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Day 6 – Idaho 2025 // Hayden Valley, Mesa Falls, Bechler Region, Jackson Hole

Isaac Church — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 03:30:22 +0000

Today, we were all over the place. I joked earlier on this trip that we were basically driving the wrong direction all the time, and today was no exception. But, that means we got to see a lot of new things. In short, I hope you like waterfalls, because today is loaded with them!

Hayden Valley Sunrise

Our day started with being uncomfortably close to a wolf. After loading up the car in the dark hours of the morning, I went into the Lake Lodge to drop off the room key and check us out. As I came back outside, I heard a wolf howl. It sounded like it was right on the other side of the Jeep. I’ve never gotten back in a car faster in my entire life! It might’ve been the same pack we saw from Lake Butte overlook; because we heard them in the distance the evening before too.

Early Start

Hayden Valley Sunrise

We drove north from the lake through the Hayden Valley, following the Yellowstone River. We’d hoped to do some wildlife watching, but it was far too foggy to see anything. It was a beautiful sunrise nonetheless, so we enjoyed seeing the frosted landscape. It was absolutely freezing outside, with a wind chill in the single digits, if not negative. After intermittently stopping at overlooks, we finally decided to brave the cold long enough to hike up an ice-covered hill near Trout Creek and Elk Antler Creek. The views were spectacular, although our hands and feet quickly went numb. We both enjoyed the peaceful silence of the morning, then rushed back to the warm car.

Hayden Valley Sunrise

We continued up the Hayden Valley, delayed briefly by a frost-covered bison ambling up the middle of the road.

Bison - Hayden Valley

Canyon

Soon we arrive at the turnoffs for the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Although we already hiked along the north rim earlier this trip, we decided to quickly drive down the south rim to Artist Point to catch one last glimpse of the Lower Falls. Our spontaneity was rewarded with a magnificent glowing view of the falls and the canyon, lit up in a way that was wowing even the clearly seasoned local photographers who were set up for their morning exposures.

Canyon Sunrise

Breakfast

Driving back down to the Lake Hotel, we attempted to get a spot for the breakfast buffet, but after hearing the wait times, we opted to get some solidly average breakfast sandwiches from the Hotel Deli instead. We finished up our breakfast and some coffee in the deli, observed the elk grazing by the front porch of the hotel, and then drove by the lakeshore in front of the hotel to get a view of its iconic white columns.

Lake Yellowstone Hotel Deli

Lake Yellowstone Hotel

On the Road Again

Back on the Grand Loop Road, we circled around the lower part of the “figure 8”, and headed north to Old Faithful, pulling into the Lower Geyser Basin just long enough to realize there weren’t going to be any significant eruptions soon. After a brief detour down Firehole Canyon Road to see the falls and the cascades, we turned west and exited the park via the Madison River Valley, headed towards West Yellowstone. If you’re keeping track, we’re still headed in the wrong direction.

Madison River Valley

WEst Yellowstone

Back in West Yellowstone, we filled up with gas, and started our journey to our next realm of adventure: Yellowstone’s “Cascade Corner”. We didn’t have a solid lunch plan, but we quickly found one on the way out of town when I shouted “turn in!” after seeing the sign for Ernie’s Bakery and Deli, which I recognized from one of my travel guidebooks.

Ernie’s has a great to-go lunch special, which gives you a generously portioned sandwich, an apple, a cookie, a bag of chips, and a bottled drink. We each got a bagged lunch, and after a brief wait, we were back on the road again.

Mesa Falls

At this point, you might be wondering to yourself, “Isaac, why is this trip titled ‘Idaho 2025’ if you haven’t even been in the state of Idaho by Day 6?”. Well, here’s your answer: besides the game being in Boise, we wanted to focus some time on the more remote Idaho side of Yellowstone.

Crossing the border into Idaho and driving through the Henry’s Lake area, we were amazed by how much development had occurred since we were last there. We eventually turned onto Mesa Falls Scenic Byway, and headed to see our first waterfall in this area. First, we stopped at Upper Mesa Falls. The river canyon takes an almost 90-degree turn at the base of the falls, making it a very unique drop.

Upper Mesa Falls

A short drive down the road and a couple missed turns later (it is very poorly labeled), we pulled into the Grandview Campground for a view of Lower Mesa Falls down below. I wish there was a better way to see this one up close, but the view from the canyon rim was magnificent.

Lower Mesa Falls

Bechler Region

The Bechler Region of Yellowstone National Park is rarely visited, mostly because it’s a real pain to access. It’s not connected to the Grand Loop Road; in fact, it’s barely connected to any main road. There’s a ~28 mile drive from the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway (which is already remote), and the trailheads are over 50 miles from the latest semi-major town. Oh, and most of that 28 mile drive is down a washboard gravel road – yay for Jeep suspension and off-road mode! We were glad to finally make it to this remote area of the park – it truly feels like we had a Yellowstone experience that most people don’t even know about.

Bechler Region

Picnic Lunch

Near Cave Falls (pictures later on) on the Fall River, there are a couple of picnic tables right by the edge of the lower falls, plus no more than two parking spaces for the floods of crowds who bother to come out this far. We enjoyed our sandwiches, and used my guidebook in combination with the park’s rudimentary trail map sign to plan our hike for the afternoon.

Lunch - Ernie's Bakery and Deli

Ernie's Bakery and Deli

West Yellowstone, MT

A great place to get tasty sandwich to take on your adventures.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Bechler River Trail

Our hike of choice was the Bechler River Trail. The trail will eventually take you all the way to Old Faithful, some 30+ miles away, but we decided we’d go as far as the second major waterfall on the river, Bechler Falls. The trail follows the western side of the Fall River, until the river meets its confluence with the Bechler River. The Bechler River (and its trail) fork northwest, and the Fall River goes northeast. By the way, the rivers are 10x wider than they look in the pictures.

Confluence of the Bechler and Fall Rivers

Bechler River Trail

Continuing upstream, we eventually climbed up a clear fall line – a sign that the next major waterfall was near.

Bechler River Trail

Bechler Falls

On our way back down the trail, some kind of very large bird jumped up out of the brush and made us jump out of our shoes – not once, but twice! The solitude was getting to us, I guess…I even got a high heart rate alert on my Apple Watch. Despite the “fowl intervention”, we arrived back at the trailhead safely. The hike was really quite easy for its length, and if we’d planned better, we could’ve continued at that pace and slope for quite some time.

Cave Falls

Back at the main trailhead and [tiny] parking area, we finally took some proper photos of the most easily accessible feature of this region, Cave Falls. The waterfall is over 250 feet wide, and while the main drop is “only” 20 feet tall, there are nearly a dozen drops in just a short section of river that make the totality of the falls much more impressive. It’s one of the more unique waterfalls I’ve seen out west, and definitely worth the miserable drive to see it.

Teton County, Teton Pass

Leaving the Bechler Region, we drove south through Teton County, ID through Tetonia, Driggs, and Victor. The landscape was much different, with rolling farmland, but we enjoyed the semi-smooth asphalt and the views of the western side of the Tetons in the distance.

Teton County, ID

Eventually, we crossed the Teton Pass back into Idaho, and descended the grinding slope down into Jackson Hole.

Teton Pass

Wildlife Watching

We checked into our rental, a small two-bedroom condo in the small town of Wilson, WY – just west of Jackson, nestled up against the eastern slope of the Teton range. Once we’d settled in, we decided to go out to look for wildlife and catch the sunset, waiting to eat until after dark.

First, we actually drove around the condo’s neighborhood, because I knew the development was known for having moose live nearby. Sure enough, after our first turn, we spotted a cow and calf moose eating in someone’s front yard.

Jackson Hole Moose Watching

We watched them for a while, and actually FaceTimed Mom so she could see them (Faith was occupied and couldn’t answer). We continued to drive around the neighborhood, and spotted a frisky red fox trotting down a gravel driveway.

Red Fox

Leaving our neighborhood, we drove to a few other spots to look for wildlife, but besides some bugling elk, didn’t see much of anything. The best scenery was down Fish Creek Road, which follows Fish Creek, winding behind some marshland right at the very foot of the mountains.

Jackson Hole, WY

Nora's Fish Creek Inn

Soon it was dark, and time to eat. We had a reservation at Nora’s Fish Creek Inn, a cozy local restaurant that we’ve been meaning to try since our first trip to the Tetons. We were famished after a long day of hiking and driving on bumpy roads, so we made the most of it.

For an appetizer, we split their pulled pork poutine (hand-cut fries covered in pork, gravy, cheese, poblano sauce, and caramelized onions). For our main courses, we split: Trout Almandine (Idaho rainbow trout, green beans, corn, brown butter almonds, capers, and scallions), and burrata ravioli (roasted corn cream sauce, spinach, and parmesan). For dessert, we split a cookie skillet (at the recommendation of our server), and their signature huckleberry pound cake (huckleberry pound cake, house-made huckleberry sauce, whipped cream, and huckleberry ice cream).

Nora's Fish Creek Inn

The whole meal was phenomenal from start to finish. The trout was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten; the ravioli was perfectly done; and the huckleberry pound cake was the perfect dessert – tart, sweet but not too sweet, and the perfect combo of hot and cold. We liked the meal so much we decided we’d come back again before we left Jackson Hole.

Nora's Fish Creek Inn

Wilson, WY

An amazing restaurant. Great food, casual, and fun service. We enjoyed the live blues and jazz in the evening.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Wrapping Up

Back at the condo, we were able to relax a little more than usual. This is the first place this trip where we get to stay more than one night, so there was no prep work for the next morning. We headed to bed, ready for another big day in Grand Teton National Park tomorrow.

Video

Here’s a video from today’s adventures.

The Best Things we Saw Today

Isaac

The best thing I saw today was… “sunrise glow at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstonel”.

The best thing I ate today was… “trout and huckleberry pound cake”.

Jerry

The best thing I saw today was… “the confluence of the Bechler River and Fall River”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the poutine and trout”.

Conclusion

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We’ll spend the next couple of days in the Jackson Hole valley – and we hope to be at a little more relaxed pace. Also, get ready for some moose watching!

– Isaac & Jerry

Hayden Valley Sunrise

The post Day 6 – Idaho 2025 // Hayden Valley, Mesa Falls, Bechler Region, Jackson Hole appeared first on Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com.

Day 5 – Idaho 2025 // Yellowstone Lake, Pelican Valley

Isaac Church — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 03:30:45 +0000

Today was a rather wet and dreary day, at least for the morning. We stayed dry in a museum for a while, and then headed back into Yellowstone to explore the Lake area.

Breakfast, Sunrise, Breakfast

We started our day in the Airbnb by waking up early to finish doing the laundry. Then, we split a day-old microwave-warmed orange sticky bun leftover from Cattail Bakery in Red Lodge. After finishing our laundry and loading the Jeep in a sporadically torrential downpour, we headed over to The Station by Cody Coffee. This restaurant is an old filling station now converted into a breakfast and coffee shop. We filled our paper cups and travel mugs with their exceptionally hot coffee, each ordered an egg, cheese, and ham crêpe, and ate our breakfast while the rain pattered down on the building’s metal roof. A hearty pinch of salt made the coffee much better; the crêpes were surprisingly good and very filling. So, I’ll count this place as a pretty good option for the middle of Wyoming on a rainy morning.

