Home again! Yellowstone and The Tetons were AMAZING!

Wow! That was the longest trip I’ve ever taken and honestly it felt exactly right. We were able to fully enjoy everything we planned and couldn’t have asked for more! Our trip through Boise, Yellowstone, The Tetons, City of Rocks and finally Walla Walla was amazing! My heart is very thankful!

Highlights

-First Stop Boise – Time with Josh and Jocelyn. We love the restaurants there! They took us to Funky Taco and it was amazing! Jeff and I also went for a bike ride along their amazing bike trail system and we did some rock climbing in their super cool climbing gym Vertical View. https://verticalview.com/

–West Yellowstone – This was our landing spot as we explored Yellowstone. Its a touristy town that has everything that you need. Where we stayed was only 2 blocks from the park entrance. We left each morning before the town was open and got back after most stores and restaurants closed. 

Disclaimer – I am not a wildlife photographer. I only had my favorite portrait lens (70-20mm) to shoot with. I would have killed for a 600mm on this trip!

Day 1 -Yellowstone – Lamar Valley was by far our favorite area. It is in the north area of the park and overflowing with animals! Our first day we saw a momma black bear and her 2 cubs! It was such an amazing experience to watch her take them for a swim. They were just tiny fuzz balls. They climbed up on her back in the water. I don’t think they were fans of the experience!  Day 1 set the pace for our wildlife viewing experience. Total 4 black bears, 3 wolves a coyote and countless Bison, Antelope and Elk!

Our 3rd day in Yellowstone we returned to the Lamar Valley and that time we saw a Badger, Grey Wolf, a Grizzly with her 2 cubs as well as 4 black bears!  Lamar Valley is definitely the place to go for wildlife! Plus its beautiful! We also enjoyed some hikes in the area (with bear spray!) We were headed to hike on a trail and decided to turn around when we spotted a black bear grazing nearby!

After our morning in Lamar Valley we headed to the Old Faithful area of the park. We attempted a hike up Elephant Back but got lost in the snow and had to turn around. We ended our day watching Old Faithful spout off.

Day 2 – Yellowstone – We hiked the North Rim of The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It was just over 6 miles of hiking. We took the trails that led us down, down to the top of the falls. This of course meant we had to hike up, up to return to the trail. We definitely noticed the altitude on our first few days of hiking! Most of the time we were hiking at around 6-7,000 feet altitude. It’s not Everest but it’s noticeable!

This was the day we saw our first Grizzly bear! We saw him approaching the river we were driving along. We stopped and watched him swim the river (toward us) and then run across the road and up the other side. So cool!

Day 4 -we drove through Yellowstone on our way to the Tetons.  We hiked a trail that lead us to a long series of boardwalks which surround dozens and dozens of geysers near Old Faithful. Honestly I’m not a huge fan of all the geysers. Especially the stinky ones! They make me sick to my stomach which is not a pleasant experience! My favorite part was walking towards a family and seeing a little boy cock his arm back and launch something into a nearby geyser. His horrified mom seeing the same thing I did yelled “What did you just do?” He yelled back “I threw a Pringle into the geyser!”  

Once we arrived in The Tetons we were welcomed with amazing views of the mountains and my first ever fox sighting! Our first stop was at Colter Bay to take in the views. I decided to lay down on the rocky beach to soak in the sunshine. After a couple min I sat up and noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a fox! Coming right towards me. I grabbed my phone to take pictures and a video but I also said to Jeff “I don’t know what to do!” We had been so focused on what to do if we encountered a bear I had no clue what to do with this fox coming for me! He just veered off…

We got back in the car and soon stopped again because there was a Grizzly in the field next to the road! I decided The Tetons were gonna be just as great as Yellowstone for wildlife sighting!

Before we left on our trip I had mentioned to Jeff that I really wanted to see Moose. I had never seen a Moose in nature and that was on my list! 

Day 5 – Tetons – I was getting nervous that we wouldn’t see any Moose. People in Yellowstone made it sound like the Tetons were crawling with Moose and we hadn’t seen any. Jeff and I hiked around Jenny Lake that day. We began with a side trip down to “Moose Pond” fully expecting to see Moose – no luck! So we continued our hike toward Hidden Falls (amazing!) and up to Inspiration Point. Less than a mile past the turn off to Moose Ponds we came across some people stopped on the trail.

