{"id":629,"date":"2009-07-15T01:39:25","date_gmt":"2009-07-15T05:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/?p=629"},"modified":"2009-07-15T01:39:25","modified_gmt":"2009-07-15T05:39:25","slug":"bison-and-elks-and-bears-oh-my","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/2009\/07\/15\/bison-and-elks-and-bears-oh-my\/","title":{"rendered":"Bison and Elks and Bears! Oh My!"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we packed up our Montana campsite, our host told us of a spectacular drive through the mountains to Yellowstone National Park<\/a>, our next destination.\u00a0 He spoke of Red Lodge and winding roads up the Rockies for views unlike any other that would take us to the Northeast Entrance of the park.\u00a0 He did warn us to drive carefully because of the high number of deaths on that road each year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Welcome

Welcome to Yellowstone<\/p><\/div>\n

With our adventurous ways tamed just a bit after our last excursion, we followed Betty\u2019s advice and took the safe, boring highway to the North entrance instead.\u00a0 The ride to the park may have been average but all that changed once we crossed through the gates of the world\u2019s first National Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Mammoth<\/a>

Mammoth Hot Springs<\/p><\/div>\n

I was not prepared for the scope of Yellowstone.\u00a0 I read a lot about the park and the many different geological areas, each offering different experiences but as we climbed through the mountains, I was in awe of the beauty of the changing landscape.\u00a0 The first area we drove through was Mammoth Hot Springs<\/a>.\u00a0 Large white stone, which looked like ice caps on a mountain top, were covered with colorful hot springs, pools and waterfalls.\u00a0 There is nothing else like this in the park, so if you have the time, it\u2019s worth a stop and look around.\u00a0 We continued our scenic drive to Canyon Campground for a two day stay.<\/p>\n

Canyon Campground was one of the larger campsites Yellowstone had to offer.\u00a0 We found our spot and settled in.\u00a0 The boys were ready to set up the tent to sleep outdoors that night until Dennis noticed the bear claw markings on all the trees around us.\u00a0 It was probably nothing and the Ranger assured us bears don\u2019t frequent that area anymore but\u2026\u00a0 The kids slept in the camper that night.\u00a0 I mentioned how I began to relinquish my fashion standards a bit in the last blog.\u00a0 In Yellowstone, however, I took it to an all time low.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Entering

Entering Yellowstone<\/p><\/div>\n

I did something that I never thought I would do in my entire life.\u00a0 Dennis and I are both early risers and in an effort to not wake the kids we decided to go for an early morning walk to get the paper and a coffee.\u00a0 I went for this mile walk in my pajamas!\u00a0 Granted, they looked similar to sweatpants but never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be in public in PJ’s!\u00a0 Strange thing is that no one noticed or cared.\u00a0 More importantly, I wasn\u2019t the only one.<\/p>\n

Being uber relaxed, we plotted our day.\u00a0 A friend of ours had loaned us a book on all the day hikes in Yellowstone.\u00a0 I found one hike that seemed right up our ally and was only 2 miles from Canyon.\u00a0 After breakfast, we geared up and head out for an easy, 2-4 mile hike or so we thought.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Upper

Upper Falls - look closely for the tiny people on the right (spots of colors)<\/p><\/div>\n

The very first leg of the hike took us from Uncle Tom\u2019s parking area through a trail to Artisians\u2019 Point.\u00a0\u00a0This was a fairly popular walk that brought you into the beginning of the \u201cGrand Canyon of Yellowstone<\/a>\u201d, where you could see the Upper Falls waterfall and all the tourist on the other side of the canyon.\u00a0 Once you reached the parking lot at Artisians Point, most folks turned back but thanks to our trusty hike book, we went\u00a0to the back parking lot and continued our hike.\u00a0 And oh what a hike it was!<\/p>\n

\"artisans

Taking a breat at Artisians Point<\/p><\/div>\n

I would not classify the next part of this trail as easy.\u00a0 We hiked up and up and up and up alongside a cliff, continuing further along the canyon.\u00a0 The higher we climbed, the more amazing the views.\u00a0 We saw Bald Eagles swooping over the rocks, canyon walls that look like watercolors dropped from the sky.\u00a0 Sure we were hot and tired but loving every minute of it, most of us at least.\u00a0 After hiking to a top elevation of 8100 feet, we saw the trail split back to Clear Lake and Lily Pad Lake where we continued our adventure.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At this point, the boys regretted all the hiking gear we took.\u00a0 Dennis took on all the gear no one wanted to carry.\u00a0 Now, the jokes about how it is the jack ass that carries all the gear through the canyon are so obvious I couldn\u2019t resist but I seriously have to say thanks to Den.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Lily

Lily Pad Lake<\/p><\/div>\n

We came across Lily Pad Lake where the name was well suited.\u00a0 With my love of frogs, I moved quickly through this area, the boys on toad alert the whole way.\u00a0 I made it through without a sighting!\u00a0 At least 3 miles into the walk so far and no end in sight, we made it to Clear Lake, again properly named.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We were all so tempted to jump right in and cool off but the idea of walking back in wet shorts wasn\u2019t so appealing.<\/p>\n

We all reveled in how our hike brought us up a cliff and then down into the woods that opened into these inviting lakes but imagine our surprise when we rounded the corner to find yet another, completely different landscape.\u00a0 The next 1\/8 mile was several boiling pools of mud.\u00a0 My skin could have used that treatment, I tell you!\u00a0 Some were a roaring boil, others were spurts that jumped 3 feet in the air.\u00a0 It was unlike anything I\u2019ve ever seen.\u00a0 We would have admired them longer but the smell of sulfur was almost unbearable!\u00a0 Just like the first time Cam saw the hundreds of bugs that met their fate on the front of our RV, his gag reflex kicked in and we hustled out of there very quickly!<\/p>\n

We couldn\u2019t believe we saw three unique geological areas on our single but tiring hike, and then we rounded the next corner to see our final change in landscape \u2013 a large open meadow with rolling grass and shady trees.\u00a0 Pinch me!\u00a0 I can\u2019t believe this is real.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Elks

Elks roam free<\/p><\/div>\n

As Luke\u2019s hat almost blew off his head again, we all offered to carry it for him because it is now a sacred symbol of our adventures.\u00a0 As Dennis turned from joking with Luke he stopped dead in his tracks.\u00a0 An entire herd of Elk were grazing in the field below.\u00a0 Back in South Dakota, Luke learned the hard way not to yell \u201cLook!\u00a0 It\u2019s an animal!\u201d when spotting wildlife and we all stood still and watched these beautiful creatures surrounded by nature.\u00a0 We could see a few Buffalo way off in the distance, thankfully posing absolutely no threat to us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After 3 hours and 6+ miles, we spotted our last show stopping site \u2013 the parking lot where we started.\u00a0 We could see the finish line.\u00a0 I was a little disappointed I didn\u2019t see any bear, from a far of course, but our time in Yellowstone wasn\u2019t done yet.<\/p>\n

To see our entire photo album, visit Snapfish<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we packed up our Montana campsite, our host told us of a spectacular drive through the mountains to Yellowstone National Park, our next destination.\u00a0 He spoke of Red Lodge and winding roads up the Rockies for views unlike any other that would take us to the Northeast Entrance of the park.\u00a0 He did warn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[63,27,101],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":644,"href":"https:\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629\/revisions\/644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/snapshotchronicles.com\/roadtrip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}