Orange roll from Cattail Bakery

Cody, WY Sunrise

The Station by Cody Coffee

Buffalo Bill Center of the West

After breakfast, we were some of the first people in the door of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a massive complex made up of five museums: Buffalo Bill Museum, Plains Indian Museum, Cody Firearms Museum, Whitney Western Art Museum, and Draper Natural History Museum. After getting our tickets at the front desk, we made our way through each of the museums, trying to squeeze in as much as possible during the morning. This was the only day it really rained on our trip, and the timing couldn’t have been better for an indoor activity.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Cody Firearms Museum

Beginning our tour in the firearms wing of the building, we were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of items the museum held. They have over 10,000 artifacts, including some of the rarest firearms in existence. In the basement, there is an archive and research center that authenticates and researches old firearms that people bring in – dating back to the French & Indian War, and even earlier.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Plains Indian Museum

Next, after walking by the raptor display (no idea what was there, access would have required walking outside in a downpour), we browsed through the Plains Indian Museum. This was also fascinating. Dad particularly enjoyed seeing the life-sized earth lodge; I was fascinated to see “Lone Dog’s Winter Count”, an animal skin depicting the most significant events from each winter during Lone Dog’s life. This served somewhat like a Rosetta Stone for western history, particularly because it documents the Leonid Meteor Storm in November 1833, “The Night the Stars Fell”. I’ve read about this and seen it in many documentaries, so it was fascinating to see it in person.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Draper Natural History Museum

Walking out of the Plain Indian section, we went through the natural history museum, which spiraled down, going through each class of animals. This area was very engaging and had lots of fascinating info, so much so that I was apparently too distracted to take pictures.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Buffalo Bill Museum

The central wing of the building houses the Buffalo Bill museum, dedicated to the life of its namesake, William Frederick Cody. This was also fascinating, as I quickly realized I knew some, but really very little about Buffalo Bill. It was interesting to see his touring schedule, which made me exhausted just to read about it. He loved the west, and dedicated his life to sharing it with others through his touring show. There were a lot of archival videos and interactive displays, which we much enjoyed.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Whitney Western Art Museum

Finally, while Dad rested, I quickly walked through the art wing. I don’t care much for the abstract stuff, but it was neat to see paintings of historic Yellowstone. Some artist had his studio set up as a museum at the end of the wing, but I was out of energy and decided it was time to wrap things up rather than reading another sign.

We picked up a souvenir from the gift shop, bought a snack or two from the museum’s cafe, drove back across to The Filling Station to get a coffee refill, and hit the road.

No Moose Pond

Leaving Cody, we drove back down Yellowstone’s east entrance road and into the park. Shortly after we passed through the east entrance station and approached Yellowstone Lake, we rounded a steep curve and saw a sizable crowd gathered at an overlook. This could only mean one thing: wildlife! Sure enough, there was a grizzly bear eating an elk carcass by the side of a small pond, which I later learned is called “No Moose Pond” by locals, even though it’s unlabeled on official park maps.

Grizzly Bear - No Moose Pond

The bear put on quite the show. He swiped at a coyote trying to steal a bite of elk, fished with his enormous claws in the edge of the lake, and strutted around showing off his jiggly winter blubber and thick fur coat. We watched him for over 30 minutes, and then decided to move on, after we’d gotten our fill of pictures and videos from our convenient high vantage point.

Grizzly Bear - No Moose Pond

Lake Butte Overlook

After a brief drive that dropped us down to lake-level, we pulled up the short side road to Lake Butte Overlook, which has a rather self-explanatory name, and a great view of Yellowstone Lake. We hiked up a steep hill, and were rewarded with even more stunning views of the lake and surrounding landscape.

Lake Butte Overlook

A very nice man with a very nice spotting scope pointed out to me that there was another grizzly in a distant field some 600 yards away. It soon disappeared into the trees. There was also a wolf pack in the same field, which I was able to capture with my camera – though the wolves are still tiny in the frame. Look just above the treeline in the photos and you might be able to see white, grey, and black dots lying down in the yellow grass.

Wolf Pack - Lake Butte Overlook

We could see a storm rolling in quickly across the lake, and the wind was picking up significantly, so we decided it was time to head back to the Jeep to warm up our frozen fingers and eat our “lunch” that we purchased at the museum. We got a couple mini to-go characterie packs, which turned out to be pretty good other than the exceptionally stale crackers. They had some cheese, some nuts, grapes, and a few other little goodies. It wasn’t a spectacular meal, but we enjoyed a spectacular view from the car while we ate.

Lake Butte Overlook

Lunch at Lake Butte

Pelican Valley Trail

We felt slightly recovered from being on our feet all morning at the museum, so we decided it was time for another hike. Without much distance or destination in mind, we decided to undertake at least part of the Pelican Valley Trail. The full trail is 6.2 miles one-way, but is more of a “journey hike” than a “destination hike”. We started the hike by crossing through some open meadows by the Pelican Creek. The trail was muddy from recent rains, but navigable.

Pelican Valley Trail

Soon we came to a densely wooded area. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something moving in the trees. Can you spot it too?

Great Horned Owl - Pelican Valley Trail

Sure enough, after an intense game of “I Spy” (except we didn’t know what we were looking for), we spotted a great horned owl perched in a tree. It flew and landed on a different branch, completely silent as it flew – a surreal thing to witness. I didn’t have my wildlife lens to get a close-up photo, and unfortunately by the time I attempted to sneak closer it flew away.

Great Horned Owl - Pelican Valley Trail

Continuing down the trail, we passed through densely wooded areas, with occasional patches of now-wilting wildflowers and grasses. You could tell bison and other animals occasionally used this trail as a cut-through, so we were very intentionally making noise and keeping an eye out for animals.

Pelican Valley Trail

Soon, the trail opened up into a long, fairly narrow valley lined with grass. It seemed to go on forever in both directions.

Pelican Valley Trail

Following the path up the valley, we were eventually rewarded with a wide panoramic view of of the greater Pelican Valley, with bison in the distance and a hawk swooping down over our heads.

Pelican Valley Trail

The trail and its distributaries continued on for many more miles, but we decided to turn around and head back to the parking lot. Retracing our steps, we had a pleasantly uneventful journey back to the car, where we wolfed down a “that hits the spot” bran muffin and blueberry muffin, also leftover from Cattail Bakery in Red Lodge. In total, we hiked about 4 miles on the trail, but it seemed much longer because of the squelchy mud that stuck in our hiking shoes and slowed us down.

Pelican Valley Trail

Muffins from Cattail Bakery

Fishing Bridge

Not more than a couple hundred yards down the road, we stopped in the Fishing Bridge General Store and visitor center, brushed up on our ornithology/strigiformology (you might have to look that one up, I did), and walked down to the beach at the lakeshore for a quick view. Not pictured: we also saw a tremendous amount of the trumpeter swans in a pond just off the lake. I didn’t take any pictures because at the time I didn’t realize it was a bank of rare swans…we both mistakenly thought it was a gaggle of Canadian geese, which are creatures most vile and detestable. Instead, you can enjoy a picture of this massive swan mannequin from the visitor center; I assure you it is significantly bigger than you’d ever imagine.

Fishing Bridge Visitor Center

Yellowstone Lake

Wildlife Spottings

We decided to head over to the Lake Hotel to check into our lodging for the evening. Beside the pullout for the hotel, there was a herd of elk with a rather grand bull leading them.

Elk

At the next turn, I spotted another grey blob high in a tree. This time, instead of a Great Horned Owl, it was an even-larger Great Grey Owl. It was staring down at us from the tree, eyes aglow and rather angry-looking. We watched for a while, managed to gather a very large crowd from other cars that pulled over, and then resumed our mission of finding the night’s lodging.

Great Grey Owl

Lake Lodge-Ing

Dad dropped me off at the Lake Hotel, complete with its iconic pale-yellow paint job, bustling grand lobby, and live music. It’s almost like stepping back in time. However, my visit didn’t last long, because we were staying in one of the Lake Lodge cabins, so we needed to check in a short distance down the drive.

Lake Hotel

Lake Hotel Lounge

The Lake Lodge is just as grand, but in a much more rustic way. We checked into our triplex cabin, which was cozy, simple, and very nice. We FaceTimed home, freshened up a bit, and decided to head back out for the evening and sunset. We had a very late dinner reservation at the Lake Hotel Dining Room – but were lucky to have one at all; it’s a very popular place.

Yellowstone Lake Lodge

Yellowstone Lake Lodge Cabins

Mud Volcano

We decided to follow the Yellowstone River downstream to Mud Volcano, a smelly geothermal basin known for strange water features and boiling mud. We got to see a couple features we missed two trips ago due to boardwalk construction, so it was worth stopping in.

Mud Volcano

Pelican Creek Nature Trail

Backtracking to the Lake, we decided to undertake another hike, this one quite easy and short. The Pelican Creek Nature Trial (not to be confused with the Pelican Valley Trail, which we hiked earlier) is a 0.6 mile loop that winds through a meadow, forest, and down to the lake. It was a very relaxing hike, and the soft, spongy, moss-covered ground was a nice contrast to the thick mud and hard concrete that had defined most of our walking today.

Pelican Creek Nature Trail

Lake Sunset

As the sun began to set, we drove around the Lake, stopping at various overlooks to take pictures as things caught our eye. We were treated to a beautiful sunset over the mountains, as elk grazed along the lake shore and birds fished in the shallows, creeks, and ponds.

Yellowstone Lake

Pelican Creek

Yellowstone Lake

Late Dinner

Back at the cabins, we took a nice hot shower (complete with a heater in the bathroom ceiling to offset the drafty walls), changed clothes, and reorganized our luggage some. Our dinner reservation was not until 20:30, but we went over to the Lake Hotel lobby about an hour early to relax, and to see if there was any chance of us getting a table sooner. There wasn’t.

Our wait and rumbling stomachs were rewarded with a fantastic meal. We started out with their house made bread and butter, and a salad with tomatoes, candied pecans, and a huckleberry vinaigrette. For our main courses, Dad ordered grilled shrimp with cheesy polenta, green beans, and cowboy caviar; I ordered their rabbit ravioli with a browned mushroom sauce. Both were good, but the ravioli was one of the best dishes either one of us have ever eaten. We both said we could’ve just had the sauce in a cup with a straw. For dessert, we split a goblet of huckleberry ice cream and their Basque cake, which was like pound cake, but served warm with a pastry cream filling and a brandied cherry sauce over the top. Once again, both were very good, but the Basque cake stole the show.

Lake Yellowstone Hotel Dining Room

After dinner, we collapsed in bed, our feet and legs aching from close to 10 miles of hiking/walking today. It was worth it though, as was the wait to eat dinner after 21:00.

Yellowstone Lake Hotel

Yellowstone national Park

We honestly had pretty low expectations for this, given how most of the national park food we’ve had has been routinely mediocre. We couldn’t have been more surprised. It was a genuinely amazing meal, and an incredible historic setting to enjoy it in.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Video

Here’s a video from today’s adventures.

The Best Things we Saw Today

Isaac

The best thing I saw today was… “the great horned owl flying silently in the Pelican Valley”.

The best thing I ate today was… “rabbit ravioli, with honorable mention to the Basque cake”.