They were stopped because there was a huge bull Moose right next to the trail! A cow was further off but within clear view! I was so excited! But it also occurred to me that I had no idea what to do with a Moose encounter. There were 6 of us that wanted to continue on the trail but it meant walking by Mr. Moose who was about 10 feet off the trail.  He didn’t seem to scared or interested in us so I led the way. I figured he’d give us a warning if he didn’t want us to go by. He ignored us as we passed and I was able to get an nice clear shot of his face!

Did you know Moose lose their antlers every year? I had no idea! If you look close you can see his new antlers growing in.

We also saw a black bear 

Day 6 – Tetons – It finally happened. We had a day without any bear sightings! This would be our only day while in the parks that we didn’t see a bear! We did see 3 more foxes and a Moose deep in the brush as we hiked Taggert Lake. 

This was the day we followed up our hike with a bike ride. They have amazing bike trails from Jackson all the way up to Jenny Lake and then there is a scenic loop with a beautiful bike lane. This was one of our clear days and having the opportunity to bike along the Tetons was breathtaking!! It was such a cool experience!

Day 7 – Tetons – A cloudy cold day. According to the forecast (chance of snow) this would be our worst weather day. Initially the plan was to lay low in Jackson. But then we decided to go do a short hike. While on that hike we decided the weather wasn’t so bad so we added a second hike. We didn’t have the views we hoped for but it was still beautiful! We did see another Grizzly as well as a Black bear bringing our total of bear sightings up to 16.

Day 8 – Tetons – This turned out to be our worst weather day. We didn’t know it and we had planned our longest hike for our last full day in the park. We choose to hike Hermitage Point Loop. A 10 mile hike which advertised an excellent chance for wildlife encounters and stunning views.  We got neither! We did get sleet, rain and wind. I don’t doubt there were stunning views but the clouds were thick and persistent and not willing to yield us any views. 

 

So we hiked 10 miles in weather that even the wild animals weren’t willing to weather. 

Then as we approached the parking lot and I was dreaming of taking off my boots and sitting for awhile we ran into some people who told us there was a Sow with 3 cubs in the PARKING LOT! So off we went to experience bears number 17,18,19 and 20! As soon as that was over a fox ran by our car! 

This would be our last bear sighting. With a grand total of 20 bears this far exceeded our hopes. I do wish we had seen more Moose.

Our luck with seeing bears is amazing! During our trip to Alaska in 2018 we saw bears everyday!

Final Morning in the Tetons – After 2 somewhat cloudy days in the park our final morning we woke up to blue skies. So instead of leaving right away we headed back into the park to grab some final pictures. I haven’t had time to go through what I’ve taken with my big girl camera that morning but here are some shots from my phone. 

 

Then we headed towards Idaho and our Camping/climbing adventure with the kids. 

Days 9 – 12 were spent camping in City of Rocks in southern Idaho. Joshua and Jocelyn are amazing climbers and we had arranged to camp and climb with them for a few days. Josh has been inviting us to do this for 3 years. Now that they are moving to SoCal in a couple of weeks this was our last chance! This is such a cool area! The rock formations are dramatic and sudden after miles and mile of farm land.

I can’t say that Jeff and I were super enthusiastic about sleeping in a tent for 3 nights but we survived and it was worth it. Thanks to J&J’s skills and coaching they got us up several routes. We also enjoyed watching them climb stuff we have no business trying. We just had the best time hanging out with them, getting to know our grand dog Scout, climbing and enjoying the scenery! 

The end of the trip had arrived. We headed back to Boise and dropped the kids off at the airport. They flew to Florida and the next morning and we began our grand-dog babysitting. We drove to Walla Walla the next morning to attend our Nephew’s wedding and spend some time with all the family that had gathered for the big event. The next day we drove home. 

It’s good to be home – I’m tired!

This week – head shots, a family session and graduation pictures! Back at it and thankful!

Shelly