I say this every year at this time, but it's so hard to believe we are already at our halfway point! Usually Dave would be at home saying to us, "Only halfway?" and this year since he's with us it's changed! Fortunately for today, there is the rare 4G in our campground so Dave is able to work from our site this morning.
After breakfast the kids and I haul the laundry and our dirty selves to get clean. This spot affords us 2 showers per night and we'd only used 2 so far. After I started the laundry we enjoyed what seemed like a 15-minute scalding hot shower. Ryan really needed to shower as her hair was turning into one giant tangle. As I was brushing it out while she showered, she screamed at what I thought was a tangle but I found out later she'd spotted someone's teeth sitting in a tray on the ground in the shower nextdoor. Definitely a first for her!
Grammie and Laney were going to meet us at our spot this morning so I knew we had time to be able to fold and sort all the laundry. It was nice to have time for that as well as reorganizing the car a little bit to prepare for leaving the next day. Once they pulled in we headed to our Visitor's Center to get some information about a good hike. I hike in the northwestern area of the park had been recommended to Grammie, but we couldn't find any information on it and rangers had all been quite confused as to why we would want to go there.
We settled on hiking the Lakeshore loop from a trail head close to our campground so we would be able to return for a quick lunch and be on time for our last tour. We headed down the trail making lots of noise and regularly yelling, "Hey Bear!" so as not to surprise one on the trail. Once we got to the top of a hill we spotted a nasty looking storm that we couldn't really determine the direction of so we quickened our steps and reached Duck Pond within a few minutes.
The kids spotted a fun structure to play in before I delivered the terrible news that we would need to go back right away because of the storm.
Our steps were even quicker heading back with a few breaks for the altitute-imparied people. As we were walking back through the parking lot Grammie realized we went down the wrong trail as the first few drops hit us. The trail we chose was only about a mile roundtrip but it ended up being perfect with the rain looming. We headed back to our campground with plans for lunch but I wasn't sure the rain was even going to give us time to cook so we went back to Grammie's where we would be able to cook inside.
Within 30 seconds of getting on the road, it started pouring and did so for our entire drive until we turned into Grammie's campground. With only about an hour until we needed to meet for our tour, we threw together our late lunch and wolfed it down. We did have to start Ryan about 10 minutes before everyone for her to finish in time!
We walked to our pickup location just in time to board the bus for the tour we were all most excited about where we would be able to spot some wildlife in the park. We all had our one or two animals we definitely want to see while we were here so our hopes were high!
Our first stop was to watch some trumpeter swan in a lake. They weren't on anyone's list, but they were definitely beautiful, elegant animals to watch!
Next we stopped close to a General Store and a viewing spot for Tower Falls. We have seen so many waterfalls over these years it's hard to remember which one is which!
Our tour guide said this General Store was originally placed at this spot to sell brake pads as it is very close to the climb of the highest point in the park, but we just settled for some ice cream. Brayden giggled as we both picked the "Buffalo Chip" flavor.
As we drove through Hayden and Lamar Valley we were able to see tons of bison. They were on both sides of the road, in the road, in the river, the men chasing the ladies, it was fun to watch. At one point we got off the bus to view them from a little cliff and our guide set some scopes on a larger one as well as a few pronghorn near the water. These guys were on our list to see as well!
We also were able to spot an osprey nest with it's guard standing by and as we drove back over the river he had us look out for beavers that frequent the area. Sure enough they were there so we stopped to watch them as well. Ryan spotted them walking through the grass so everyone ran to the other side of the bridge while she and I watched them from afar. They came back a short time later and swam around the trees down the river.
The tour had a 15-minute bathroom stop scheduled at the turn around point and Ryan spotted something else on the hill a little ways away. Another person saw it a few minutes later so our guide grabbed his scope and we started searching. The second person identified it as a badger, but all we found was one of his burrow entrances. I felt like we were in the Caddyshack movie trying to find the gopher! After we all got back on the bus the last guy getting on showed a picture he'd just taken of the badger. I supposed after he'd decided we'd all left he would pop out and investigate!
On our way back through the valleys the bison were old news but we did spot some pronghorn closer to the road. These guys are the fastest land animal in North America!
It was getting pretty dark for any good pictures by now. We saw a few elk along the water a good distance away from us. After a few more miles we approached a bunch of parked cars and people all along a ridge taking pictures and watching something through binoculars. Once we passed the ridge of the hill we could see there was a grizzly bear walking by the water. This guy was massive lumbering along the shore. Then about 50 yards behind him was another grizzly walking the same direction. By the time the bus had an area to park we decided it was too far away and not safe with it getting so dark so we kept moving. We were all happy to cross these guys off our list from a bus instead of on a trail!
It was pretty late by the time we got back to our campsite. The next day we would be moving on so we all made sure to try to bundle up and get a good night's rest.
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