Jerry

The best thing I saw today was… “the view from Lake Butte Overlook”.

The best thing I ate today was… “rabbit ravioli, with honorable mention to the Basque cake”.

Conclusion

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Tomorrow we’ll continue through the eastern and southern sides of the park, and venture over to a remote corner of Yellowstone that most people never see.

– Isaac & Jerry

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Day 4 – Idaho 2025 // Beartooth Highway, Red Lodge, Cody

Isaac Church — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 03:30:58 +0000

Today, we woke up early in Cooke City, went wildlife watching in the Larmar Valley, and then journeyed over the Beartooth Pass towards Red Lodge, MT and eventually down to Cody, WY.

Wildlife Watching

We woke up well before sunrise, threw on some warm clothes, and drove west into the national park to do some early morning wildlife watching. As we passed through Yellowstone’s not-yet-manned NW entrance booth, we saw a very large black bear scurry across the road in the dark. It scared us half to death, but I think it also scared the bear just as badly. We didn’t have much luck seeing any more wildlife in the Lamar Valley (maybe just another black bear or two and the usual elk and bison), but it was a beautiful sunrise and nice to be out in the crisp morning air. After a final stop at Warm Creek Picnic Area, we decided to head back to the ranch for breakfast.

Lamar Valley Sunrise

Warm Creek

We were almost back to Cooke City, in its tiny sister town called Silver Gate, MT, when I spotted a cow moose eating right by the side of the road in some bushes. We turned the car around, headed back, and were able to find her again, despite being well-camoflauged. Parking by the side of the road, we were able to watch her for almost 20 minutes before she disappeared deeper in the woods. I only managed to get one good photo because she was so deep in the brush, but I’m very pleased we got to have such a great view for so long.

Moose - Silver Gate, WY

Breakfast

Back at Skyline Guest Ranch, we settled in for some breakfast. They make breakfast to order for all their guests (granted, there aren’t very many), and today we enjoyed a goblet of fresh fruit, orange slices, homemade coffee cake, and and egg scramble with cheese and ham, plus orange juice, coffee, and milk. All the food was delicious, and we also grabbed some more of the leftover cookies from the day before.

Skyline Guest Ranch

After breakfast, Dad sat on the porch while I took a shower and called home. While he was sitting out there (without his phone of course), another large moose came trotting through the front yard right in front of him! We loaded up the car, said goodbye to the owners, the horses, and the peaceful setting, and hit the road again.

Skyline Guest Ranch

Cooke City, MT

We loved our time staying at the ranch. The hospitality is great, and the food is amazing. They just published a cookbook, and we ordered a copy as soon as it became available.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Beartooth Highway

Starting the traverse east, we continued on US-212, also known as the Beartooth Highway. In 2021, on our first trip to the Yellowstone area, we drove this highway, but returned back west to the park. This time, we decided we’d continue on east and south to Cody, WY, one of the gateway towns we haven’t visited yet.

Waterfalls

First, before the highway reaches its higher elevations, we stopped at a set of waterfalls and did a couple short hikes to get a closer look. First came Crazy Creek Falls, and then Lake Creek Falls.

Crazy Creek Falls

Lake Creek Falls

Yellowstone Overlook

We stopped at the Yellowstone Overlook, which has a view of (you guessed it!) Yellowstone’s eastern boundary in the distance. The sharp peak you can see is often mistaken for “The Bear’s Tooth”, like the name of the highway, but it is actually called Index Peak.

Yellowstone Overlook

Index Peak

Yellowstone Overlook

Clay Butte Lookout

Next, we turned off the main highway and drove up a 2.6 mile one-way road called Clay Butte Lookout Road. This leads to a fire tower the has panoramic views of the Beartooth Butte, Beartooth Lake, and the Beartooth-Absoroka Wilderness. The lake and butte you see in the pictures below is Beartooth Lake, the same lake that we’ll be at the shoreline of soon. It was a long, bumpy drive up to the stop, but since we had a Jeep and plenty of time, I’m glad we tackled it.

Clay Butte Lookout

Beartooth Falls

The next stop, just to the side of the road, is an overlook for Beartooth Falls. The last time we came through here, they were completely redoing the road, and there were long constructions delays that also prevented you from stopping to see the view or the waterfalls. Thankfully, the road project is now complete, and we got to actually enjoy the sights from a very large roadside pullout.

Beartooth Falls Overlook

Beartooth Lake // Island Lakes

As I mentioned before, we pulled down by the shore of Beartooth Lake, which is framed by the reddish-colored Beartooth Butte.

Beartooth Lake

The next road is for Island Lakes Campground, which was mostly closed for the season. The view from the top is very nice, though. After a quick pull-in at the Top of the World Store, we were back on our way to the top of the plateau.

Island Lakes

Beartooth Plateau

At the top of the pass, we stopped at the vista point and some of the surrounding pullouts to take in the spectacular views. We saw pikas scurrying along the ground, and various raptors circling overhead. The alpine lakes were glistening in the fall sunlight. Can you spot the pika in the photos below?

Beartooth Pass Vista

Pika

Beartooth Pass Vista

Just below the pass, there’s a spot were you have a brief view of the actual “Bear’s Tooth”.

Bear's Tooth

Rock Creek Vista Point

At the east side of the pass, before the road drops sharply down a series of switchbacks, there’s one last vista point that overlooks the Rock Creek Valley. Dad and I walked out to the point, and enjoyed the views of the fall colors lining the mountainsides below. It’s easy to see why this mountain pass was barely used for most of its existence…it’s so rugged and remote, there’s not much of any reason early inhabitants/settlers would have ever thought it was worth the risk to cross.

Rock Creek Vista

Piccola Cucina Ox Pasture

Finally at the bottom of the valley, we continued into Red Lodge, MT, where we eagerly hurried to our lunch reservation at Piccola Cucina Ox Pasture. This is a very intentional repeat from our previous trip, as it is the best Italian meal we’ve ever had in the United States.

This time didn’t disappoint either. We got a variety of things to split: bread service with tomato oil, caesar salad, lasagna Bolognese, and cacio e pepe, which they flambéed tableside in a wheel of Pecorino Romano cheese. Everything was phenomenal, and left us exceptionally full and satisfied. The homemade pasta had the perfect al dente chew, and all the ingredients are simply world-class. It’s not at all what you’d expect in a tiny town in Montana, but we’ll keep coming back every time we’re in the area.

Piccola Cucina Ox Pasture

Picola Cucina Ox Pasture

Red Lodge, MT

Simply put, one of the best Italian meals you’ll ever have.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Downtown Red Lodge

After lunch, we desperately needed to walk around to let our food settle, so we browsed around downtown for a while. We unfortunately hadn’t been able to hold dessert at lunch, but we did eventually pick up a small Wilcoxson’s huckleberry ice cream sandwich to split at Montana Candy Emporium, an old-fashioned candy barrel similar to Mast General Store. We also went in Cattail Bakery to pick up a couple of baked goods for future breakfasts and snacks.

Montana Candy Emporium

Wapiti + Pahaska Tepee

We continued south into Wyoming, arriving in Cody and heading to their Walmart to pick up a few more supplies we were lacking, namely laundry detergent. After checking into our Airbnb, we decided to drive part of the way in the east entrance road to Yellowstone (unexplored territory for us) to get the lay of the land before we re-entered the park that way tomorrow. A series of tunnels brings the road alongside the Buffalo Bill Reservoir, with ragged cliffs and gulches on all sides.

Cody, WY

About 20-30 minutes down the road, we came across a small crowd watching something up on the hillside. It turned out to be a huge, blubbery grizzly bear. He was a giant. He was sitting down eating berries or something up on the hillside. I never managed to get a clear view, and as soon as he got into the open, he started lumbering down the hillside towards us, so we all had to scramble for the safety of our vehicles. So, enjoy some blurry pictures of the biggest bear we saw the whole trip.

Grizzly Bear - Pahaska Tepee, WY

Less than a mile up the road, we saw another smaller female grizzly on the opposite side of the road, right on the edge of the North Fork of the Shoshone River. We parked, and from behind the guardrail on the bridge above, watched her swim across the river and eventually disappear into the woods.

Grizzly Bear - North Fork Shoshone River

Bigg Chill + Wind Chill

Back in downtown Cody, we walked the streets for a while, going into various stores, and the famous Irma Hotel. Most restaurants are closed on Sunday, so we struggled to find a place to eat that didn’t have a preposterous wait time. So, we ended up just getting a couple cups of ice cream at Bigg Chill for our “dinner”. We both got white chocolate huckleberry and “Choco Noir”; both were very good.

After dinner, we drove down by the river to the Paul Stock Nature Trail in hopes of getting a quick sunset hike. However, the wind had picked up so much that we couldn’t even hold onto our hats. Plus, it had become cold exceptionally fast, and we were very underdressed for it. So, we snapped a quick picture, and headed back to our Airbnb to do a load of laundry and then head to bed.

Bigg Chill

Paul Stock Nature Trail

Bigg Chill

Cody, WY

Good rotating ice cream flavors. Homemade quality and friendly service.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Wrapping Up

Back at the Airbnb, we reworked our itinerary (due to the museum timetable change), and after making our final time calculations and solidifying a breakfast plan, we headed off to bed.

Video

Here’s a video from today’s adventures.

The Best Things we Saw Today

Isaac

The best thing I saw today was… “a tie between the moose in Silver Gate and the grizzly crossing the river”.

The best thing I ate today was… “cacio e pepe”.

Jerry

The best thing I saw today was… “the moose running across the front yard at Skyline Guest Ranch”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the Italian meal and coffee cake for breakfast”.

Conclusion

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Tomorrow we’ll head back into Yellowstone via the east entrance road, rejoining the Grand Loop Road by Yellowstone Lake and Fishing Bridge.

– Isaac & Jerry

The post Day 4 – Idaho 2025 // Beartooth Highway, Red Lodge, Cody appeared first on Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com.

Day 3 – Idaho 2025 // Blacktail Plateau, Canyon, Lamar Valley

Isaac Church — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 03:30:21 +0000

Today, we got up and moving over an hour before sunrise. We headed across the river and up the hill to “downtown” Gardiner, where we stopped at Bears Brew, a coffee food truck conveniently open before the crack of dawn. We filled up our mugs, and then headed into the park, still via the old service road because of the 2022 floods.

Grand Loop Road Sunrise

Blacktail Plateau Sunrise

The sunrise was just starting to show some color as we headed east on the Grand Loop Road towards Blacktail Plateau, a one-way gravel loop that climbs the plateau and offers some true solitude. Our plan was to drive to the top and find a spot to watch the sunrise, and then enjoy some leftover pastries for breakfast.

Grand Loop Road Sunrise

Blacktail Plateau

As we climbed, we were greeted by a couple of lone bison, but otherwise had the entire plateau all to ourselves. We didn’t see any other wildlife, but did enjoy one of the most peaceful (and one of the most beautiful) sunrises I’ve ever seen. It was dead quiet, and you couldn’t hear anything but the wind.

Blacktail Plateau

We stopped near the crest of the plateau and enjoyed some pastries for breakfast. Climbing up a sizable hill, we were able to see even more of the surrounding landscape as the sun covered the hills in golden light.

