Our Yellowstone Trip: Days 4-7
Where do I even begin?
We saw so many beautiful sites and experienced many firsts these past few days. From the expansive Yellowstone Lake to the stunning Canyon Falls to the majestic Teton mountains, we packed a lot within both Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks. And it’s been nice to disconnect. Going without electricity and wifi most days was tricky at first…but then you just adapt.
Get cozy because this one’s a bit more in-depth (but don’t worry, it comes with photos).
Day 4 (Yellowstone Lake paddling and West Thumb Geisers)
First off, the Guide Along app has been very helpful in exploring this place. The kids nicknamed it “Bob.” Bob shares interesting stories, must-see stops along the way, and helpful tips to be sure you get the full Yellowstone experience. And he’s even kind of funny. If you do venture out here, please download this essential app - you won’t regret it! Every dot represents a point of commentary.
While waiting for the rain to stop we popped into the local gift shop to pick out some souvenirs, including huckleberry jam, huckleberry ice cream cones, and a magnet for the fridge. We had the perfect water access point behind our campground (Loop I-318), but we entered through the marina first and then boated back toward our campground with the warm sun peeking through the mountains as the day warmed up. Layers are important here as the weather changes a lot throughout the day. I started most days in four layers, but always ended in a tank and shorts.
In Yellowstone Lake we stopped at a large volcanic sand bar to take a break and let the kids run around, skip rocks and put their feet in the 60-degree waters. We saw elk tracks along the sand bar and several ravens and puffins. After a little while we hopped back in our boats and paddled to our campground.
This one’s a special one for Emily below. Diagnosed with breast cancer over a year ago and having gone through it all, she’s finished treatment and celebrating recovery milestones ahead. Still a long road to go, but this is her “I kicked cancer’s butt!” photo.
Steaks over the fire and hobo foil packs for dinner. Kids built the fire this time. Later, the kids went in the Buddenberg’s motor boat to check out some nearby geisers in West Thumb Basin before turning back. Kyle and I went back out on the boat to a closer sand bar, found a good piece of wood to sit on and watched the sun go down with a drink in hand. It was a perfect night.
Day 5 (Yellowstone Grand Canyon and Falls, Hayden and Lamar Valley, Roosevelt Ranch, Gardener MT, plus bison, wolf and black bear sitings).
We woke up about 6a.m. Tuesday and cooked up some yummy egg/sausage sandwiches for breakfast for everyone. Mornings are chilly here (50s/60s) so we layered up, packed sandwiches for lunch later, and headed toward Yellowstone’s Grand Canyon (Canyon Village). On our route to Canyon Village we drove through Hayden Valley. Here we saw the Mud Volcano and a heard of bison with a black wolf tracking it.
We arrived in the Canyon Village area and stopped at the Lower Falls. Wow. The falls were bigger than life and quite awe-inspiring to see its drop off into the canyon below. You have to hike down a 0.6 mile trail to get to the Lower Falls view point. But what goes down must come up. Right? We took it all in…and took a lot of pictures…before heading back up. A little tougher making the climb back up, but doable.
We made a quick stop at Grand View and Inspiration Pointe to eat our sandwiches we’d packed - a perfect lunch view - before leaving this area to get some huckleberry ice cream cones inside Canyon Village. (This place is known for its huckleberries.)
*Lower Falls video directly above.
Next we headed to Roosevelt Ranch to go horseback riding. We pre-booked this 1-hour ride through Xanterra. “Bob” had us stop at a few places along the way of course. Our horses were named Payroll (Kyle), Walker (Norah), Slim Jim (Jaxon) and Lunchbox (Beth). We were supposed to do a Cowboy Dinner that evening but somehow our reservations were lost, so we decided to drive north to Gardener MT for dinner, and to cross off one more state for Kyle (he only has two left now). We ate at Yellowstone Mine Restaurant in Gardener. I recommend trying the trout or Chicken Pot Pie Pastry. A few elk roamed wild and comfortably through this town, which was fun to see. On the way back we drove past Mammoth Springs (white rock photo below). We saw many more animals today including bison, elk and a bear cub.
