Posts Tagged With: wy

Yellowstone: Fishing Bridge and Cody, WY

This is my last post about Yellowstone.  It is such a huge park and there are so many different areas to visit!  If you are planning a trip to Yellowstone, I would suggest spending at least 1 or 2 weeks and don’t stay at the same place the whole time.  Move around to the different areas of the park as you visit each section.  Otherwise you’ll spend a lot of time driving.

The last section we visited was at the east entrance to the park, the Fishing Bridge section.  First we went to see the Mud Volcano and Sulphur Caldron.  This was similar to the geyser basins we saw earlier in our trip in that it was interesting to see smoke and boiling substances coming from the ground.  But it was not nearly as pretty as the geysers and blue pools we saw in the Old Faithful section.  These were definitely muddier pots and very stinky from the sulphur.

0903161143b_HDR

This one definitely smelled like dragon’s breath!  Eww!

0903161142c_HDR

Dragon’s Mouth Spring

Look at Jesse’s face!  He thought the smell was so gross! 🙂

0903161143_HDR

0903161139a_HDR

Mud Volcano

0903161154d_HDR

Sulphur Caldron

0903161128d_HDR

Pretty cool looking boiling mud pot (don’t remember what this one is called)

Then we went to the LeHardy Rapids for a picnic lunch.  It was pretty cold that day and this area seemed especially cold so we ate fast and moved on.

0903161223a_HDR

LeHardy Rapids

Then we hiked to Natural Bridge.  This started out as a hike down a road that didn’t seem like a trail so we weren’t sure we were going the right way.  And we were the only people on the trail which was odd for Yellowstone.  But eventually we started seeing signs to the Natural Bridge so we knew we were going the right way.

0903161317e_HDR

Natural Bridge

Finally we hiked the Storm Point trail along Yellowstone Lake.  This was a beautiful hike!  Part of the hike was through forests and another section was through a meadow where you would typically see bison grazing.  However, when we walked through the meadow there were no bison in sight at that time.

0903161427_HDR

After hiking through the woods for a little while we got to the beautiful Yellowstone Lake.

0903161443_HDR

The boys loved running up and down this hill and making “sand” angels.  I think they miss the beach!  It’s been several months since we have been near the ocean.  This is no ocean, but it sure is a huge lake!

SavedImage_0903161440a_01

0903161443b_HDR

0903161438d_HDR

0903161447_HDR

We stayed at Buffalo Bill State Park in Cody, Wyoming while we visited the east side of Yellowstone.  This was one of my favorite campsites we’ve ever had, the view from our site was incredible!

0902161926_HDR

That spot on the trail is our Fat Cat.

0901161952b_HDR

Fat Cat loved this campsite!  She had lots of room to roam around and hide in the long grass and hunt rabbits.

0831160846_HDR

She also liked climbing trees.  Can you see her in this tree?  She is somewhat camouflaged by the branches.

0901160950a_HDR

The boys liked playing in the water but it was kind of cold.

0902161819b_HDR

Cody is a really cute and charming western town.  We went to the rodeo while we were there.  I have been wanting to catch a rodeo somewhere along our travels, but it seemed we were always missing them.  I’m glad we made it to this one as it’s considered the “Rodeo Capital of the World”.

0831161916b_HDR

0831161920a_HDR

0831161923_HDR

0831161957_HDR

That wraps up my several posts about Yellowstone.  If you have been reading all of them, thank you!  I write these blogs mainly for my family and friends to keep up with what we’re doing, and sort of as a travel journal that we can go back and read later to remember the places we have visited.  If it inspires anyone else out there to get out and travel and see these amazing places, then that is an added bonus.

Next up Glacier National Park!

Categories: National Parks, Wyoming | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Grand Teton National Park

We spent a week at Grand Teton National Park and it is definitely one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  It seems I say that about every place we go, but seriously my pictures do NOT do it justice.  If possible, please come and see this place in person.  It’s amazing!

0730161318_HDR

Jenny Lake

0725161731

String Lake

The first hike we did was along String Lake to Leigh Lake.  The water is so clear and blue!

0725161733_HDR

Another day we did an awesome 6 mile hike halfway around Jenny Lake and then up to Inspiration Point.  It’s 6 miles out and back, but if you don’t want to hike the whole 6 miles, you can take a shuttle boat across the lake that drops you off where you can hike just to Inspiration Point which is 2 miles round trip.  If you’re up for it though, I would highly recommend the entire 6 miles because the Jenny Lake portion of the hike was the best part and the least crowded.  We saw a moose and a bear on this hike.  Neither one were very close to us so I didn’t get any good pictures, but it was really cool to see those animals in the wild.

0727160911f

Jenny Lake

0727160947

0727160948

Inspiration Point

Chris was so excited about seeing a bear that he decided to go for an early morning hike the next day with Jake to see if they could find any more bears.  And they did!  They saw a huge grizzly bear that stood up on his hind legs and then started walking towards them.  They were a little too scared to take any pictures and just slowly backed away.  We had just gone to a bear safety ranger program the previous day and purchased some bear spray, but thankfully they didn’t need to use it.  Jake was pretty scared by that bear and didn’t want to go on any more foolish bear hunting expeditions, but I’m not so sure that Chris learned that lesson yet.  I told him I didn’t want him to spend the rest of our trip dead, so hopefully he’ll stay away from the bears. 🙂

This trip was made extra special because my parents were able to join us later in the week. After picking them up from the airport we went to visit the cute little town of Jackson Hole.  Those are real antlers in that arch!

0728161434a

This looks like it would be a fun place to come back for some winter time snow skiing!

0728161431a

0728161511c

Then we headed back into the park and went to see the Chapel of the Transfiguration which was so beautiful!

0728161621a_HDR

Chapel of the Transfiguration Picture Window

0728161628

We camped at the Colter Bay RV Park inside the Grand Tetons which was really nice and woodsy.  Colter Bay Village has lots of facilities available like a grocery store, gas station, restaurants, a marina and a visitor center.  We did some hiking around there and also went to the Visitor Center so the kids could get their Junior Ranger badges.

0729161402

We also went to the Jackson Lake Lodge which was a fun place to visit.  They have a playground and pool that the kids enjoyed.  The Jackson Lake dam was also a very nice stop.

0729161603a_HDR

0729161605_HDR

On our last day there we hiked the 4 mile loop around String Lake.

0730160941c

0730160955

0730161002b

0730161020

0730161046a

0730161124a

0730161132a_HDR

If you plan to visit there in the busy summer months and want to hike, I would recommend getting to the trailhead parking lots early.  They fill up fast!

We had such a great time showing Gramma and Grampa around the Grand Tetons!  From there we all went up to West Yellowstone, Montana to begin exploring Yellowstone National Park. Stay tuned for posts about that.

Categories: National Parks, Wyoming | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Blog at WordPress.com.