Blacktail Plateau

We continued down the backside of the plateau, stopping once again to split the pimento cheese and bacon scone from Wild Crumb Bakery.

Blacktail Plateau

During our descent, we spotted a black bear digging for food on the hillside, and watched her for a while.

Blacktail Plateau

Black Bear Spotting

Soon, we rejoined the main loop road, and headed back west to see a few more sights we’d never visited on prior trips. We hadn’t been back on the pavement long at all, when we saw another black bear in the middle of the road!

Black Bear near Blacktail Deer Creek

He started coming down the hillside right towards us, forcing us to scurry back to the Jeep to stay a safe distance away. It was a pretty amazing site to see one walk right by our car!

Wraith Falls

After a quick pit stop at the Lava Creek Picnic Area, we decided it was time to go for a short hike to Wraith Falls. The trail is a little less than a mile round trip, and leads to a 79-foot waterfall. It was a nice, easy hike, and definitely worth the quick side trip.

Lava Creek Trail

Wraith Falls

Calcite Springs Overlook

Backtracking east again, we turned at Tower-Roosevelt junction and headed south towards the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. At Calcite Springs Overlook (a repeat from our last trip), we saw yet another black bear by the side of the road, along with some bighorn sheep. While we were stopped, we walked up to the overlook platform to see the springs and the lower end of the Grand Canyon.

Bighorn Sheep at Calcite Springs Overlook

Black Bear at Calcite Springs Overlook

Calcite Springs Overlook

Yellowstone National Park

Dunraven Pass

Climbing up the Dunraven Pass towards Mount Washburn, we stopped to take in the view of the valley below. We could hear a wolf pack howling, but couldn’t see any of them; we only saw some bison in the valley below.

Dunraven Pass

Silver Cord Cascade

Now at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, we decided to do yet another hike we’d never done before, but first we saw a quick view of the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Near Inspiration Point, we parked along the side of the road at the Glacial Boulder Trailhead and joined the Seven Mile Hole Trail. It is indeed close to a seven mile trail that descends over 1,000′ to the Yellowstone River, but we had no intent of going that far. We simply wanted to go to the overlook for Silver Cord Cascade, a waterfall that leaves the Ribbon Lake area and then cascades down the side of the canyon into the Yellowstone River.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Silver Cord Cascade - Seven Mile Hole Trail

The overlook for the cascade was about 1.5 miles down the trail, which was “no elevation gain”, but turned out to have quite a lot of up-and-down for a trail that simply followed the rim of the canyon. We actually initially missed the overlook for the cascade, walking right past it since it’s so slender and has low water flow this time of year. Since we had radios, I went up the trail a ways to make sure there wasn’t a more obvious overlook, and then we soon realized our mistake.

Silver Cord Cascade - Seven Mile Hole Trail

By this time, we were tired, thirsty, and hungry, especially after hiking around 4 rather hilly miles. Back at the car, we refilled our waters, and headed straight for Canyon Village to seek out some lunch. We grabbed a burger and a grilled chicken sandwich at the lunch counter, and ate outside on a picnic table.

Lunch at Canyon Village

Lamar Valley

We headed north back across the Dunraven Pass, and turned east at the junction headed towards the Lamar Valley. Out in the valley, we enjoyed the sweeping views of the river winding through the valley, and got to witness several bison rutting by the side of the road.

Construction over the Yellowstone River

Lamar Valley

At the eastern end of the valley near Warm Creek, we saw yet another black bear by the water, and also saw an osprey in its nest. Somewhere in the photo of the mountainside below, there are also some mountain goats that are really difficult to spot.

Osprey

Lamar Valley

Barronette Peak Overlook

Skyline Guest Ranch

Arriving in Cooke City just outside the northwest entrance station, we headed to our lodging for the night, Skyline Guest Ranch. I found this little bed and breakfast online, and thought it looked like an amazing place to stay. They offered guided horseback tours, and operate a fully functioning ranch and snowmobile tour business in this tiny corner of Montana. As we checked in, we were greeted by warm chocolate chip sea salt cookies, and very friendly staff.

Skyline Guest Ranch

We settled into our room in the lodge, FaceTimed home, grabbed another couple cookies (since none of the other guests were eating them), and headed back out.

Cooke City

Back in “downtown” Cooke City, we needed to kill some time before our dinner restaurant of choice opened, so we headed in Yellowstone Trading Post, which has a small wildlife museum in half of the store, and a very nice gift shop in the other half.

Yellowstone Trading Post

Soon it was time for dinner, and we headed into the Beartooth Cafe for a much-needed meal and time off our feet. We split a bison ribeye, Idaho Red Trout, a salad with huckleberry vinaigrette, and a cup of chili. The ribeye was a little disappointing (under-seasoned and a little overcooked), but the trout made up for it.

Beartooth Cafe

Cooke City, MT

This place really gets a star because it’s one of the only truly good restaurants a very long distance in any direction. Also, the trout is incredible.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Lamar Valley - Slough Creek

After dinner, we drove back into the Lamar Valley, where we saw a ton of wildlife, including black and grizzly bears, pronghorn, elk, bison, coyotes, and more. It was an amazing sight. We spent most of our time wildlife watching at Slough Creek, where we saw several bears on the hillside, in the meadows, and drinking out of the river.

Lamar Valley

Bedtime

Once it was finally dark, we drove back to Cooke City to the guest ranch, watched some football in the lobby with a older couple visiting from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and then headed to bed.

Cooke City, MT

Video

Here’s a video from today’s adventures.

The Best Things we Saw Today

Isaac

The best thing I saw today was… “sunrise on Blacktail Plateau”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the pimento cheese bacon scone and the Idaho Red Trout”.

Jerry

The best thing I saw today was… “the bear running down the road towards us”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the sea salt chocolate chip cookie and the trout”.

Conclusion

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Tomorrow, we’ll head further east into the Beartooth-Absaroka Range, and then south to Cody, WY. I’m hoping for some good Italian food along the way.

– Isaac & Jerry

The post Day 3 – Idaho 2025 // Blacktail Plateau, Canyon, Lamar Valley appeared first on Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com.

Day 2 – Idaho 2025 // Big Sky, West Yellowstone

Isaac Church — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 03:30:10 +0000

Today, we departed Bozeman and took a roundabout route south into Yellowstone National Park.

Coffee

Starting early as promised, we left our hotel around 06:00, and drove over to Treeline Coffee Roasters for some caffeine and a raspberry scone. The coffee was fantastic, and we actually picked up two bags to either brew on this trip or take back home with us. We each ate about a quarter of the scone, saving room for better things to come.

Treeline Coffee Roasters

Bozeman, MT

Quality, well-crafted coffee and a fun place to hang out. The pastries are good, but Wild Crumb next door is the real star.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Pastries

Conveniently, the bakery we’d planned to try was right next door, and opened 30 minutes later than the coffee shop. It’s amazing how well Dad and I can coordinate logistics when baked goods are involved. Wild Crumb Bakery has been on my list since our first trip out to Bozeman, and I’m glad we finally got to visit this round. As you might expect (unless you’re a new-timer to the blog), we got a variety box to go, and had to restrain ourselves from buying one of everything. I’ll go through the specifics later when we get around to actually eating some.

Wild Crumb Bakery

wild Crumb Bakery

Bozeman, MT

This might be the new reigning bakery champion from all the ones we’ve visited. At worst, it’s in our top 3. You absolutely must try their huckleberry and pimento cheese scones (along with almost everything else on the menu).

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Donuts

Next, we drove to Granny’s Gourmet Donuts near Montana State’s Campus. It’s a cash-only establishment that is a favorite with locals and students. It was decorated in a vintage style that reminded me of a Daylight Donuts crossed with an old Pizza Hut or Village Inn (with the glass chandeliers and checkered tablecloths). The staff asked us what we were doing today once we left Bozeman, and I tried to explain the roundabout path we were going to take into Yellowstone, telling them we expected to head to Big Sky and then Gardiner. “But those are the opposite direction!”, they cried. “Yes, that’s how we roll,” we responded.

We got our variety box of donuts (lemon creme, Bavarian cream, glazed cake, glazed yeast, raspberry filled, and a maple log), wrapped up our rather hilarious conversation with the operator, and headed on our way in the wrong direction.

Granny's Gourmet Donuts

At this point, you might be asking yourself, “Isaac/Jerry, why on earth are you buying enough pastries to feed an army?”. Or, you might not be asking that, and you may have just resigned yourself to the fact that we just do things like that sometimes. There is a good answer, though: we are stocking up on breakfast and snacks for several days, because we expect there to be almost no quick breakfast food available in the part of Wyoming we will be in.

Granny's Gourmet Donuts

Bozeman, MT

Good donuts, great atmosphere. We would definitely come back if we’re in the area.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Big Sky

Cutting southwest from Bozeman, we began down US-191 towards Big Sky, MT. We had no great reason for coming this way, other than we’ve never been through here and have heard it’s very pretty. After a quick bathroom break and less than an hour on the road, we rolled into town and once again had a few errands to run before seeing any sights.

Outside Bozeman, MT

First, we stopped at a bear spray vending machine at the Chamber of Commerce and picked up our reserved bear spray canisters (we could return these later at a different location, thanks to the convenient rental network). Then, we popped in Caliber Coffee Roasters to refill our mugs before starting our first outdoor adventure of the trip.

Ousel Falls

Driving to the outskirts of town, we started a hike to Ousel Falls, a 1.7 mile round trip trail that descends into a canyon, follows the river, overlooks a beautiful waterfall and then returns.

Ousel Falls Trail

While this hike had some moderate elevation change both directions, it was a brisk morning, and really perfect weather for a chilly morning hike. We didn’t see many people at all, and both agreed it was worth the effort.

Ousel Falls Trail

Back at the car, we dug into our pastries and donuts…so I guess it’s time for me to give the rundown. We got a huckleberry scone, a pimento cheese bacon scone, a ham and Gruyère croissant, a pistachio plum danish, a coconut macaroon, and a morning bun. If memory serves me right, we ate the huckleberry scone, the pistachio plum danish, and the macaroon at this stop, plus a few donuts. We were famished from the hike, but regardless all the pastries and donuts were incredible…especially the huckleberry scone.

Wild Crumb Bakery

While in the parking lot, we overheard a rather humorous encounter with a lady whose dog refused to “guard the door” while she used the public restroom…and then she publicly shamed the dog for running off and trying to mooch pastries off of us instead.

Earthquake Lake

We continued south towards the west entrance of Yellowstone, but turned west on US-287 towards Hebgen Lake and “Quake Lake”, once again going the opposite direction of the day’s final destination. Several people have recommended to me that we visit Earthquake Lake, the site of a 1959 7.2 magnitude earthquake that killed 28 and formed a brand new lake. The disaster required the US Army Corps of Engineers to intervene to prevent further flooding catastrophe, as the ensuing landslides completely backed up the Madison River.

Gallatin Valley

Earthquake Lake

Unfortunately, the visitor center was closed for the season, even though we checked their website before venturing this far out of the way. We did get a great view of the landslide, the dead trees sticking up out of the lake, and the destroyed homes still visible some six decades later. I’ve included a USDA video below if you’d like to learn more about the disaster.

