Family Vacation 2011- Part 4
Wednesday, July 13, was our second full day at Yellowstone. The day looked more promising, but still cloudy so we headed off to go explore the upper loop in Yellowstone.
We started our day at the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River in the Yellowstone Canyon. It had been raining kinda hard the day before, but at this time it was just cloudy. Here we had to hike down around 8-10 switchbacks to get to be right at the waterfall. It was an amazing view and totally worth it. Going up was rather hard and we had a few rests to help the girls, and this out of shape momma.
We then stopped to get a distant view of the falls, but with this stop we got the treat of seeing an osprey nest on top of a little cliff. It even had some babies in it! We had our binoculars, something I highly recommend if you go to the park, and were able to see the babies a little better than just with our naked eye.
Lilah had been reading the Yellowstone newspaper and read about a junior ranger patch, so we stopped and picked up the packet for the girls so they could become junior rangers while at the Canyon Village Visitor’s Center. We then spent some time looking around and finding some of the information needed for the packet.
As we drove the upper loop we enjoyed little stops, like Roaring Mountain and Obsidian Cliff. We then barely made it in time to Mammoth Hot Springs to hear a ranger talk, which is one of the things the girls needed for their junior ranger patch. (Any ranger talk would do, but this would be the last one of the day that we’d be able to attend.) While at this talk Jon saw some adults with the junior ranger paper, they too were earning their junior ranger patch, so he then went back and forth about earning his. Since he had to complete all the pages, earning his patch would mean a repeat visit to Old Faithful, eventually he decided he would earn the badge.
While at Mammoth Hot Springs the weather turned gray again, and shortly after we left it started to rain.
The upper loop had less sights to stop at, but it was a beautiful drive. We saw some some gorgeous mountain ranges and were able to enjoy the fresh air once the clouds cleared. (That was most of our visit, clouds, a little rain, sun, repeat. It did keep the temperatures cooler.)
Once back to camp we prepared dinner and this was the night I was finally able to shower. Hallelujah! We went as a whole family with plans that Jon and the girls would hang out at the visitor’s center, which was fortunate because it was also the night we were able to watch a grizzly bear! Again, we watched through the binoculars to get a better view, but you could easily see it with your naked eye. He was chasing some bird around and playing in the river, so I don’t think he was very hungry, but mostly just playful. We didn’t get a good picture of him. because it was dusk and he stayed in the brush area.
After my shower and the bear commotion we were able to enjoy a nice night around the fire and Jon and the girls worked on their papers for their junior ranger badges.
To visit the pictures that go with this post go to: Family Vacation 2011 Pictures- Part 4.