Day 6 (Snake River Float and Grand Teton mountains, Jackson Hole Tram ride to the top, Triangle X, plus elk, moose and bison sitings)
This was my favorite day. Wednesday we woke up early (about 5a.m. - that part was not my favorite) so we could hit the road by 6a.m. We ate some cereal and drove to Moose WY (about 1:45 hour drive) to slip on life jackets and hop into a raft on a guided rafting tour down the Snake River which followed the gorgeous Teton Mountains. This excursion was absolutely breathtaking! We reserved this tour through Triangle X and Jim was our guide. He took about 10 of us on a very smooth, peaceful ride down the river as it opened up to the Tetons. We saw three bald eagles and just enjoyed every minute of the scene in front of us. God’s country. Pictures simply don’t do these views justice. We did bring some mimosas with us to share with the other adults on the float which was fun.
After the river float we drove over to Jackson for lunch at Jackson Drug (an old drug store turned into restaurant). Kids enjoyed the milkshakes. The French Grilled Cheese and Smash Burgers were great, and I was very happy how many gluten free options they had for Norah.
Before heading back to our campground we stopped at two more places. We took Jackson Hole’s aerial tram up 4,000 feet to the top of the mountains - and what a view it was! Only had a tiny little vertigo walking out to the end of the metal plank overlook, but well worth it. Weather was coming in so about 20 minutes later we headed back down the tram to the bottom.
Last stop was Triangle X Ranch. Kyle had been here before when elk hunting in the winter a few times, so it’s somewhat special for him. He stopped in to grab a souvenir and say hi. We saw them turn out the ride-along horses free for some free range exercise and it was like watching a scene out of the movie Man from Snowy River.
We drove back to the campsite, hit some rain and sleet along the way along with a lot of traffic. I think coming here Sun-Wed was smart as it’s been pretty quiet for the most part up until now. But starting today we’ve seen more people. Cooked up some homemade Goolash and toasted garlic bread for dinner, and apple pie and wine for dessert. It was our last night in Yellowstone so we all hit the showers. Our campground gives you a punch card - 2 per night per site. We had a few extra so they let all four of us use up the rest which was nice (and needed).
Day 7 (Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic, and depart for Casper WY KOA)
Our last day in Yellowstone is here. Two things we all wanted to see before leaving was Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic. Both very close to each other. You can download Geyer Times app to get predictions on local geisers. Old Faithful was predicted around 9:38a.m. We pulled into the Old Faithful Inn parking lot and found hundreds of people crowded around the infamous geiser. After waiting a little while we started to see her bubbling and gurgling begin. Right on time (9:40). Cameras out and ready.
Next we continued down the road to Grand Prismatic. The big deal about grand prismatic isn’t that it’s a geiser but the beautiful color tones of this large hot spring from all the bacteria. There are two ways to get in. The first stop is by hiking in toward the Fairy Falls up to the overlook over the Grande. You park and hike in about 0.8 miles (so 1.5 miles total). The last leg of the hike is pretty steep but you follow a trail. We took this route. You can also go to the next stop, park and walk up to the Grande at eye level, but the picturesque view looking down onto it was worth the hike for what will probably make our Christmas card. ;)
We got back to our campground a little late (checkout was 11am and I think we finally left about 12:30, but we requested late checkout so that helped). Again, plan for everything to take a little longer than you’d think.
So far this trip has been amazing. A terrific experience for our families. But if there’s one thing to remember about Yellowstone, remember the word WILD. They told us that when we arrived and it’s true - wise to remember WE are the visitors here to Yellowstone’s wildlife.
We took off west to spend the night at Casper WY KOA again, and we’d spend the next couple of days at Lake Mac and other adventurers along the way. . . Stay tuned.
Day 4-7 Recap:
- Mud Volcano
- Hayden Valley
- Grand Canyon Lower Falls, Grand view and Inspiration pointe
- Huckleberry ice cream at Canyon Village
- Roosevelt Ranch horseback riding
- Lamar Valley
- Mammoth Springs into Gardener MT, dinner at Yellowstone Mine
- Drive back west side of north loop
- Snake River Float Teton Mountains
- Jackson Aerial Tram (lunch at Jackson Drug)
- Triangle X Ranch
- Old Fairhful
- Grand Prismatic via Fairy Falls overlook
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