Saturday, May 25th
The day after school ended, we whisked the kids to a flight to SLC. Yellowstone just snowed and was still below freezing temperature at night. I planned to go early in the season to avoid the crowd. Since the flights to Jackson were cost-prohibitive, our itinerary was to stop by Idaho Falls for a night then enter Yellowstone through the west gate.
Idaho Falls reminded me of Spokane with a big river running through the city center. Our hotel Springhill Suites is right next to Snake River. We could walk to multiple restaurant choices. We chose Smokin Fins and had a good meal. We heard about the mediocre food in Yellowstone and tried to pack in better food before we went to the park.
We hit the rental car lottery this trip, or as we thought. Our ride for the 9 days was Mercedes GLS450. Will has never driven a more expensive car than this, neither have I. Both kids loved their individually controlled seats. We loaded up groceries and headed over to West Yellowstone. Just after we waited in line and got inside the park, the low coolant light went on. Will had to turn around and look for approved coolant in West Yellowstone. However, Napa closed on Sunday and we drove on without the right coolant filled. (We got a backup coolant in the trunk just in case) Later we also discovered a burnt rubber smell when the car slows down to a certain speed.
Sunday, May 26th
Once in the park, we started to stop for multiple points of interest. Our first stop was Beryl Springs, then we stopped at Artist Paint Pots. They were so impressive with steam roaring from the gap, bubbles pushing from the mud, sulfur smells challenge your nose and the vibrant colors feast your eyes. When the wind blows the steam towards us, the steam makes us feel in a sauna room.
I purchased the Guide Along App for the park. It is a GPS-triggered guide with interesting facts and must see recommendations. We enjoyed using it. Our guide highly recommended us to stop at Norris Valley. Norris has many springs and geysers grouped close together. The most famous one is Steamboat Geyser, the tallest geyser in the world. When we stopped to talk to a ranger, he said it was very active lately and was predicted to erupt soon. Its last eruption was April 3rd, 2024. Jackson wanted to wait for its eruption. I'm glad we talked him out of it since the next eruption happened 4.5 days later at midnight 1am.
After bison jam took some of our time between Norris and Mammoth, we finally arrived at Mammoth Lodge. Our cabin had minimal space as we didn't have foot space after we opened our suitcases. The dining room has decent food for both dinner and breakfast. Although breakfast took a very long time. After dinner, we had our walk to Liberty Cap, Lower Mammoth, Higher Mammoth in an hour and a half. We grew to love our after dinner walks on this trip. Sunsets at 9pm and we had plenty of time to explore in the evening.
Monday, May 27th
After our long breakfast, we drove to Bunsen peak to do a 4.2 mile hike. We had about 1300ft elevation gain in 2.1 miles. The peak was still covered by snow. We all slide down the peak. I was not able to control my direction and dug my hands in to slow down. That gave my hands the frost bite sensation. Notes to self, use feet to slow down the next time.
We started to make our Grand Upper Loop drive counterclockwise after the hike. Tower Fall was a big stop and we stopped to have post-hike ice cream. We also made a stop at Petrified Tree. A group of people were pointing when we parked. It was a black bear from very far away -- only visible through good binoculars. We hiked on the Lost Lake Trail to have a better look. Just when we debated if it's a log or bear, the bear moved at Jackson's loud voice and we turned back.
We checked in Canyon village and had a quick and mediocre dinner. Our room is more spacious than the last one and warmer since it's in a lodge. Then we started our favorite post dinner activity on this trip -- hiking. We hiked down to the Lower Fall Viewpoint. The view was spectacular. We continued to hike the Red Rock Point to see the beautiful canyon in the sunset light.
Our morning hike is to Point Sublime through Artist point. It is the best point to see the lower falls in our opinion. Hike to Point Sublime has the canyon cliff on our left hand side. With snow still on some part of the trail, we were careful. And we took a different route through Lily Pad Lake and Clear Lake to Upper Falls Viewpoint, then back to artist point. It was a 6 mile hike we enjoyed. There are mud pots between Lilly Pad Lake and Clear Lake. We got a good view of them. They smell really bad though. At Clear Lake, we saw an elk emerging from across the lake.
We continued our Grand Loop Drive towards the West thumb. When we stopped by Mud Volcano, we saw another group of tourists pointing and gathering. It was two grizzly bears. These two bears were much closer to us. The next stop was Pulmaric Point by the Lake Yellowstone Shore. We enjoyed playing at the beach building bridges.
We checked in the Old Faithful Snow lodge and headed out to see Old Faithful at 4:08 predicted eruption. Actual eruption happened at 4:21. Each eruption predicts 105 minutes apart, which seems to be longer now than what literature said 60-90 minutes apart. We also checked out the Old Faithful Inn for its architecture. Dinner at Obsidian Restaurant was pretty good.
