We had an eventful departure from Yellowstone National Park this morning. We got the blood pumping with a short hike along the Yellowstone river. Lots of people were looking for jumping fish over the river falls, and though we didn’t see any fish, it was a peaceful and invigorating start to the day.
On our way out to West Thumb Geyer Basin, we happened upon a grizzly bear having a snack. We were able to get some pretty good photos and see the bear up as close as was safe. It was pretty exciting. It seems the grizzly kept company with a bald eagle, so we got a really good view of him as well.
Our tour of the West Thumb boardwalks yielded many excellent views of hot springs and some fumaroles. This basin has changed quite a bit since Ian and I saw it almost 15 years ago, but there were many beautifully clear, vibrant blue coloured hot springs - all against a lake view with snow capped mountains in the distance.
After a short drive, we left Yellowstone to enter Grand Teton National Park. There is not much along the highway between the two parks except for lots and lots of Lodgepole pine trees. We passed a bunch of hills that had been subject to forest fires, with the little trees only about a foot tall regrowing amongst the burned out trunks.
Arriving at Grand Teton was quite the show. Ian said the mountains looked almost artificial because they were so beautiful. If you could dream up the most perfect rugged peaks, this is what the Grand Teton mountain range looks like.
We snapped lots of photos on our drive into the park and pulled into campsite number 11 in Signal Mountain campground - what a view! As soon as we unpacked, the boys - totally inspired by the mountain views - couldn’t wait to get into their swimming trunks to go swimming in the lake. We tried to tell them that the water temperature was probably about 0°C, but that didn’t deter them at all. All three of them went in, though they weren’t in the water very long at all before they came splashing out, shivering and shaking. This was their first experience of swimming in an alpine lake and it was definitely memorable. Brrr!
After a lunch of hot dogs on the barbecue, we ventured out to the Jenny Lake Visitor Centre. We were astounded by the absolutely insane number of cars filling the entire parking lot and then lining the road on all sides for at least a mile all directions. The boys picked up their Junior Ranger books, and we checked in with a park ranger to see which of the hikes are still under snow cover and which are currently accessible, so that we can make a plan for the next couple of days.
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| Not sure what is going on with Ali here, lol. |
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| Paint pots. |
Our afternoon was spent fishing on the lake near our campground and we bought some (expensive) firewood so that we can have a campfire tonight. We seem to have a resident elk in the campground who likes to be right in the thick of things!
Tomorrow is going to be a pretty intense hiking day, so we’re taking it easy for the rest of the afternoon and evening in anticipation of an early start tomorrow (to beat the crowds) in hopes of seeing some incredible scenery and hopefully more wildlife.
