In Grand Territory

Located on the southern border of Yellowstone in Wyoming is a smaller but equally impressive National Park - Grand Teton. Known for it's towering, rugged mountain range, Grand Teton won us over with its breathtaking views and wildlife sightings.

To be honest, we weren't too sure how much of the park we would actually be able to experience. The day that we left Yellowstone for Grand Teton Halle wasn't feeling well and had a bit of a fever. By the time we arrived at the North Entrance to the park, she was burning up and just wanted cuddles. Despite her state she was insistent on completing the activities to become a Jr. Park Ranger and she did. Luckily for her most of what she needed to complete could be done sitting in my lap in the truck, and inside of the air conditioned building. Our little trooper slept the entire drive through the park, and completed her booklet in the parking lot of the south welcome centre after some lunch. We were extra proud of her completing this Jr Ranger booklet.

Not a bad picnic spot for lunch

Our second day in the park proved more eventful. We woke up to three large Moose roaming and grazing near our campsite at Gros Ventre Campground. While I watched from our dinette (Nolan was still sleeping), Brett and Halle headed to another campsite to observe from a safe distance with other campers and capture a few photos and videos. It was one of those moments that really reinforced that we had made the right choice to travel. 

That day we decided to also take a bit of time to see the park before we continued our travel east towards South Dakota. We had to travel north through Grand Teton again to hit our route so we stopped at a few viewpoints and enjoyed a small hike through flat ground with the kids before continuing on our way. 

The rugged mountains, and tall trees reminded us so much of what we loved about British Columbia and the west in general. 

As we continued east, the scenery of the state changed drastically. The rolling grassy hills and rugged mountains of the west, gave way to red soil and barren landscapes that reminded us much more of the desert. The land then changed again to show off grassy plains, and impressive spires of rock and sediment that provided us with only a hint of what we would experience at Badlands in South Dakota. We only wish we had a camera rolling on our dashboard for all of our adventures, to accurately capture how impressive the landscape changes were that we experienced. They have given us a whole new appreciation for the beauty and diversity of North American, and the United States in particular.

A Diverse Landscape

Yellowstone - still on Yellowstone. How could I not be? It's taken me a long time to get around to sharing this as we've been so busy enjoying life together. We sure did a lot of that in Wyoming. We tried to see as much as we could - we woke up our last morning in Madison to go and see some of the mud pots before we moved on to the opposite side of the park. It was worth it. The landscape near the Artists Paint Pots was incredible. Steaming water and fumaroles, lush green trees, areas of ground just burnt out from the chemicals and heat. It was so diverse in one small area. What a site to see. 

Boiling and steaming bodies of water and erupting geysers are not the only impressive water features Yellowstone has to offer. The waterfalls were also a site to see and I'm glad we took time to check out a couple.

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and it's waterfall were my favourite spot that we visited in the park. We headed to Inspiration Point to take it in the waterfall, and it was obvious why it was given this name. If you've seen photos of the waterfall before, it's highly likely they were taken from here. I could've stayed all day taking it in, but the crowd was pretty big, so on we moved with the kids to see more of the Canyon from other spots.

I hope that the next time we return to this National Park we can take in the waterfall from some different spots. Viewing it from the top, and seeing the water thunder over the edge I'm sure would be quite impressive. 

There were plenty of opportunities to entertain the children as well, especially on our drives from Fishing Bridge campsite. Heading north from the campground, we usually headed directly through large herds of Bison crossing the streets. Halle loved every second of it, and we were able to capture some great photos (and videos) while stuck in the "Bison traffic". 

Halle's favourite was definitely the "Red Dogs" - the baby Bison, and Brett and I had to agree, they were pretty cute!

Halle was also thrilled to earn a new Junior Ranger Badge in Yellowstone. Unlike other parks, you pay for the booklet here, but the $3 is money well spent in our eyes. The books are wonderful and Halle learned a lot. At the end of the activities, she earned not only a sew on patch for her age group, but also a wooden centennial pin, celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the National Parks Service! The Junior Ranger program is definitely our favourite part of visiting the National Parks with children.

