Saturday 6/25

Mama & 2 cubs, playing, a photo by Olivia Linkel on Flickr.

Originally when I started planning this trip, I did my normal amount of reading and research and found that this park is too big to plan from a thousand miles away. I had certain things in my head that I was hoping for but I let go of expectations and we decided to just wing it. So with that said, we decided the night before that since we had so much luck seeing the animals along the Hayden Valley, we would retrace that area and head towards the lake today.


We were ready to go over to the cafeteria for breakfast by about 7:20. We had picnic supplies packed in the back of the Suburban and rolled out shortly after 8 AM. I told the kids that the first person to see an animal would get a quarter and they definitely rose to the challenge. The first one they saw was a bison, followed by elk and then we pulled over to a turnout where a bunch of people and a ranger were watching the hills below. There was a grizzly feeding on an elk carcass to the left and a mother and her cubs off to the right. We stayed for a while with our crappy binoculars trying to see them and then decided to move on. We came to our first really bad stinky mud pot – Sulphur Springs. Lorelei really didn’t want to stop but we went ahead. We are so glad we did!!! As we were walking back to the car, a grizzly crossed the road right in front of a camper about 500 yards up the road and then following behind her were two cubs. These were most likely the mother and cubs from the night before and the same ones we lost sight of at the last spot.

Everyone else got in the car and I went up the road to see if they were still there. We were witnessing the start of a bear jam and it was exhilarating!!!! I went back to the car and we turned around to let the kids have a good look from the car. They loved it and as soon as we got past the jam, we turned right back around and went through again. I don’t think I could ever get tired of that. Our next stop was at Mud Volcano. We walked up to the Black Dragons Cauldron and around the rest of the boardwalk and noticed as we came down that a lot of photographers had setup their cameras aimed at the hill above Mud Volcano. They were waiting for - a bear!! The mother with the two cubs has apparently been in that parking lot before. We waited around and talked to them for about 10 minutes and then headed on towards the Lake.

We were trying to give everyone a rest from walking too much today and so we went over to the marina to see about a scenic cruise of Yellowstone Lake. They didn’t have any room in the next two rides so we headed on towards Midway Geyser Basin, past the Old Faithful area. First we made a stop in the gift shop where we bought really good binoculars, an expensive souvenir but worth every penny.

We stopped at West Thumb and realized Riley had fallen asleep. She wasn’t very happy about getting out of the car but once we started walking the geyser field, she perked right up. Next stop was Grant Village for a picnic lunch. With food in our bellies, everyone was happy to get out and walk the boardwalk up to Grand Prismatic Spring. We have plans to do a hike from Fairy Falls that will take us above the spring for even better views so expect to see that a little later. Then we drove the Firehole River road, and stopped into the Fountain Paint Pots for a walk. Next we headed toward the Madison Junction via the Firehole Canyon drive which was really pretty.

We turned toward Norris at Madison Junction and stopped to see a whole herd of bison lying in the grass. Lorelei asked why everyone was so excited to see a bison in the grass. I guess they have lost the grandeur now that she has seen so many. She did say it would be cool if some crossed the road and within 5 minutes, around Gibbon Falls, she got her wish. Three bison were lumbering down the road leading a line of cars. The first car was sort of pushing them to keep going. Pam had to stop the car pretty suddenly and a snoozing Riley woke to those three guys going right past her window.

Lorelei said she wished it would happen again and within 5 minutes we were part of a bison jam with more than 30 bison, 4 of them being calves, came down the road leading a line of cars more than a mile long. Thank god we have a sunroof on the car because I have gotten some excellent pictures out of there. The rangers, with their flashing lights, were coming the other direction as we turned at Norris and headed for Canyon. We have found wherever there is a wildlife jam, the rangers are not far behind. Coolest job EVER if you ask me.

When we got back to our lodge, we took a short bathroom break and then headed out on the north rim road to get a peak at the grand canyon of the Yellowstone. It is pretty spectacular and I can’t wait to see more on Monday.

We had dinner at the cafeteria, nothing spectacular and then headed over to the Canyon Visitor center to complete the junior ranger books and get the kids their patches. Then with everyone showered and in bed, I spend 2 hours writing the blog and downloading pictures, 159 today. My disk is nearly full with 625 pictures so far on the trip. We are expecting rain tomorrow and will be headed to the Lamar valley to look for more animals and then on to Mammoth Hot Springs.