Yellowstone Inn

Mon, 6/30/08

Yellowstone NP, WY: Another pretty day. Decided to drive up to the Old Faithful area. Went over Craig pass and on the other side it was really warm—well, comparatively warm. It was in the low 80s when we got to Old Faithful. I wasn’t looking forward to this because I figured it would be mobbed with people—and it was. But we walked over to the veranda of the beautiful, rustic Old Faithful Lodge and got ourselves a couple of chairs and pulled them up to the railing for a beautiful view of the geyser. I went inside and bought a couple of sandwiches, some drinks, and some cookies, and we settled in to watch the eruption. The sky was getting threatening but we were under cover at least. And it went off pretty much on schedule. Thankfully we ate before the eruption because after everyone headed into the lodge for something to eat. It was packed and the lines were endless. So we walked over to the older and more historic Old Faithful Inn and explored this fantastic lobby. We were going to walk the trail through the geyser basin, but it was looking iffy weatherwise, so we headed back to where we were parked and on the way saw Old Faithful go off again. Drove back making many stops along the way. The Firehole River and Firehole Lake are pretty spectacular. We saw an elk carcass on the way to Firehole Lake. Stopped at another hot spring and walked around for a while and drove down Firehole River Canyon road. This canyon is spectacular with vertical cliffs of about 1000 ft. and this cascading river at the bottom. Also took the Virginia Rapids side road which was really scary—no guard rails and a straight drop into the canyon. Beautiful though. And we stopped at Gibbon Falls. There are so many beautiful streams, falls, and river valleys in this park. On the way back along the Yellowstone River we saw a beaver. Great day.

Grizzly back in the trees

Lower Falls

Sun, 6/29/08

Yellowstone NP, WY: Another beautiful day. We hiked the Pelican Creek trail in the morning—a pretty little trail that leads you through pines and firs to Yellowstone Lake and then through a pretty marsh area. However, this area was flooded out so we backtracked through the woods. I said I would not hike in grizzly territory, which this definitely is, but here we are traipsing through the woods. I sang a lot though to let them know we were around. That scared everything away. Decided to have lunch at the Yellowstone Lake Lodge, but they only had a cafeteria. So we went to the Yellowstone Lake Hotel and had lunch in their elegant dining room. This hotel is very historic—originally built in 1890. It’s had several renovations and additions, bringing it to its current elegance. Its large veranda looks out to Yellowstone Lake and the mountains beyond. After lunch we decided to drive back toward Sylvan Pass, and returning we saw a grizzly with two yearling cubs. Watched them for a while and then back to our pretty campsite in the pines. Hit the upper 70s today.

LeHardys Rapids

Sat, 6/28/08

Yellowstone NP, WY: A beautiful morning. We decided to drive up to Canyon City and stop at all the points along the way. Our first stop was at sulphur caldron and mud volcano. Interesting, but not very pretty. The drive took us along the Yellowstone River all the way to Canyon City. Spectacular views. After that we stopped at LeHardys Rapids—a beautiful spot on the river where cutthroat trout fight their way up the rapids to Fishing Bridge where they spawn. That is happening now. We saw a couple of the trout in the shallows—resting I guess before they tackled the rapids. We are here at a great time since they had a late snow melt and there is lots of water in the rivers and lakes. In fact, there is a lot of snow still around—even in our campground. Had lunch at Canyon City and then backtracked to the upper and lower falls. These are on the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Spectacular canyon and falls. We hiked down one of the rim trails and saw an elk on the trail. We heard a grizzly and her two cubs were spotted at Hayden Valley. We only saw Bison when we went by there. Back to the campground. This campground has a grocery store, gas station, laundry, as well as a car and RV repair facility. We stopped at the grocery store to check it out. Pretty limited. We plan to head back to Cody anyway, so we’ll do our grocery shopping then.

Yellowstone Lake

Fri, 6/27/08

Yellowstone NP, WY: We left our campground in Wapiti around 11:00 and headed to the west entrance of the park. What incredible scenery. Wild flowers are everywhere. We’re at the Fishing Bridge campground and Mike did such a good job with the reservation because he asked for a site on the periphery and we’re on the end of a loop surrounded by pines. It’s a great site. It’s as beautiful as a national forest campground but with water, electric, and sewer. No TV reception, no cell phone signal and no Internet though. After we got set up we drove around for a while. We’re within walking distance of the Yellowstone River as it comes out of Yellowstone Lake. A beautiful spot. Drove around Yellowstone Lake a little bit and stopped at the Yellowstone Lake Lodge. On the way there were a couple of bison in the road blocking traffic. Back to campground and Italian sausage sandwiches and three bean salad for dinner.