August Getaway Part 2

Early Monday morning we said our goodbyes to the Carter family and left Rexburg drove 1 1/2 hrs to West Yellowstone. Not too far into the park we actually think we caught sight of a grizzly bear. We wish that we would have stopped, but we were so inexperienced and didn't realize how rare that was. Although Jason decided that he wanted to start with a 6 mi. strenuous hike to see some panoramic views, I talked him into a 5.5 mile easy hike to Fairy Falls and back to a cool geyser hidden another 1/2 mile back. A little off the trail we could also see an amazing view of Midway Geyser Basin. It was great way to start our Yellowstone experience!

Fairy Falls

Higher elevation view of Midway Geyser Basin

Our next big stop was Old Faithful. We saw it erupt 3 times while we were there; it was so fun. The newly renovated visitor center is really great and we spent over an hour there watching a couple of short videos and seeing the exhibits. We also walked around the Old Faithful area and ate dinner at the cafeteria there. I can see why it's such a popular area. That evening we drove around to Canyon Village where we met a couple bison walking along the road. The first one we saw really startled us, but we were prepared with the camera for the second one.

Old Faithful

Bison about 10 feet from our car walking the opposite direction. I didn't even zoom in for this picture.

Tuesday we enjoyed hiking South Point Trail between the Upper and Lower Falls. Jason and I really love waterfalls, so this was probably our favorite part of the trip. Every time we even passed a waterfall on the road as we were driving along we would park the car to get a better view. We drove around Yellowstone Lake and stayed the night in Grant Village. We ate dinner at the Lakehouse Restaurant built right on the lake's edge with a beautiful view of the Yellowstone Lake.

Upper Falls

Lower Falls

Lower Falls from Inspiration Point

Cool colored pools of water in West Thumb

Our lakeside view from the restaurant

Wednesday we drove out the south entrance of Yellowstone and through the Grand Tetons. We were looking forward to the beautiful scenic drive, but it turned out that it was so smoky and hazy that we could barely see the mountains even though we were only a couple miles away from them. The drive home through Wyoming was long and we were happy to be home again.

This picture doesn't even do justice to how hazy the air was around the Grand Tetons.