Saw bear, ate bear, got t-shirt. Yum!

Day 4:

  Survived the first night in Yellowstone. It was absolutely cold last night and I dressed one layer short of staying warm, so it was a restless night for me. Nathan slept a little better than me, but he had a thicker blanket so he was warmer.  We quickly changed out of our pj’s and brushed our teeth.  Satisfied, we got into the car and cranked up the heat. Our first stop of the day was to canyon junction where we got ourselves a cup of hot water from a store to make oatmeal. Gobbling down its warm properties, we felt more human. From canyon village we cruised to the start of Hayden valley, hoping to spot our first Grizzly bear. Along the way we spotted a few more buffalo, including one who’s head was coated with frost from the 32-degree night.

Frosty the buffalo.

 Another one decided that it would be fun to walk down the wrong lane of the road. Right at us! Nathan put all the training that he learned in defensive driving school to the test and threw the E-brake, cranked the wheel over and we drifted around it with ease. OK, maybe that last part is fiction! We slowed and changed into the other lane and passed it. I really didn’t know that buffalo were British! :D We kept driving, until we spotted a lookout spot on the side of the road filled with cars. Navigating the parked cars, we found ourselves a spot and grabbed our cameras.  As we approached were the people were standing, one lady told us that a Grizzly and her two cubs were out there. After giving us the general area of where they were at, we zoomed in and were able to spot them just barely. Though they were far away, it was still fun to see.

The Grizzly is the small dot in the center of the page and its two cubs are down and to the left a little

 (not the large spot on the right, that's a buffalo).

 We watched them for some time until they were too far away to see. We continued south passing herds of buffalo along the way. We stopped to get some pictures of them. Soon, Hayden Valley was behind us as we approached Yellowstone Lake. We stopped at a lodge there and grabbed a bite to eat. Looking at the map, we didn’t see anything more that looked interesting enough to visit, so we turned back around to Hayden Valley. On the drive back up, I annoyed Nathan by saying over and over again, “Saw bear, ate bear, got T-shirt. Yum!” Not wanting to get thrown out of his car, I didn’t say it too often after that! Key words, too often. :D Back in Hayden valley, we stopped at Mary Mountain Trail. We filled our canteen and water bottles, threw on our packs and headed out to the middle of Hayden Valley. Though it was afternoon, we still hoped to spot some bear. However, the only thing we saw were some buffalo that decided to rest in the middle of our path.

Looking out into Hayden Valley.

 8 miles and a few hours later, we returned to our car only slightly weary from the journey.  With still more to see, we put our packs in the car. Our next stop: Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

View of upper falls.

 The first lookout was of upper falls and was easy to get to. After getting some video and pictures, we headed down a trail to Uncle Tom’s Point. When we reached that trail, a sign warned us that the journey down and back up was steep and difficult. “So what did you do,” you ask. Well, I will tell you. We kept going! Almost jogging, we went down several staircases to the base where there was a good view of lower falls. 

View of lower falls from Uncle Tom's point.

Some of the stairs leading back up.

We didn’t spend too much time down there, since there were a lot of people. Now came the fun part, scaling up the 328 steps to the top! I decided the best way to get up was to run up them, taking two at a time, sometimes three at a time. Making it up several flights, I was short on breath and stopped to wait for Nathan to catch up to me. I took a flight of stairs one at a time, but that took too long, and so I continued my method of running up the steps two at a time. Every couple of sets of stairs I would pause for a short time to try to catch my breath and to wait for Nathan. In no time, we’re at the top of the main sets of stairs. Desperately out of breath, I sat down for a couple of minutes to try to recuperate. Not wanting to sit much longer, I got back up and managed to reach the top. I promptly rested again for a short spell.  Huffing and puffing, I made it back to car. The candy apple red hood looked so inviting that I sprawled out on it and laid there for several minutes. I think about that time I finally was able to catch my breath. The afternoon was still young…ish. We continued on to another spot that had a lookout of lower falls from a couple miles away. The view from there was breath taking.

Lower falls.

