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Today was yet another long day in the park. From the moment we were handed the park map at the entrance gate, we knew there was no way we could even scratch the surface of the park, but we certainly did want to see and do as much as possible.

We had pancakes and sausage with pineapple (surprisingly delicious combo) at our sweet little B&B in Gardner, MT and then hit the road for Mt. Washburn. We’re glad we waited until Day 3 to hike it – there was hardly a wispy cloud in the sky. Mt Washburn is a 10,300 foot peak that you can access via a fire road (there’s a fire tower atop the peak). We were promised 360 degree views and it did not disappoint. We were also told to pack hat, gloves, thermals, because of the extreme wind and temperature drop at such elevation. This was made obvious to us when we stepped out of our car in the parking lot. We proceeded to put on ever warm layer we brought with us on the trip.

The hike itself wasn’t as strenuous at one would imagine scaling a 10,000 foot peak might be. It was 2.5 miles one way with 1,400 feet of elevation gain. The fact that we were starting out at over 8,000 feet was what made it hard. Even if you are in shape, the lack of oxygen (and insufficient red blood cells on our part) resulted in a lot of huffing and puffing.

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Along the way, we saw a few marmot and some big horn sheep in the distance. At the top of the fire tower the winds must have been 80+ miles per hour. Thankfully there was a shelter area below where we enjoyed lunch. We were next to a group that had hired a guide to hike with them (not sure why walking a fire road would require a guide, but oh well) and he made them crab salad for lunch at the base of the fire tower. He insisted we help eat the leftovers otherwise they were going in the trash and it would be a sad thing to see crab salad go to waste. (We survive on PB&J – crab salad on the trail?…that’s champagne taste). Views were at least 75 miles – we could even see the Grant Teton, snow-capped in distance!

After our blustery but beautiful hike we made our way down to the canyon area of the park – it was a bit too crowded for our taste. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone was beautiful, no doubt, but I still think it pales in comparison to the actual Grand Canyon (which JD will soon discover). We then checked out Mud Volcano which was a cool boardwalk area with several features, including a cave that roared and spit out smoke like a dragon’s snout. Coolest feature yet.

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We drove past fishing bridge, only to find no fishing due to Cutthroat trout spawning. Our drive past Lake Yellowstone was amazing. One day 1 in the park, we didn’t get a feel for how incredibly HUGE the lake is!

The drive out of the east entrance of the park headed towards Cody, WY was spectacular. Giant mountains give way to red cliffs and rolling hills along river. We kept trying to spot deer, but we did manage to see a mamma moose with a calf. We were sure to keep our distance, but were excited to check another animal off our list.

We arrived at our Air BnB just as it was getting dark. We can’t wait to take pictures in the morning – it’s the coolest place we’ve found yet: we are on a lovely covered porch with a big queen sized bed and a seating area. I guess you could saw it’s “glamping”. We hope to see some awesome stars tonight and wake up to a nice sunrise and the sound of the river on the ranch.

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Today we went to the Moon Mars and back. Or at least that’s what it felt like…the sheer volume of geothermal features at this park are staggering. To put it in perspective – over half of all the world’s geysers are contained within Yellowstone. Another staggering fact: if you drove all roads in park (which most people don’t do), you would still only see less than 3% of the park. And perhaps the saddest statistic I’ve heard in a while (and also a PSA to get out hike or even go for a little nature walk): Locals tell us that 99% percent of visitors to Yellowstone don’t travel more than 300 feet from their vehicles when approaching points of interest.

Anyway, the sheer size and diversity of the park is mind blowing. I’m glad we have three days in the park, but wish we had more like 3 weeks. If you could only visit one national park in this country, let this one be it – you would surely not be disappointed.
We started our day with a filling home-cooked B&B breakfast. We the consulted our map and decided to head down to Norris area to check out the geothermal features we ran out of time to do yesterday. It’s weird how one feature ran into the other in our minds, although looking back at the pictures, each one is truly unique.

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We then made our way over Dunraven Pass en route to the Lamar Valley (aka the American Serengeti – the wildlife hot spot of the park). At over 8,000 feet in elevation, the pass was truly stunning and we caught glimpses of the snow-capped Araboska Mountains in the distance. The traffic diminished greatly in this northeast corner of the park. Instead of seeing solitary buffalo, we saw entire herds. We also saw pronghorns and possibly some mountain goats on the high cliffs of Baronette Peak. Driving along we saw a crowd gathered by the side of the road – apparently the ranger had spotted a dead buffalo and photographers we anxiously awaiting the arrival of a bear or pack of wolves to consume the remains. Unfortunately we didn’t catch any bear or wolf action, but they are a bit harder to spot.