After dinner, we went back to the Ranger station for their Junior Ranger badge. They both loved the oaths and the 3-D printed badge.We then drove to Grand Prismatic overlook. We did the 1.7 mile hike to the overlook then to the midway basin. The sunset over Grand Prismatic was mesmerizing. We could stay long and marvel at this site. But rain helped us to leave just before the sun completely set.
Wednesday, May 29th
Will and I woke up at 6am to hike the Upper basin. I wanted to see Morning Glory so we hiked a few miles to the corner of the basin. Two volunteers walked past when we were on our way back and asked if we had seen coyotes or big dogs since they saw footprints. We didn't see any animals.
We got back around 8am and woke up the kids. The kids would like to see more geysers so we decided on Daisy for its 10:57 eruption. When we were hurrying towards Daisy, a lady walked fast by and told us Beehive was about to erupt and we wouldn't regret it. We listened and turned back towards Beehive. It is a cone shaped above ground Geyser that is very close to the broadwalk. A group of people started to gather and we waited. Then it erupted! Water was pushed to about 150-200ft high and wind delivered to the people on the boardwalk. We all screamed, laughed and ran. Will ran to the wrong side and got soaking wet like a big bucket of water dumped on him. The eruption lasted about 4 minutes. It was super fun to be able to see Beehive up close. We all labeled Beehive our favorite Geyser. (Maybe not Will?)
We then rushed towards Daisy, hoping to catch another exciting eruption. The boardwalk was blocked by cones and rangers just past Grand Geyser. We sat nearby the ranger to find out why. Around 3 or 4am, a pack of wolves took down a young bison. Around 7am, volunteers reported wolf activity. Ranger came to check and found wolves eating on the bison carcass. Those volunteers were the ones we encountered in the morning! That ranger nodded and said we were probably less than 50 yards away from the wolves and the carcass. And we missed it!!!
Jackson wanted to wait for the 11:30 Grand eruption but the ranger told us it would take longer because of the Turban Geyser indicator. We are glad we didn't wait since it erupted at 1:30pm.
We took a walk at the base of Jackson Hole ski resort. It's always interesting to check out an off-season ski mountain.
Thursday, May 30th
Our raft trip is at 1pm so we took it easy in the morning and went to Jackson to roam. We made sure our stomach was full with D.O.G burrito for the intense rafting. The temperature was cold and the weather was cloudy.
Luckily Jackson Hole Whitewater is experienced with cold weather. We each got our full body wetsuit plus a wetsuit jacket and boots and mittens. Our rain jackets over the wetsuit also helped greatly since we really did get WET! several times! It was fun and exciting, especially for the two kids.
We checked in our only two-nights lodging on this trip at Dornan's spur ranch. It was the best accommodation for this trip so far. We had two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. And mountain views on both sides of the living room. We quickly had our dinner at our kitchen and headed to a hike towards the Snake River through Triangle X ranch access.
We then stopped at the Ansel Adams Lookout point and tried to reproduce his famous black and white classic.
Friday, May 31st
Will got up early today to take sunrise photos. But with this north of latitude, twilight happens at 5am and 9:40pm. Even with a wakeup hour at 5am, he still got to the spot too late.
We planned a long hike to Jenny Lake through the boat shuttle towards inspiration point, then continued on to Cascade Canyon. When we arrived around 9:40am, the line waiting for the 10am boat ride was very long. We decided to hike the 2 flat miles across Jenny lake.
The trail was surprisingly crowded and full of moose activities. We saw a few groups of moose not far from the trail. Although if it's not prior hikers stopped and gathered, we wouldn't know they were there. Cascade Canyon was beautiful with Grant Teton as its backdrop when we marched in. I took the boat ride on the return trip while the other family members hiked a total of 9 miles.
After dinner, both kids wanted to break their hiking record and requested a 3 mile hike. So we hiked the Taggart Lake trail for a total of 3.2 miles.
Then we went to Blacktail Pond Overlook to chase the elusive beavers our guide promised. That was another 0.6mile. Jackson racked up 49,000 steps while Norah had 47,000 steps. With around 13 miles in one day, these were definitely their Personal Best.
Saturday, June 1st
We chose Death Canyon Trail to Phelps Lake Overlook in the morning. Jackson and Will hiked two more hours while Norah and I headed back and played in the stream. Both of them got their Junior Badge in GTNP after they finished their ranger book.
We stopped at Jackson for lunch at BAPP, a Korean restaurant. We all agreed that it's the best meal of our trip. Then we drove 4.5 hours to Hyatt SLC downtown. We walked to Red Iguana, a highly rated Mexican place for dinner. The food was okay.
Sunday, June 2nd
We woke up late, hopped on our noon plane and after 2.5 hours -- glad to be home! Dallas storms delayed a few of my friends' planes. We got in just in between the bad storms and were grateful!
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