Yellowstone

Yellowstone was an absolute treat. definitely the highlight of the trip. we've been to so many national parks, and each one seems better than the last, but Yellowstone truly took the cake. it is all it's cracked up to be.

we were lucky to score an awesome campsite in one of the more remote areas of the park, Slough Creek, which is difficult to get from what we heard. right next to a creek with mountain views on both sides etc..





(most mornings camping i've been making my epic breakfast tacos - secret recipe)




the one thing about the remoteness of this site is that, according to the signs, we were in the middle of "grizzly habitat". we're not wussies or anything, and we wanted to get the full Yellowstone experience, but i have to admit it was a little scary at times. especially in the middle of the night when we'd hear something near our tent or whatever.

on this trip we've been reading a lot about bears and "what to do" etc.. and, to be honst, the advice the experts give isn't very comforting. apparently they still don't know what the best method is for dealing with bear attacks since most people who have been attacked by bears haven't lived to tell about it :) and then there is conflicting advice: some people say wear a bell when you're hiking because it scares bears away. but new evidence suggest that the bells actually act as "dinner bells" and attract bears. some people say when a bear approaches you you should make yourself "big", open your jacket and stand tall, to intimidate the bear but others say to make yourself "small". instead of making us feel better, most of this info just made it more freaky.

to make it worse, on our first night our next door neighbor (family guy with wife, 3 daughters and a dog) came running up to us when we got back to camp. he told us that the ranger said a grizzly was seen wandering through our campsite earlier in the day, and to make sure all our food was stored etc...

that definitely makes it a little more frightening getting up in the middle of the night to pee in the dark.

it should also be noted that when we woke up, all the nearby campsites had been vacated.


anyway, despite the whole fear-of-being-eaten-alive-by-a-bear thing, we were definitely hoping to see some bears while we were there, from a safe distance anyway. we actually had a list of wildlife we wanted to see, and on our first day we hit the jackpot. driving around, we spotted a black bear off the side of the road eating stuff under rocks. it was the first time either of us had seen a bear





then later in the day we saw a huge group of people looking at something and discovered it was a grizzly bear eating a buffalo carcass.





the whole park is like some wild animal zoo or something. everywhere you go you have to stop and wait for something to cross. this buffalo was just walking on the road next to our car



on one of our hikes we we were headed down the trail and two (we didn't know what they were at the time) pronghorn deer literally started running at us. i grabbed one of these sticks that was sticking out of the ground, not knowing what else to do really. kiki took some video of the event. though it may look like i'm scared in the video, i'm really not.



all was well though






we also saw some badgers (or maybe a wolverine)



and elk




at one point we went down to this marshy area where we were hoping to spot a moose but instead we saw some old man washing his underwear in the river.



later, at an elk sighting, i saw this guy who got out of his car, despite only wearing his boxers and sandals. in Yellowstone you can just let it all hang out.




beyond the wildlife, a cool thing about the park is all the geothermal activity you see everywhere (the whole park being on top of a volcano and all). geysers and springs and "mudpots". they have all these areas closed off so that you don't step in the wrong place and fall into a scalding hot geyser, which is apparently something that often happens to Japanese school children



this is possibly my favorite shot of the trip so far



or this one. this area of the park looks like something out of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, or some German Expressionist film. it truly looks like something out of this world..



more geothermal stuff








went on a ranger-led talk (about fumaroles - those are something else)




the true highlight of Yellowstone though (and possibly it's best kept secret) is the natural hot springs you can go in near Mammoth Hot Springs. hot water from the upper geothermal activity pours down and joins a river, so it mixes together to make this perfect natural hot tub. it's not exactly a secret, but we were surprised at how few people were there. especially in the hight of summer. i guess part of it is you have to hike into the spot.



i can't express how good it feels going into a natural hot spring after not showering for 3 days.. we stayed in there for like 2 hours, enjoying the place with a bunch of european travelers, old school hippies and, for some reason, Russian people. i was kind of expecting to see cross-dressing Santa guy there

if you ever go to Yellowstone definitely go to "boiling river" near Mammoth Hot Springs.






on our last morning we treated ourselves to breakfast at the Roosevelt Lodge, where they give each table a giant carafe of coffee (gotta love that).



even though we were stuffed, we had to order this homemade huckleberry pan bread, which came highly recommended. it really was awesome. and i'm sure made us smell really good to the girzzlys, huckleberries being their favorite food




grand finale:

on our way out of Yellowstone, not far from the south gate, i saw a few people checking something out. kiki didn't want to get out of the car so i went by myself. when i got there people were leaving, but i kept looking to try and see what they were looking at



then right across the river, coming out of the bushes, i saw a grizzly and 2 cubs plain as day. i started yelling for kiki to come down and look, and just as i did that the mom and cubs looked at me, hid behind a tree, and just sat there staring at me. even though they were across a huge river, it was pretty frightening, i have to admit. especially since i know (after all our bear research) that a) you don't mess with a bear and her cubs, and b) you're never supposed to look a bear directly in the eye. anyway, they lost interest and walked over the mountain. but it was awesome...




other randoms..







the past 2 days we've been camping in the Grand Tetons and this morning we're headed to Colorado.. no time to post Tetons but here's a little teaser..





ps. i fixed the "comments" feature on this so anyone can comment now.