On our way back to Mammoth Springs, we stopped at a petrified tree that is estimated to be 50 million years old! Back in Mammoth, we encountered male elk bugling to their harem of seemingly disinterested females. These elk apparently run the town, as they have park rangers informing gawkers that they needed to get back in their cars and sit tight because Mr. Buck wants to stand in the road. It was somewhat comical, but also serious; they are in rut at the moment and can be very dangerous.

Mammoth Springs did not disappoint. The limestone terraces were truly a sight to behold and the extensive boardwalk structure to allow viewing was really impressive. We returned back to our B&B in Gardiner, MT utterly exhausted. Although we hadn’t planned on hiking, we probably ended up doing 5-6 miles of nature walks to points of interest during the course of the day (and thus, we are not a sad statistic).

Tomorrow we hope to summit Mt. Washburn and check out the Canyon area, and will exit the park at east gate (we’ve hit 4 of the 5 total park gates) to spend the night in Cody, WY.

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After resting our tired bodies from our 11+ mile hike yesterday, we attempted to get up fairly early (7am doesn’t feel so bad when you’re programmed on east coast time). We packed the car (aka our traveling locker room), bid Carl (our super cool Air BnB host) farewell, stopped at a local bakery for a really delicious cinnamon bun, then hit the road to check out the rest of Grand Teton NP.

Unfortunately, mother nature didn’t feel like granting us a view of the grand mountains; 42 and rainy meant zero chance of seeing the mountains, as they were shrouded in clouds. We stopped at the visitor’s center and watched an informative video on the Park and made our way up the highway hoping for a break in the rain and perhaps a glimpse of sunshine. Oh well, at least our sweet rental car has seat warmers, which is totally making me want a Subaru again.

By about noon time we had entered Yellowstone NP. We were immediately greeted by views of a canyon off the side of the road as we made our way from the south entrance to West Thumb. We checked out the boardwalk and thermal features, listened to a ranger talk about the super volcano that last erupted in the park 640,000 years ago and how it could go again sometime soon (keeping in mind that soon by geologic years means we probably still have several thousand to go). I think the most unsettling fact was the the magma chamber underneath Yellowstone is only 3-8 miles under the surface (vs. 20 miles most other places and even 50 miles under the Himalayas)!

We carried on to the mots famous site in Yellowstone – Old Faithful. As we pulled up, we saw other people running, so we decided to run too (mass hysteria, yay!), only to discover that we had missed the eruption by 2 minutes. Luckily, as the name implies, we only had to wait another hour for the next eruption. JD set up camp so he’d have a clear shot for photographs, and during this time, the sun managed to peak out. The eruption was cool, not as high as you’d imagine (but they say every eruption is different from the last), but lasted longer than we would have thought (about 3 minutes).

After the big show, we headed inside the Old Faithful Inn to check out the cool timbering. The lodge was built over 100 years ago and is very impressive. Too bad booking 7 months in advance isn’t enough to snag a room there.

We then spent the next few hours walking the extensive boardwalk system that highlights the incredible number of thermal features in the park.

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We especially liked the names of some of the features…”Old Tardy Geyser” and “Spasmodic Geyer” were our favorite names, while “Sawmill Geyser” and “Grotto Geyser” were our favorite features to look at.

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Grotto was totally unique in shape and almost looked like a man’s face with a long nose, two eyes, and a hand clawing his way out of the mud puddle, while Sawmill bubbled so vigorously and periodically shot so high in the air that it sprayed the passersby on the boardwalk.

As we were making our way back to the car on the boardwalk, we saw a bison RIGHT next to the boardwalk.

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Signs all over the park warn of getting too close to these magnificent creatures (that look incredible docile but could certainly trample you in an instant), but were also warned to NEVER get off the boardwalk, risking burns or falling into a steam vent. We stuck to the boardwalk and attempted to be as still and quiet as possible while Mr. Buffalo had his fill of grass. It was very cool to be that up close and personal with a bison.
Our walk back to the car got a little brisk as the rain returned for the day. Thank goodness for the warm car seats! We stopped as fast as we could at Grand Prismatic Pool; it was hard to get a shot due to the massive amounts of steam rolling off the boiling water (198 F at this elevation). It was surreal walking through what felt like a sauna.