West Yellowstone

By this time, we’d been on the road a while and were craving some real (non-sweet) food, so we headed back to a Mexican school bus restaurant, Las Palmitas, that we visited on our first trip to Yellowstone in 2021. We split a carnitas quesadilla with some sides, which was just enough to tide us over. After a quick pit stop for gas, we were on our way.

Las Palmitas

Las Palmitas/La Jungla

West Yellowstone, MT

Great, non-fussy Mexican food served from an old school bus…what more could you want?

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Artists' Paintpots

After waiting in the short line at the entrance station, and placing our bets of when we’d see our first bison (spoiler: it wasn’t long) we followed the Madison River until we hit the Grand Loop Road, turning north. We soon stopped at Artists’ Paintpots, mostly to stretch our legs, and because Dad didn’t think he had seen them before (we think Faith and I did the hike on our own).

Bison in the road

Artist Paintpots

View from Artist Paintpots

The trail is a “lollipop” loop that climbs a 100’+ hill, providing a sweeping view of the geyser basin and the surrounding mountains. It was a nice hike, and satisfied any geothermal itch we might have had for Yellowstone.

Sheepeater Cliffs

Continuing north, we pulled into another roadside stop we’d previously missed. Sheepeater Cliffs is a rock formation that runs along the Gardiner River. We walked up the river and saw the columnar basalt, which went back farther than the eye could see. Then, it was back on the road again.

Sheepeater Cliffs

Rustic Falls

We made a quick roadside stop at the Golden Gate to see Rustic Falls.

Rustic Falls

Mammoth Hot Springs

Soon we arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs, which we’ve visited several time before. We intended to skip it, but then saw that a herd of elk was positioned on the terraces of the springs, so we decided to stop and take a quick picture. Since we hadn’t been before, we also dropped in the Mammoth visitor center. As we descended out of the park to Gardiner, we also saw a pronghorn perched on a hilltop by the side of the road.

Elk at Mammoth Hot Springs

Liberty Cap

Pronghorn

Wonderland Cafe

We decided to check into our motel and then eat an early dinner. After a delayed check-in at our lodging, we headed to Wonderland Cafe & Lodge for dinner, and were one of their first customers when they opened their doors for the evening.

Chili

Bison ravioli

We split a bowl of their wild game chili (locally sourced bison and elk, jalepeño cornbread, maple-infused mascarpone, roasted jalepeños, and a dash of powdered sugar), and an order of the bison ravioli (Pappardelle Pasta Company bison-filled ravioli, roasted red & yellow tomatoes, red onion, light cream sauce, and shaved parmesan). Both were outstanding, and they were kind enough to split the portions into multiple plates for us.

Wonderland Cafe & Lodge

Gardiner, MT

A great place to visit, proven by the fact that we’ve probably been 4-5 times in 3 trips to Gardiner. Their breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all delicious. It’s definitely the best restaurant in Gardiner.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Paradise Valley

After dinner, we decided to drive north up the Paradise Valley to enjoy the stunning scenery, and kill time before out next planned activity, which was a bit time-sensitive. We drove north up the East River Road beside the Yellowstone River, crossed back over near Pray, MT, and headed back south down US-89 after stopping to top off the tank.

Paradise Valley

Bear Watching

Ok, before I start this section, let me provide a little disclaimer/explanation. Several years ago, thanks to the insight of some locals and frequent visitors, I learned about a “semi-secret” grizzly bear watching spot outside Yellowstone’s park boundaries that is still on public land. Due to the sensitive nature of the area, and because we wouldn’t want just anyone barging into this spot hoping for a selfie, I won’t be sharing the location…just that it’s outside the park boundaries and we did not break any laws/rules by going there.

That said…we headed to a very off-the-beaten-path spot with the hopes of seeing a grizzly bear or two. I mean, it was the type of road where you thought the wheels might fall off the car before you actually made it. We really didn’t know what to expect, other than that we knew there was a type of root in the ground out there that bears would come dig up around sunset almost every day.

Turns out, “grizzly bear or two” was a major understatement. We saw NINETEEN grizzly bears, most of them all at the same time. It was one of the most incredible sights I’d ever seen. At least 5-7 were cubs, and the rest were adults. The craziest part is that there were also elk and cows, some of them very close to the bears, and none of them seemed to mind (there’s a photo somewhere below with all three animals in frame).

Ok, I’ll stop yapping now and actually post some pictures…

Bears

An elk, a cow, and a grizzly bear

Bears

A Mother Grizzly with Her Three Cubs

While out surrounded by bears, we also saw a gorgeous sunset.

Paradise Valley

Sunset

On our way back to Gardiner, we also saw another handful of bears I wasn’t able to photograph because it was far too dark. We got back to the hotel, showered, and headed to bed, ready for another very early start tomorrow.

Video

Here’s a video from today’s adventures.

The Best Things we Saw Today

Isaac

The best thing I saw today was… “all the grizzly bears outside Yellowstone”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the huckleberry scone”.

Jerry

The best thing I saw today was… “a cow, and elk, and a grizzly standing right next to each other”.

The best thing I ate today was… “bison ravioli and the huckleberry scone”.

Conclusion

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Tomorrow, we will explore the north side of Yellowstone, including the Lamar Valley and the Cooke City-Silver Gate area. If time allows, we might venture down to the Canyon area.

– Isaac & Jerry

Ousel Falls Trail

The post Day 2 – Idaho 2025 // Big Sky, West Yellowstone appeared first on Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com.

Intro, Day 1 – Idaho 2025 // Travel, Bozeman

Isaac Church — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 03:59:26 +0000

Welcome back — after over a year-long hiatus, we’re back on the road again, headed out west. I’ll give you a little trip background below, and then jump right in with the good stuff.

Background

As you might have guessed, this story, like many great stories, starts with Appalachian State football. A couple years ago, we found out through a conversation with an administrator in the ASU Athletic Department that we’d be playing a two game series with the Boise State Broncos. Naturally, we immediately blocked off the surrounding weeks on our calendars.

Faith’s grandmother lives in Idaho, which added to the trip’s potential. Originally, there was talk of some of Faith’s family, both of my parents, our kids, etc. making the trip together. Or, we would travel our separate ways out there, rendezvousing in southern Idaho a couple days before the game. Unfortunately, this plan fell through due to various circumstances (I’ll spare you the details), and slowly but surely the guest list dwindled.

Eventually, we decided that Dad and I would make the trip out west, meeting up with some of our friends along the way. Mom opted out of this trip, wanting to take a break from traveling. A large chunk of Faith’s family is taking a beach trip while we are gone, so Faith, Walker, and Ivey will be on that trip along with a host of their nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers, sisters, and who knows who else.

Oxbow Bend

Sunset - Lamar Valley

Dad and I are going to revisit a few places, and also see a few completely new destinations. We’re starting in Bozeman, driving through Yellowstone, the Tetons, southern Idaho, northern Nevada, and then flying back out of Utah. We’re excited to be back out west during the fabulous fall season!

Cars, Planes, & Automobiles

Last night, after I got the kids to bed, I headed down the mountain to Granite Falls. Mom volunteered to drop Dad and I off at the airport, so we left Granite around 06:00, arrived at the CLT airport around 07:15, and migrated through the whole airport process. Our flight departed CLT at 09:20, and after 4 hours and 33 minutes in the air, we landed in Montana at the Bozeman airport. We picked up our rental car (a Jeep Grand Cherokee) from Alamo, and headed for downtown Bozeman.

Downtown Bozeman + Food

In downtown, we found a parking space, and began walking down Main Street. First, we made our way to Five on Black, a Brazilian lunch counter known for quick, nutritious bowls and pão de queijo, their Brazilian cheese bread (see my Brazil blog for more info). Unfortunately, this late in the day, they were out of many of their most popular dishes. Even more unfortunately, I forgot to order the cheese bread, and the line was so long we didn’t go back through. Nevertheless, the bowl we ordered to split was excellent. It had tilapia with mango barbecue sauce, coconut roasted sweet potato, brown rice, cilantro, and lime wedges.

Five on Black

Bozeman, MT

Good, quick food – with a selection you don’t find in many places. It’s like local fast-casual Brazilian Chipotle or Cava.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Main Street + Coffee

Back on the street, we perused a few more shops in downtown, including Schnee’s, a toy store, a couple bookshops, the Bozeman Community Food Co-Op, a few leather goods stores, and some cowboy apparel shops.

Schnee's

Bozeman Community Food Co-Op

Schnee's

Soon, we stopped for coffee at Rockford Coffee. I got an Ethiopian pour over, and Dad got a Nicaraguan Americano. Both were good, and a nice pick-me-up after a long flight. They had a nice looking selection of pastries too, but we had our sights set on other sweets.

Rockford Coffee

Dessert

We walked back towards the eastern end of the shopping district and got some ice cream at Sweet Peaks, a Montana-based small chain that we visited during our trip to Montana in 2021. We got four flavors and split them: “Into the Woods”, which is pine-infused ice cream with granola and orange essence; huckleberry; “Wüstner Honey Cinnamon”; and “River Float”, which has Dutch-oven-style cornbread with extra honey and butter and a fruity swirl of forest berry jam. All the flavors were excellent, and we were hard-pressed to pick a favorite – but the “River Float” was truly unique and exceptional. Dad said it was probably the best ice cream he’d ever had.

Sweet Peaks Ice Cream

Downtown Bozeman

Sweet Peaks Ice Cream

Bozeman, MT

Amazing traditional and creative flavors, fresh ingredients, and friendly service. Everything you’d ever want in an ice cream shop!

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Murdoch's Home & Ranch Supply

We left downtown and decided to kill some time and run some errands before it was time to check into our lodging for the evening. First, we went to Murdoch’s Home & Ranch Supply, a western chain we’d heard about but never visited. It’s kind of like a Tractor Supply or Rural King on steroids, but with a large clothing and housewares section, and really a good bit of anything and everything you’d ever need or want. It was a fascinating place to walk around, and we managed to kill over an hour wandering the aisles.

Murdoch's Home & Ranch Supply

After Murdoch’s, we headed down the road to Walmart and Safeway to pick up some supplies. We got all the essentials you need for a western trip: snacks, a disposable cooler, water, and cleaning wipes…but forgot laundry detergent.

Sapphire Motel

By now it was finally time to check into our lodging, the Sapphire Motel just north of downtown. This is an old motor lodge that has been nicely renovated with a retro theme. We checked into our hotel, FaceTimed the family back home, resituated our luggage, and relaxed for a while.

Sapphire Motel

Montana Ale Works

We had a dinner reservation at Montana Ale Works for later in the evening, but I decided to call over and see if they had any super-early openings so we could eat and head to bed early. Sure enough, they did, so we headed on over to the restaurant for dinner. Montana Ale Works is situated in a historic Northern Pacific freight building, and is a beautiful, rustic restaurant that has the honor of being Bozeman’s most decorated establishment.

Montana Ale Works

We started with an appetizer of bison potstickers with mango-garlic chili sauce, and then split two entrees: the “Montana Meatloaf” with local bacon-wrapped pork, beef & Idaho Kootenai bison, mashers, and caramelized onion gravy; and the “Monarch Elk Burger” with North American elk, melted Gruyère, tomato jam, arugula, and truffled porcini aioli.

Montana Ale Works

Everything was phenomenal, down to the veggies that came with the meatloaf. We loved the meal, and saw many other things on the menu we’d love to try one day.