 We then crossed the river back to the other side and stopped again to see lower falls. A trail led down the mountain to the brink of lower falls. Since we hadn’t had enough exercise for one day we descended on the steep trail that was filled with switchbacks.  The path came to an end right at the edge of the falls. The view was spectacular. Finished there, now we had to hike back up the trail. After going up Uncle Tom’s trail, this seemed pretty easy, although it didn’t help my weary legs. On the way up, we actually passed some people that we saw coming up when we were going down! By now, Nathan and I had seen all that we wanted to in that part of the park so we headed to Canyon Junction. Our water supply had been drained by the day so we stopped and filled them up from a drinking fountain there. (Note to readers: Yellowstone’s water is the BEST I have ever tasted! Sooo Divine!) After the day we had, it was decided that we needed a shower, so we stopped at a place there in Canyon and had our first shower since leaving Rawlings, WY.  Feeling refreshed, we ended the day by cooking a mix of chicken gumbo and sirloin burger soups for dinner, followed by flaming marshmallows! As we let the fire die, I prepared for another cold night by adding another layer of clothing. Snug in my sleeping back, I was ready for night two in Yellowstone.

End day 4.

Yellowstone, or bust.

Day 3:

    After surviving the slightly cold night in Grand Teton National Park, Nathan and I packed up the tent and left the campground. We briefly stopped at the lake at Colter Bay to take another look and a few more pictures of the Tetons. We then drove the short distance north to Yellowstone National Park, where our next adventure began.

Our first order of business was to beeline straight for the middle of the park to a campground that we had scoped out. We by-passed everything but wildlife. On the way up we came across a couple of Elk as well as a pair of coyotes. We didn't stop long, though, so that we would be able to get a site in the first come, first serve campground. We were able to get a nice spot where we pitched our tent. After we got that squared away, we got back into the car and head back down the road we had just come up. Along the way we stopped at several thermal areas. One of the areas had a mud volcano that burped mud bubbles, which was pretty cool.

Mud Volcano

However, the most spectacular of the thermal springs was Grand Prismatic Spring. It has a deep blue center and light blue around it and then rings of  green, yellow, red, and orange. We hiked up a boardwalk trail, close to the edge of it

Grand Prismatic (eye level view)

 We continued down until we reached Old Faithful where we waited for about an hour before the geyser erupted in spectacular fashion.

Old Faithful erupting.

After watching the geyser, we continued south until we reached Isa Lake. The lake was pretty beautiful, but what sets it apart, is the fact that it sits on the continental divide. So half of the lake eventually empties out into the Gulf of Mexico, and the other half to the Pacific Ocean. 

Having seen all that we wanted to that far south, we started the drive back up to our campground at Norris. Along the way, we spotted the trail that is used to view Grand Prismatic from the top. We grabbed our packs and set off on about a mile hike. Along the way we saw two more elk grazing on the hill side 50 yards away. We snapped some pictures and then continued on. Paralleling the spring, we spotted a dirt path that led up the side of a mountain that over looked it. With hunched backs, we trudged up the path until we could get a clear view of Grand Prismatic. After catching out breath, we were able to enjoy its shear beauty. 

 Grand Prismatic (upper view)

Since it was starting to get late we hiked back to the car and toward our campground. Along the way we had to make a stop to see several elk that were right next to the road. They hardly paid us much attention as we snapped off pictures from only a few feet away. 

 Elk grazing by the road side.

An Elk as it crossed the road.

Does anyone know why the elk crossed the road? To get to the Elk PARTY, of course! 

With a full day of things done, we settled into our campsite and started us a nice fire where we heated some canned spaghetti and beefaroni over the fire and enjoyed the combination. Soon after we finished, we broke out the marshmallows and had those for dessert. As the air cooled, we dragged the picnic table closer to the fire and enjoyed its warmth. The dusk ended and night began. The stars started to appear in the night sky. And there, in Norris Campground in Yellowstone National Park, I saw the little dipper for the first time in my life! Normally, in Iowa or South Dakota, all but two of the stars are too faint to see. However, in the crystal clear air and no light pollution from the park, I was able to see it! 

As the embers of the fire started to die, we snuffed them out and crawled into our tent and prepared for our first night in Yellowstone.

End day 3.

Some pictures from day 2

 Red rock formations.

 Grand Tetons.

 First black bear while hiking.

Grand Tetons again.

 The second black bear which was by the road.

"Now, why don't he write?"