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We had to hustle as best we could, realizing that we would have to drive to our destination of Gardiner, MT in the dark. As our B&B host reminded us “buffalo blend in really well with the road”…eek! Thankfully, no buffalo on the roadway, but we did encounter a TON of elk in Mammoth Springs – they literally were just hanging out in the traffic circle in town – totally not caring about the cars all about them. Too bad it was getting dark and we missed some beautiful sights on the drive to our B&B, but we’ll be backtracking that way tomorrow. We’re planning on a full day in the Northern parts of the park tomorrow!

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After what might have been the best night’s sleep ever, we managed to get going around 8am. We wanted to get an early start, as we had heard that the hike we had planned was the most popular hike in the park.

The drive into the park was beautiful, despite a bit of haze. We bought our America the Beautiful Annual Pass and made our way towards Jenny Lake. Apparently things are already winding down for the season in these parts by Labor Day; the “crowds” weren’t were we were headed. We caught the boat ride across the lake to shave two miles each way of your hike.

From Jenny Lake, we made our way up to Hidden Falls and then Inspiration Point. What a view! A chipmunk wanted a piece of my PB&J really badly – he must get lots of crumbs when he begs so sweetly. Although the climb wasn’t bad, the 7,000 feet of elevation made itself apparent to us (shortness of breath and feeling way too pooped out for only having gone a little over a mile). At this point, many of the casual “hikers” turned around and headed home.

We continued into Cascade Canyon and were literally surrounded by rock on all sides (Tetons to our left, and the aptly named “Rock of Ages” to the right). We saw Pika in the rock piles that were alongside the mountain faces. A beautiful stream meandered along the trail, which thankfully became a pretty flat stroll. We noticed dark clouds start to envelope the higher peaks and were worried if our visit was going to be cut short by some bad weather. JD’s desire for killer photos was cause enough for us to keep trucking.

We made it to the end of the canyon trail and took the North fork headed to Lake Solitude. We found a nice opening for photos after another half mile or so of hiking before the rain started. We donned our jackets and booked it back towards our starting point. Although the photo opps were fewer in the rain, we made it down the trail in record time. Along the way, we encountered a black fox (not sure if this is a thing or if he just looked black, but it was definitely a fox). He was trotting along the trail and got within about 10 feet of us before passing with barely a glance.

On the boat ride home, the captain told us to wait for a break in the clouds on our drive home – we’d be rewarded with some killer shots. He was right! The sight of the sun peaking through the clouds with the mountains looming large was truly something special. We rewarded our efforts with a Domino’s pizza picked up on the way home. I’m sure we’ll sleep just as well tonight as we did last night. We’ll need to bundle up for tomorrow, however, the forecast has snowflakes in it! (No joke!)

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After our 3:30am (EST) wakeup, we headed to the airport for a long morning of travel. Flying Southwest was truly a pleasure; I’ll happily fly them again! We arrived in Salt Lake City at 10:45 Mountain Time, picked up our cute little Subaru Cross Trek rental car and were off.

First stop was the Salt Lake City Temple. We parked in a parking garage and thought we were totally lost, until the parking attendant offered us a ride up to ground level. Everyone we bumped into in SLC was so incredibly nice! What beautiful grounds and gardens at Temple Square! We saw no less than 5 weddings and a baptism taking place (while actually the post ceremony photos, since non-Mormons can’t go in the temple).

We would have liked to see more, but since our next stop was Jackson, Wyoming, we knew we needed to hit the road. It was amazing to see the sandy mountains of Utah turn into slightly more forested ones in Idaho and then rocky crags in Wyoming. Very cool transition! We also drove through a very remote part of Idaho that had signs like “no gas – 70 miles”, reminding us that we’re not in Charlotte anymore.

We arrived at our Air BnB place, grabbed a map and headed out for our first real meal of the day. We went to a nice Mexican restaurant – JD had a steak burrito and Audrey had a tomato-based chicken tortilla soup that was out of this world. We crashed hard around 9pm local time, making it nearly a 24 hour transit day for us. We were both out within 30 seconds of hitting the pillow. Looking forward to our hike tomorrow!

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