Montana Ale Works

Bozeman, MT

Amazing atmosphere, finely crafted menu items, and great service. This is one of our favorites we’ve visited for western food.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Sightseeing + Ice Cream

After dinner, we drove through Montana State University’s campus to see the sights (they have a duck pond similar to App’s!), and then stopped at Genuine Ice Cream Co. to split a couple of small cups. Genuine was once in downtown, and we visited their old location on a previous trip to Bozeman. For the day’s second round of ice cream, we once again got four flavors to split: huckleberry, salted caramel cookie dough, chocolate orange, and honey cornbread. All were fantastic, but perhaps a small step below Sweet Peaks from earlier. Although, we both agreed Genuine’s huckleberry might’ve been slightly better.

Montana State University

Genuine Ice Cream Co.

Bozeman, MT Mural

Genuine Ice Cream Co.

Bozeman, MT

Very good, very creamy ice cream. Great flavor selection. If Sweet Peaks wasn’t right down the road, this would probably be a 3-star establishment.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Early To Bed, Early To Rise

We headed back to the Sapphire, and settled in for the night, ready to get an early start in the morning. We’ve committed to stay mostly on eastern time, so you’ll see a lot of early nights and early mornings from us on this trip (we hope).

Sapphire Motel

The Best Things we Saw Today

Isaac

The best thing I saw today was… “Murdoch’s Home & Ranch Supply”.

The best thing I ate today was… “a tie between Sweet Peaks Ice Cream and the meatloaf”.

Jerry

The best thing I saw today was… “Murdoch’s Home & Ranch Supply”.

The best thing I ate today was… “bison potsticker and cornbread ice cream”.

Conclusion

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Tomorrow we’ll be driving south into Yellowstone, but we’ll be taking a new [to us] route into the park. It’ll be a roundabout way—shocker—to get to our final destination, but I’m hoping we’ll see some great scenery along the way.

– Isaac & Jerry

The post Intro, Day 1 – Idaho 2025 // Travel, Bozeman appeared first on Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com.

Day 5 – Yellowstone National Park // Church Trip 2021

Isaac Church — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Today marks our final day in Yellowstone National Park. I planned it to be a bit of a “cleanup” day, if you will. We visited Old Faithful, the Upper Geyser Basin, Grand Prismatic Spring, the Lower Geyser Basin, Fountain Paint Pots, and the Firehole Canyon. In the afternoon, Faith and I hiked to Fairy Falls via Grand Prismatic Overlook.

Breakfast // Old Faithful

Another early start took us from Island Park to West Yellowstone, and then to the west entrance of the park. From the entrance we followed the Madison River to Madison Junction, and then turned south on the Grand Loop Road to go to Old Faithful. The Old Faithful area is definitely tourist central for Yellowstone. There are several hotels, a cafeteria, many gift shops, an art and photography shop, and a large visitor center.

Driving into the steam of Grand Prismatic Spring

Driving past the Lower Geyser Basin

Lower Geyser Basin

The first order of business was to find something to eat. All the dining in the parks was take-out only for the summer (not because of COVID, we learned, but because they couldn’t find staff to hire). First, we tried the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, but were unimpressed with their offering of cold breakfast sandwiches and a single microwave in which to heat them up. After much deliberation, we settled on the Old Faithful Lodge Cafeteria, which had some limited hot offerings, and most importantly, coffee. I wound up getting a very delicious lemon poppyseed muffin (as did Faith), and Mom and Dad got a bit larger breakfast. Mom got a blueberry muffin and mandarin oranges, and Dad got a lemon-poppyseed muffin and biscuits and gravy.

Lemon poppyseed muffin - Old Faithful Lodge Cafeteria

It couldn’t have been more perfect timing to see Old Faithful erupt. We took our breakfast to a bench outside and ate, then watched the eruption. It was definitely neat to see, but the crowds and commercialization definitely detracted from the experience. In the distance, we could see Daisy Geyser and a couple others erupting.

Daisy Geyser erupting in the distance

Old Faithful

Old Faithful Inn // Lunch

Post eruption, it was almost time for the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center to open. We decided to wait in line to enter, and perused the exhibits for a while. The center has many fascinating displays and is highly informative; it’s definitely worth a stop.

After our educational experience, we decided to visit the historic Old Faithful Inn. The lobby is timber-framed, and has an impressive 85-foot tall fireplace. There’s also a nice gift shop and usually a couple dining options open.

Old Faithful Inn

While the opportunity presented itself, we decided to grab some to-go sandwiches and chips for lunch. Faith and I hadn’t eaten a big breakfast, so we decided to eat our sandwiches on a bench outside the inn while we all watched Old Faithful erupt once again.

Lunch at Old Faithful

Upper Geyser basin

Mom and Dad decided to take their lunch somewhere for a picnic while Faith and I explored the Upper Geyser Basin. There’s a trail that runs from Old Faithful to Biscuit Basin, which would be our designated meeting point. The first destination was Geyser Hill, just up the hill above Old Faithful. This plan was quickly derailed when a bison grazing close to the path prompted a National Park Ranger to close down the area. Personally, I thought it was far enough down the hill that it didn’t pose any real danger (plus it was much farther away than the bison we saw at Mud Volcano). But, I’m not the expert on the matter, and I’m sure they wanted to be extra cautious since there were dense crowds. While we waited to see if the bison would leave, we were able to enjoy some nice views of the Firehole River.

Bison on Geyser Hill

Firehole River

Forced to take the long way around, we backtracked and restarted our journey to Biscuit Basin, bypassing Geyser Hill via another path to the south. We determined it wasn’t worth backtracking to revisit the top of the hill. We quickly came upon Blue Star Spring and East Chinaman Spring, and then had a long walk before we reached any other hydrothermal features.

Blue Star Spring

East Chinaman Spring

Next, we arrived at Castle Geyser, Tortoise Shell Spring, Shield Spring, and the Crested Pool.

Castle Geyser and Tortoise Shell Spring

Shield Spring

Crested Pool

As we crossed the Firehole River by South Scalloped Spring, we could look back and see Old Faithful erupting a third time.

Firehole River and Old Faithful

Firehole River

South Scalloped Spring

Firehole River and Old Faithful

We passed several other minor, but beautiful features, and walked past Grand Geyser (the eruption time was too long to wait on), soon arriving at Giant, Bijou, and Turtle Geysers.

Next, we arrived at Grotto Geyser, and then passed the “Bottomless Pit” on our way to Morning Glory Pool.

Grotto Geyser

Bottomless Pit

Morning Glory Pool

From here, we headed downhill through the last stretch of features between us and Biscuit Basin. We stopped for a while at the Artemisia Geyser, thinking it was about to erupt, but it turned out to be a false alarm.

Artemesia Geyser

Gem Pool

Mirror Pool

Finally, we reached Biscuit Basin. While we’d been walking through the geysers, Mom and Dad had eaten their lunch by a lake somewhere, and Dad had explored a bit of the Black Spring Basin.

Midway Geyser Basin // Grand Prismatic Spring

By this point in our Yellowstone travels, I was getting pretty tired of boardwalks and crowds. So, we decided it was time for one last hike before we left the park this evening. Inconveniently, our next stop was the Midway Geyser Basin, where the crowds are bested only by Old Faithful. Thankfully, there’s a nice hike that allows you to bypass most of the boardwalk crowds and see the primary features of the basin at the same time.

The Fairy Falls Trailhead first takes you to the Grand Prismatic Overlook, which has a full view of the Grand Prismatic Spring. It’s a short climb up the hill to the overlook. From there, you can also see the other main features of the Midway Geyser Basin in the background (from L to R): Opal Pool, Turquoise Pool, and Excelsior Geyser Crater. The overlook was extremely crowded, mainly with people who only wanted to take selfies rather than appreciate the view.

Grand Prismatic Spring

Fairy Falls

Quickly leaving the crowded overlook, we continued on the same trail to Fairy Falls. The falls is a 5.4mi round trip, which is thankfully lengthy enough that it deters the masses. The falls are 197ft high, and the water scatters as it drops, giving the water its dainty appearance. There was some other great scenery along the way, and we also saw some tiny wildlife.

Because some storm clouds were on the horizon and we could hear some distant thunder, we didn’t stay long at the falls. On the return trip, we took the low road trail bypassing the Grand Prismatic Overlook, which offered a different perspective of the pool.

Grand Prismatic Spring

This was a fairly easy, flat hike, but was extremely dusty. If I’d had a mask on me, I would’ve put it on just to avoid getting dust in my nose and mouth. By the end, we were both coughing a lot and had to drink extra water. Just off the parking lot, we observed Steel Bridge Pool and another section of the Firehole River.

Dusty shoes

Steel Bridge Pool

Firehole River

Lower Geyser Basin // Great Fountain Geyser

Worn out and dust-choked from our hike, we briefly rested in the car, and decided to finish up with some less involved activities. So, we drove north to the Lower Geyser Basin, and turned onto Firehole Lake Drive. There are a variety of thermal features just off the road, including several geysers.

White Dome Geyser

It was now around 14:00, and we noticed that the sign at Great Fountain Geyser predicted that it would erupt sometime between 14:30 and 16:00. Since we were drained, we elected to stick around and wait. In the meantime, we could see White Dome Geyser erupting in the distance.

Fountain Paint Pots

Great Fountain Geyser

Near the bottom of this post, there’s a video of the eruption.

After Great Fountain’s eruption, we had two more stops before we’d leave Yellowstone for good. The first was Fountain Paint Pots, a collection of boiling mud and fumaroles.

Firehole Canyon

For the finale of our Yellowstone visit, we drove the one-way Firehole Canyon Drive, which passes by the river and a waterfall. It was a lovely close to our time there.

Firehole Falls, slightly out of focus because Dad kept moving the camera

Dinner // West Yellowstone

As we followed the Madison River on our way out of Yellowstone, we saw some more wildlife, including a herd of elk, a lone bison, and a canine of some sort (probably a coyote, but I couldn’t get a clear picture because it was moving so quickly).

Bison by the Madison River

Coyote, probably

About a 30 minute drive later, we arrived back in West Yellowstone just before 18:00. We stopped at Las Palmitas, a Mexican restaurant in an old school bus, for dinner. We all got quesadillas: chicken for Mom, steak for Dad and Faith, and carnitas (pork) for me. The quesadillas came with beans, rice, pickled vegetables, and sour cream. It was wonderful, and the restaurant-in-a-bus-thing is neat. This was probably our most surprising meal of the trip so far, and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Las Palmitas

Las Palmitas quesadillas

Las Palmitas

West Yellowstone, MT

Not at all what I expected out of an old bus! Amazing Mexican food in a quirky setting.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

After dinner, we stopped at Espresso West to get some a decaf huckleberry iced white mocha (coffee is too complicated nowadays) for Faith, and Montana-made Wilcoxson’s ice cream for the rest of us. Mom got huckleberry and maple nut, and Dad and I got huckleberry and Graham Slam!, which is cookie butter ice cream with chocolate-covered honeycomb pieces. I liked the Graham Slam! better than Dad, but the huckleberry was excellent.

