have never seen it so busy.  We also found out that about half of the campgrounds are now exclusively reserved on-line.  We tryed Madison campground first and they were all full.  We headed north to Norris campground but it was mainly a tent area.  We headed further north to Indian Creek campground and were able to find two trailer sites together.  We set up camp and ate lunch.  The campground did not have flushing toilets so that was not as nice a feature, but it did have campsites that were not on top of each other as Madison would have been.  We decided to go for a long drive to Bear Tooth Pass between Montana and Wyoming at an elevation of 10,947 feet.  I have been there several times, the last time being on Katie and I's honeymoon 18 years ago.  We had great weather up to the point of the summit and then were hit with fog and heavy rain.  There is still several feet of snow there.  Below are some pictures of the drive.

The family with Pilot and Index Peaks in the background.

 Getting rained on at the summit.

Jeffrey and Brandon posing by a wall of snow near the summit.

Jeffrey and Brandon near a Rotary snow plow they use to open the road.  The road is only open from the end of May to the end of September.

Thursday we celebrated Drew's 7th birthday in the park.  After breakfast and opening his presents, we went to the Canyon area of the park.  We were unable to go to the south area of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone for the first part of the day because a hiker had been killed the previous day by a bear protecting her cubs.  They opened the road in the afternoon.  After seeing the Canyon area, we headed south to Yellowstone Lake. Below are some of the pictures of this day.



Looking at the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone from Artist's Point

Alexa, Mary, and Drew looking at the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone from the South Rim.

Gull Point Drive covered with water due to the high water of Yellowstone Lake.  It is about 3 feet higher than normal. 

Yellowstone Lake and the road of Gull Point Drive.

The flooding of the Yellowstone River as it leaves Yellowstone Lake.

Drew's doughnut cake that he chose to have for his camping birthday.  It was too windy outside to have candles so we ate inside Dad's trailer.

Friday we went to some of the hotsprings and geysers.  We had about a half hour traffic jam due to slow buffalo walking down the road and tourists that forget that they are blocking the road to take a picture while the rest of us try not to have road rage.  We stopped off at the Midway geyser basin, Old Faithful area, and Norris geyser basin.  Below are some of the pictures of the day.

Grand Prismatic Spring in the Midway Geyser basin.

Old Faithful erupting.  We were able to see it erupt twice.



Morning Glory pool.  The colors are not as vibrate as they once were due to all of the garbage that people throw into it. 

Old Faithful Lodge in the center with the new visitor center to the left of the picture.

Saturday we loaded up and headed to West Yellowstone to see the Discovery Center and an IMAX movie.  We did this eight years ago also just after they had opened it up.  We saw two grizzly bears and eight wolves.  We also saw a movie about Lewis and Clark which was very interesting.  We arrived home about 5:30 in the afterfoon to unload the trailer and mow the law.  It is always alot of work to get ready for and recover from a camping trip, but the memories make it all worth it.

We had a very fun time together.  Of course not having Katie there for this planned trip was very sad.  We had looked forward for this trip together.  It was very fun to have my Dad and John come.  Thank you to them for all of their help and support.