Day 2:

   I know it has been a while, but there isn't much internet service camping. So day two was a lot of fun. We left Rawling, WY early and drove about 4 hours up to Grand Teton National Park. The drive was fun since everywhere you look it you could see pronghorn and we also saw some mule deer (two bucks and two does). We even saw a coyote and got some pictures of it. Along the way, there was some very cool rock formations. Some that were vivid red and also a couple that had a purple strip through them that was gorgeous. After hitting some road construction as we got closer to the Teton's, we finally made it to an over look and you could see them in all their amazingness. We reached the park a short while after that and stopped at another lookout to view the mountains with a river in the foreground. The valley had no wind, so we were able to get a mirror image of the mtns. on the river. After pulling ourselves away from that spot we made it to our campground and got a spot. We quickly put up our tent and headed back out to explore the park. The first spot we went was to a hiking trail that led up towards Grant Teton mtn. which was supposed to be prime spot to see bear. Within a few minutes of hiking we came across hikers coming down who said that there was a bear up ahead. Excited, we trudged up the steep path. More hikers confirmed that the bear was there. We got closer and came across another set of hikers, after inquiring about the bear they told us that it had scampered away. We were disappointed but the day was still early. We hiked for about an hour more before we decided that we should just go back down. The hike down was much easier than the hike up (imagine that!!), but we still had to be careful of where we stepped b/c the path had lots of rocks on it. As we approached the area that the bear had been last spotted I took a quick glance over, but didn't see anything. Less than thirty seconds later Nathan (who was walking behind me) said, "Zach, Zach, Zach! Bear!" I immediately stopped in my tracks and looked left. Sure enough, 15 yards away, behind some trees, was a BEAR!!!!!!!!

To be continued later!

Two seconds later. :D We quickly backed away, giving the black bear plenty of space.   We were in no danger though since the bear didn't pay us any attention, it was too busy eating berries, but it is always good to be safe rather than sorry. It started to approach the path. We backed up even more. By then, another hiker caught up to us and said that he was going to climb up the hill to our right and by-pass it. We thought that was a good idea and followed him. As we got to the other side, we stopped about 20 yards away and got pictures and video. It was right next to the path at this point. A couple of ladies came down the path. After several attempts, I finally got their attention and told them that there was a bear right next to the path. After stopping for a couple of seconds, they dumbly decided to tell it to shoo as they kept walking down the path. Luckily, the bear backed away and didn't attack them. After another hiker passed by, the bear made it to the path and decided to sit there for a few seconds. It then continued to eat berries on the path. After several minutes of watching it, we decided we should get going back to the bottom. The rest of the trip was uneventful. We then continued to a few more look out spots to see the Tetons, and also to a famous barn where lots of pictures were taken of it with the mtns. in the background. At that part of the park we saw our first buffalo. There was a herd of them grazing in prairie grass. As dusk approached we headed back to our campsite. Along the way we came across a car parked on the side of the road (normally a sign of animals). We drove past but didn't see anything, but decided to turn around and double check. Good thing we did, 30 yards away was another black bear eating berries. We stopped for several minutes and watched it. In that time, a bunch of cars had stopped and there was a bear jam on the road. That is always fun to watch. After a while, the bear disappeared into the woods and we were left to get back to our tent. We grabbed some hotdogs and roasted them over a fire and then crawled into our tent for our first night camping under the Wyoming sky (sadly it was cloudy most of the night so we only got to see the stars for a short time). 

End of day 2.

More posts about yellowstone coming soon! 

P.S. If you didn't get the title, its from the movie Dances with Wolves.

Start of Northwest Vacation 2011

Day 1:

   5:45 A.M. we departed Kalona, IA and headed on our way. 900 miles and just under 13 hours later we are in the snug town of Rawlings, WY. The trip was pretty uneventful but it did have some very interesting moments. First of all, I have to tell you, Nebraska may be one of the strangest states I have ever been in. To patrol the state, the troopers just park their cars in the middle of the median with no one in them. Another thing that made me laugh out loud (besides my 'you might be a redneck' jokes), was the fact that after mowing the medians and bailing them the hay bales were placed on the road. Yes, you heard it right, ON THE ROAD. In the opposing traffic, the left lane had a handful of hay bales just sitting there. Thankfully, that lane was coned off, but still, it was very amusing to see. Apparently, placing them in the median wasn't good enough. :D Anyway, the trip went really well. Along the way saw some deer, more than a dozen pronghorn, and a family of turkeys. If I was feeling more creative I could probably put together a song based off the twelve days of christmas, but not this time. I guess you will just have to wait until the another post for me to do that! :D I am not sure how much I will be able to access the internet, but I will try to update the story of Northwest Vacation 2011 as best as possible. 

Tomorrow, the next stop will be the Grand Tetons!  Until next time!