Espresso West ice cream

Madison River Valley

After finishing up our ice cream and finding a restroom in a downtown gift shop, we began our journey north towards Glacier National Park. In total, it’s about a 6-7 hour drive north to the closest entrance of Glacier National Park. I knew we wouldn’t been able to do that in one day when planning this trip, so I booked us a hotel in Butte, MT, roughly halfway. The drive to Butte took us through the Madison River Valley, which provided some of the most stunning landscapes of the trip so far. As we drove up US-287, we were flanked by two thunderstorms, each presenting a flickering lightning show while we rode into a sunset-painted sky. It was a surreal experience, like something out of a movie.

Driving the Madison River Valley

Yellowstone Closing Thoughts

I meant to take us by Quake Lake and Hebgen Lake on the way out of West Yellowstone (it’s a negligible short detour), but I completely forgot.
We had to skip several things in Yellowstone, including everything on the road where it’s closed from Tower-Roosevelt to Canyon. Among the things on my list: Tower Falls, Mt. Washburn, Calcite Springs, and the Dunraven Pass.
I found the Upper/Middle/Lower Geyser basin names confusing at first. They’re not in order from north to south, but rather, are ordered by going uphill or downhill. Lower Geyser Basin is the northernmost, and Upper Geyser Basin is the southernmost.
Some bear safety tips: Always carry bear spray, and know how and when to use it! Yes, it’s expensive, and no, you can’t fly home with it (even in your checked bag) – but, it’s not worth risking your life. Bear spray is incredibly (almost perfectly) effective at preventing bear attacks. Also be sure to make noise on trails, especially when coming up to dense forest or when you approach a blind corner. Yell, use the safety whistle on your backpack, etc. – whatever works for you, do it.
Side note: those little jingly bear bells are basically worthless. Bears have roughly the same sense of hearing as a human, so the next time you’re around someone with bear bells, notice how close you have to be to hear them. For me, it was nearer than 10 feet.
Finally, a word of advice if you ever visit: don’t be stupid. We saw many people doing incredibly dangerous things. A woman was walking on very fragile ground off the boardwalks at Norris Geyser Basin; a man with a double stroller blew right past the park ranger stopping traffic for a bison on Geyser Hill; many others were generally inconsiderate, bumping into other people on the boardwalks while trying to take a selfie or get a picture. Yellowstone can be a dangerous area, and the boardwalks and guard rails are there for a reason. Every so often, someone falls into a hot spring and is scalded to death. That’s no one’s ideal vacation.
All this [above] is no reason to be freaked out about visiting Yellowstone. We had a wonderful visit, and never once did we feel unsafe. Just be aware of your surroundings, follow the guidelines made by the experts, and you’ll have a great time!

The Best Things We Saw Today

Great Fountain Geyser was probably the highlight of the day for all of us, so some of these answers might actually be second place.

Isaac

The best thing I saw today was… “the Morning Glory pool and the sunset drive through the Madison River Valley”.

The best thing I ate today was… “my carnitas quesadilla at dinner”.

Faith

The best thing I saw today was… “Grand Prismatic Spring”.

The best thing I ate today was… “my huckleberry iced mocha after dinner”.

Jerry

The best thing I saw today was… “Great Fountain Geyser and Old Faithful, and our drive after dinner”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the steak quesadilla from the Mexican food bus”.

Amy

The best thing I saw today was… “Great Fountain Geyser and Old Faithful”.

The best thing I ate today was… “our lunch, because we ate by the lake”.

Note that Mom and Faith did *not* list the drive after dinner, because they were sound asleep in the backseat.

Video

There’s a rather long sequence in here of Great Fountain Geyser erupting, so feel free to skip it if you think you’ve seen enough. It erupts for about an hour, but I cut the video off long before that.

Conclusion

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– Isaac, Faith, Jerry, and Amy

Firehole Falls

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Day 4 – Yellowstone National Park // Church Trip 2021

Isaac Church — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Today, we explored Yellowstone National Park. We visited Mammoth Hot Springs, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Artist’s Paintpots, Norris Geyser Basin, and Gibbon Falls.

Yellowstone National Park

I promised some fun facts in a prior post, so I’ll make good on that now:

By the numbers:

2,221,766 acres // 3,472 sq mi (larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined)
10mi north of Grand Teton National Park, connected by the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway
Named after the “Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone”
From 1886 to 1916, the US Army oversaw management of the park
1,000+mi of hiking trails
Lowest elevation: 5,282′ (Reese Creek)
Highest elevation: 11,358′ (Eagle Peak)
Average elevation: 7,733′
96% in WY, 3% in MT, 1% in Idaho
5% water, 15% grassland, 80% forests
Yellowstone Lake is 131.7 sq mi, with 141 mi of shoreline
1,000-3,000 earthquakes annually
10,000+ hydrothermal features
500+ active geysers
290+ waterfalls
67 species of mammals, 285 of birds, 16 of fish, 5 of amphibians, 6 of reptiles
9 species of conifers, 1,000+ of flowering, 186 species of lichens, and 225 invasive plant species

Fun facts:

World’s first national park – established March 1, 1872
The park sits on top of an active supervolcano
About half the world’s hydrothermal features and half the world’s geysers are found in Yellowstone
Home to the largest concentration of mammal species in the lower 48 states
Wolves were absent from the park for 70+ years, and were successfully reintroduced starting in 1995

Once again, we got a fairly early start (around sunrise), and after consuming some breakfast in the car, we once again climbed the road back to Mammoth.

Mammoth Hot Springs

First thing, we headed to Upper Terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs. Dad was not able to find the drops he needed last night at the grocery store, so after we drove the upper loop and made a few stops, they let Faith and me out, and headed back to a pharmacy in Gardiner.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Bacteria growing in the water

Mammoth Hot Springs

The lower end of the hot springs has no driving loop, so Faith and I walked the boardwalks down to the bottom, where they picked us up an hour or so later.

Mammoth Hot Springs

View of town of Mammoth below

Mammoth Hot Springs

Active vs inactive springs

Mammoth Hot Springs

While Mom and Dad were coming back up the mountain towards Mammoth, they saw quite the ironic site with a road sign and some elk.

Elk congestion

Silver Gate // Golden GAte

From Mammoth, the Grand Loop Road steeply ascends through the Silver Gate (Boulder Field), and then the Golden Gate and Rustic Falls. It’s easy to see how these areas got their names. The “Silver Gate” boulder field is formed by a rock slide, while the Golden Gate Canyon was formed when a river carved through the yellow rock.

Rustic Falls

Continuing south, we passed Sheepeater Cliffs (big rocks; decided it wasn’t worth a stop), Roaring Mountain (been there, done that), and Norris Geyser Basin (we’ll get there eventually). Veering left/east on the Norris-Canyon road, we continued on to our next destination.

On the way to Canyon

Norris Geyser Basin Overlook

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

I’ve been surprised at the number of people who’ve never heard of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, considering it is the namesake of the park. The canyon, containing the Yellowstone River, ranges between 800-1200′ deep and 0.25-0.75mi wide. No matter what angle one views it from, it’s magnificent. However, if you only have time for one stop, I’d recommend Artist Point.

Starting our canyon exploration via the North Rim Drive, our first stop was Lookout Point.

Lower Falls from Lookout Point

Lookout Point

Lower Falls from Lookout Point

Lookout Point

From there, Faith and I hiked down to Lower Lookout Point. It’s a moderately steep climb, but doable for most people with a sense of determination and a water bottle or two. Like with the Tetons, the views were unique from every perspective, and we enjoyed them all.

Lower Lookout Point

Next, we headed farther downstream from the falls to Grand View and Inspiration Point, eventually circling back to the car and heading to the South Rim Drive.

Grand View

Information sign

Grand View

I remembered seeing what appeared to be an opening in the forest ahead, which I presumed to be a park, or open country. While my attention was attracted by the pack animals, which had stopped to eat grass, my saddle horse suddenly stopped. I turned and looked forward from the brink of the great canyon, at a point just across from what is now called Inspiration Point. I sat there in amazement, while my companions came up, and after that, it seemed to me that it was five minutes before anyone spoke.

Charles F. Cook, upon first viewing the Canyon in 1869

Inspiration Point

Our first stop on the South Rim Drive was Upper Falls View, which, almost unbelievably, has a view of Upper Falls. If you look closely on the right side of the falls, you can see people at the Brink of the Upper Falls viewpoint, where we stopped on our first night in Yellowstone.

Upper Falls View

Artist Point was our only stop on the south rim of the canyon with a view of Lower Falls. As I mentioned before, I think this is the best viewpoint because it allows you to see the canyon, river, and falls simultaneously. Unfortunately, we had to skip the South Rim Trail and Uncle Tom’s Trail because they were closed due to bear activity.

Artist Point

There are perhaps other cañons longer and deeper than this one, but surely none combining grandeur and immensity with peculiarity of formation and profusion of volcanic or chemical phenomena.

Lt. Gustavus C. Doane, during the 1870 Washburn expedition

Artist Point

LUnch // Canyon Village

Since we didn’t have much breakfast, we opted to stop for an early lunch around 11:00 in Canyon Village, the services hub for the Grand Canyon area. There’s a grocery store, multiple gift shops, outdoor outfitters, cafeteria, visitor education center, and even some cell service! For being so remote, it’s a surprisingly well-equipped place.

For lunch, Mom got a pulled pork sandwich, Faith got an elk-pepper jack dog, and Dad and I split an elk-pepper jack dog and a bison dog. Everything was excellent, especially the elk dogs. We browsed the gift shops for a while, grabbed some dark chocolate huckleberry bon-bons for dessert, and headed out.

Lunch at Canyon Village

Huckleberry Bon-Bons

Artist's Paintpots

It would’ve made sense for our next stop to be Norris Geyser Basin. Unfortunately, there was a medical emergency in that area (we later heard a couple people got overheated), and they closed down the road temporarily. Instead, we drove just south to the Artist’s Paintpots. Faith and I walked around the boardwalks, while Mom and Dad rested in the car.

Artist's Paintpots

Norris Geyser Basin

Finishing up at the Paintpots, we drove back to Norris to see if the basin road was open. Luckily, it was. Norris is a very fascinating area, with lots of vibrant, and violent, features. We had to hurry around the boardwalks because some ominous-looking storm clouds were rolling in.

Norris Geyser Basin

Located at Norris, Steamboat Geyser is the world’s tallest active geyser, but unfortunately, it’s not predictable. When it does erupt, it sends water shooting 300 feet into the air. In the pictures below, you can see where the minerals and toxins from its eruptions have destroyed the trees for hundreds of yards in its path. While we were there, it was erupting in bursts around 20 feet tall.

Steamboat Geyser

Norris Geyser Basin is the hottest, oldest, and most dynamic of Yellowstone's thermal areas. The highest temperature yet recorded in any geothermal area in Yellowstone was measured in a scientific drill hole at Norris: 459°F (237°C) just 1,087 feet (326 meters) below the surface! There are very few thermal features at Norris under the boiling point (199°F at this elevation).

National Park Service

Nuphar Lake

Norris Geyser Basin

Gibbon FAlls

One last stop on our way out of the park for the evening: Gibbon Falls is viewable from a roadside pullout, and is a wide waterfall that drops 84 feet. One can take a trail down to the bottom of the falls, but we opted to simply view from above.