We loved every view we had while there. Driving North we enjoyed the meadows and valleys. We had high hopes of spotting wolves and grizzly bears as we explored, stopping frequently to use our binoculars and look into the distance, as we knew that was our best chance. In the end we saw no wolves or grizzlies, but we were happy with the scenery. 

Mammoth Hot Spring Terrace was a very cool sight to see. We visited on a hot day, and stopped for lunch and ice cream before walking over to the Springs.

The colours and look of the terraced springs was incredible. It sparkled in the sun and in some spots looked like gold. Unfortunately a hot tired child was not as interested as we were, and a splinter was the final straw, putting an end to our short walk around the area. If you visit the park though, I highly recommend a visit to Mammoth Hot Springs if you can fit it in. After all, there is surely not enough time to see everything in it's entirety during one visit to Yellowstone. We have no doubt we will return to the park one day with the kiddos to experience more of it's wonder!

Our Adventures in Yellowstone

What words can I possibly use to describe Yellowstone? The most incredible place I have ever seen. An absolute wonderland of mountains, plains, hydro-thermal features and wildlife. I feel like there is so much that could be said about this natural Wonderland. I could talk about the debate on conservation (I can see both sides after visiting this park and experiencing both the wonders of the earth and the restrictions on visitors), I could talk about the absurdity of those who choose to endanger their lives to get an up close encounter with a wild animal or get too close to a hydro thermal feature. Really, I could say an awful lot about Yellowstone, but I will mostly say that we loved it.

Setting up camp at Madison campground

We spent three nights camping there, one on the West side of the park at Madison Campground and two in the east at Fishing Bridge RV campground. The second spot was restricted solely to hard-sided camping vehicles (no tents or tent trailers) as the area is frequented by bears. Did I luck out to see a bear? Nope... still no bears. 

After setting up camp on our first day we headed straight south to see Old Faithful. Our timing was pretty impeccable and we only had to wait about 20 minutes to see the geyser erupt. I think it was a little anti-climactic for Halle who of course doesn't understand all of the science behind it, or the fact that they can predict it's eruptions to within 20 minutes. For us, I felt pretty thankful to be there as we were sat next to a couple in their 80's who were just visiting the park together for the very first time. If we hadn't taken this opportunity to travel, who knows if or when we would have witnessed this majestic place.

Waiting patiently for Old Faithful to erupt

After leaving Old Faithful Village, we began driving back towards our campground stopping as often as we could to check out the different hydrothermal features. Though I had some idea of what to expect here after doing research on Yellowstone, no words could ever accurately prepare you to see everything first hand. The steaming pools of water and the vibrant colours created by different bacteria and organisms. As I said to Brett one afternoon, Yellowstone is a nature lover's amusement park!

We ambled along boardwalks staring into "stink water" as Halle liked to call it (many of the features smell of sulfur), but I was most taken by the colours that appeared in the hot pools of water. The sounds and the sites were like nothing I had ever experienced. What we were most in awe of was the fact that we were standing inside of a Volcano! If you're not familiar with the history of the park, Yellowstone was once a supervolcano that was transformed into a caldera over the course of three eruptions - the most recent taking place 630,000 years ago. Most of the southwestern area of the huge park is the massive caldera and we were constantly reminded that at any time that whole area could change drastically, taking us with it!

Some of the features Halle was more interested in than others. Of course, any that smelt of sulfur or other strong mineral odours were far less enjoyable. I totally understand, the smell of rotten eggs is not high on my list of things to endure even if a super cool hot spring or fumarole is involved. 

This picture of Halle gazing into one of the hot pools is one of my favourites from our time in Yellowstone. 

I'm so happy that we had bright blue skies for most of our time in the park. The brilliance of the sky made the most perfect back drop to the green hills and the striking hydro thermal features. As we've travelled I have found a passion for capturing nature and landscapes. It may have to do with my constant and growing love of nature and the outdoors, but either way capturing the perfect landscape photo has become my mission.

The textures and colours of everything make it that much more interesting. Especially once you learn that all of those shapes and colours inside of these ultra hot waters are actually living organisms. Science and Nature are surely the stars of the show in Yellowstone!

There is so much to see and do in this park that is over 2 million acres, that we barely scratched the surface. I have so much more to share, including our wildlife encounters and more of the unique features this park has to offer.