Gibbon River

Gibbon Falls

Dinner // Island Park

Leaving Yellowstone, we headed east and south towards the small town of Island Park, ID to find our cabin. A quick pit stop at a West Yellowstone grocery store let us replenish some of our supplies. Before we found our cabin, we had to find dinner. We’d originally planned to eat at a place called Last Chance Bar & Grill at TroutHunter, but when we arrived, there was a 4+ hour wait. The host recommended we try another place nearby, so we drove back up the main highway, drove several miles down a dirt road, and ended up at a place called Lakeside Lodge.

Driving to Island Park, ID

The food was pretty good, but like most restaurants near the park, it was overpriced. Faith got the Trash Can Nachos (a tower of chips served in an aluminum mold), Mom got Double Ranch Chicken Breast Gratin with whipped potatoes and vegetables, Dad got a ribeye with baked potato and vegetables, and I got a Black & Blue NY Steak Salad with a balsamic vinaigrette. We also got some onion rings to share. Everything tasted fine, but it was a 2-star meal at a 4-star price point. The view of the lake, at least, was outstanding. Next time I’ll know to make reservations for this area.

Dinner at Lakeside Lodge

After dinner, we checked in to our cabin. I believe it’s the first time time I’ve ever checked into lodging at a gas station. It was a very nice gas station, and Faith and I picked up a pint of Idaho-made maple nut ice cream to split for dessert.

Reed's Dairy Maple Nut Ice Cream

The ice cream was incredibly good (or maybe it was just in contrast with our average dinner), and our cabin was very nice as well. I was pleasantly surprised, especially considering it was one of our cheaper stays. I guess that’s what you get when you stay a long way from the middle of nowhere. You also get some complimentary welcome gifts, apparently. We got some pancake mix, huckleberry syrup, huckleberry hard candy, and an “Idaho Spud” candy bar. We decided to save the candy bar for later so we’d enjoy the ice cream.

Our VRBO cabin in Island Park

Idaho Spud Candy Bar

The Best Things We Saw Today

Isaac

The best thing I saw today was… “the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the elk-pepper jack dog at lunch and the maple nut ice cream”.

Faith

The best thing I saw today was… “Mammoth Hot Springs”.

The best thing I ate today was… “my nachos at dinner”.

Jerry

The best thing I saw today was… “the elk at the ‘Congested Area’ sign”.

The best thing I ate today was… “my ribeye at dinner”.

Amy

The best thing I saw today was… “the Lower Falls at the Grand Canyon”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the picnic at Canyon Village, but mainly because of the ambiance”.

Video

I did something new and started compiling some videos from each day. It’s not amazing quality (just from everyone’s phones), but I hope it helps bring the landscapes to life!

Conclusion

Thanks for reading! Click here to subscribe to our email notifications.

– Isaac, Faith, Jerry, and Amy

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

The post Day 4 – Yellowstone National Park // Church Trip 2021 appeared first on Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com.

Day 3 – Beartooth Highway, NE Yellowstone // Church Trip 2021

Isaac Church — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Today we drove the Beartooth Highway and the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, stopping in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley, Cooke City, MT, and Red Lodge, MT. We also did our first hike in Yellowstone on the Trout Lake Trail, and visited the Roosevelt Arch.

Bears, Oh My!

The Roosevelt - Gardiner, MT

Gardiner, MT

A pre-dawn start (04:30) put us back on the road up to Mammoth, where we turned onto the Grand Loop Road towards Tower-Roosevelt. Alongside the road, we spotted a mama black bear and her two cubs playing in a meadow shaded by trees. The bears seemed to be undisturbed by the growing crowd of early-rising observers, so we watched for a while from the car as the cubs wrestled and attempted to climb the closest tree.

Black bears

Black bear cub climbing a tree

Black bear cubs playing

Lamar Valley

Another hour-long drive brought us to the Lamar Valley shortly after sunrise. The Lamar Valley is home to vast herds of bison, though nothing compared to before their near extinction and subsequent rebound. Click the boxes below to learn more about bison; they’re fascinating, stately creatures!

Bison

There are approximately 4,680 bison in Yellowstone, with about 3/4 residing in the Lamar Valley in the north, and the remainder in the Hayden Valley to the south (where we visited our first evening in the park). Males (bulls) weight up to 2,000lb, and females (cows) weigh up to 1,100lb. Even at that weight, they can run up to 30mph and jump over objects 5ft high. Bison have excellent hearing, vision, and sense of smell.

Most bison live 12-15 years, although it’s been documented that a few will live 20+ years. Bison will travel ~1,000mi throughout the year. In the winter, they travel in groups of ~20, while during the summer breeding season, group sizes rise to ~1,000. The groups are directed by the older females.

Click here for an interesting NPS article/videos on bison in Yellowstone.

NPS Bison Video

Lamar Valley

Bison stomping in the dirt

Bison - Lamar Valley

Pronghorn antelope - Lamar Valley

Bison - Lamar Valley

Lamar Valley

We also spotted an antelope on a distant hillside. Several people said they’d spotted a wolf, but it had run back into the woods. Dad and I both thought we spotted one through binoculars, but we couldn’t be sure…could’ve just been another antelope. On our way out of the valley, we saw even more antelope closer to the roadside.

Antelope

More Moose!

Continuing on US-212 toward Cooke City (our breakfast destination), we passed a clearing in the road where I spotted a moose. After giving everyone a heart attack from my excited shouting, we threw the car in reverse and backed up to get a clear view. Turns out, it was both a mother and calf, sitting a short distance apart, partially concealed by the tall grass. We stayed to watch for a while, and our patience was rewarded when both moose finally stood up to stare down two deer that entered the clearing. After defending their shaded, grassy breakfast spot with nought but a glare and a 9′ tall height advantage, they continued with their grazing.

Cooke City-Silver Gate // Breakfast

Wildlife watching had once again thoroughly exhausted us, so we journeyed on to breakfast at the Bearclaw Bakery in Cooke City, MT, briefly delayed by a herd of bison using the main road to cross a narrow pass.

Bison

We were able to get a table at the restaurant, but had to wait a little while. Cooke City-Silver Gate is the union of two old mining towns that sit on the northwestern end of Yellowstone National Park. It’s a neat little place, but like most small towns in WY/MT, it has limited amenities and most businesses operate seasonally or at will, and it’s not exactly built to serve crowds.

Bearclaw Bakery - Cooke City, MT

Ham and brie toast

The Bearclaw Bakery has quite the ambiance. To date, it’s the only place I’ve been in that has a tanning bed in the restroom. It’s also the only breakfast place I’ve ever visited that sells snowmobile parts out of the dining room and has a mechanic shop in the back. Despite the incredulous atmosphere, the food was really good. Mom ordered a country scramble with bacon, cheese, and onions; Faith and I split another country scramble plus ham, brie, and fig preserve-topped sourdough toast; Dad got biscuits and sausage gravy.

Bearclaw Bakery

Cooke City, MT

Bearclaw Bakery

Cooke City, MT

Basic breakfast, but everything was far above average. Plus, where else can you eat that has a tanning bed in the bathroom and a mechanic’s shop in half of the restaurant?

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Clarks Fork Picnic ARea

Opting not to stay and use the tanning bed, we continued on US-212 towards the Beartooth-Absaroka Wilderness. Our first stop was the Clarks Fork Picnic Area, the site of a couple waterfalls and an old wooden mining flume.

Clarks Fork Picnic Area

Old Mining Flume

Clarks Fork Picnic Area

Beartooth Highway

From Clarks Fork, we continued on the Beartooth Highway.

Beartooth Highway

The Beartooth Highway runs E-W through the Absaroka Mountains along the MT/WY border. It’s a 68mi stretch of of US-212 that connects Cooke City-Silver Gate, MT and Red Lodge, MT, passing southward through WY. It goes through the Custer, Gallatin, and Shoshone National Forests, and the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. The road climbs over 5,000′ to a peak elevation of 10,970′ at the Beartooth Plateau. Unsurprisingly, it sometimes takes a month of plowing to get the road cleared for summer traffic (see videos below).

The highway is considered a National Scenic Byway, which is recognized by the USDOT for having 1+ of the following “intrinsic qualities”: archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, or scenic. Roads that meet 2+ of the qualities are considered All-American Roads; the Beartooth Highway has received this designation as well. The only All-American Road in NC is the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Beartooth Highway originally opened in 1936.

Spring Clearing

Crazy Creek // Yellowstone Overlook

We passed Crazy Creek Falls and Lake Creek Falls, but opted not to get out, instead taking pictures from the car. If we’d had time, I would’ve loved to stop at Crazy Creek. It was a immensely wide, aptly named waterfall, stretching across half the mountainside. Then, after climbing for a while, we stopped at the Yellowstone Overlook and a couple overlooks to take some pictures looking back towards the park.

Crazy Creek Falls

Lake Creek Falls

Beartooth Lake // Top of the World

Significant road construction was underway on the next stretch of the highway, so we had to wait about 30 minutes for a guide car to take us past the construction. Unfortunately, that meant missing the Clay Butte Lookout Tower, and pullout for the Beartooth Falls. I did manage to snap a slightly blurry picture of the falls from our moving car.

Now clear of the construction, we stopped at Beartooth Lake Camground for a view of the lake and the brightly colored Beartooth Butte.

Beartooth Falls

Beartooth Lake // Beartooth Butte

The Top of the World Store has a unique selection of souvenirs and camping essentials. After a quick stop, we carried on.

Top of the World Store

Island Lakes // Beartooth Summit

Just a short distance from Top of the World Store, we pulled into Island Lake Campground. Now high above the most of the treeline (but apparently not high enough to avoid the biting bugs), alpline lakes dotted the landscape, as did lingering snow banks.

Island Lake

Near the Beartooth Summit

It wasn’t long before we arrived at the Beartooth Pass Summit. We stopped for a while to enjoy the view, and Faith and I scrambled up the nearby boulders at the summit (just to say we’d reached the true peak), fighting strong wind gusts and mild dehydration from the altitude.

Beartooth Summit

Beartooth summit

Beartooth Summit

Beartooth Pass Vista Point

We’d now been driving along the Beartooth Plateau for several miles, so it was time to begin our descent towards Red Lodge (and lunch!). Our lunch reservation was at 13:15 in Red Lodge, so we had to hurry. We did make one last stop on the way down at the Beartooth Pass Vista Point.

Beartooth Pass Vista Point

Red Lodge // Lunch

Even after all those stops, we were only 15 minutes late for our lunch reservation at Piccola Cucina at Ox Pasture in Red Lodge, MT. The restaurant is run by a famed Sicilian chef who also has restaurants in Italy and NYC. How another location ended up in a small town in Montana, I have no idea.

For lunch, we split two caesar salads, and then each ordered a pasta dish. I got Paccheri alla Carbonara (paccheri pasta with eggs, Italian bacon, and pecorino cheese), Faith got Orecchiette Gamberi e Burrata (orecchiette pasta with shrimp and burrata cheese), Dad got Ravioli al Ragù di Manzo (ricotta ravioli in beef ragù), and Mom got Lasagna al Ragù (lasagna with meat sauce & creamy béchamel). Our meal was accompanied by fresh-baked focaccia and a sun-dried tomato oil.

Caesar salad

Pasta

The entire meal was fantastic, especially the Caesar salads. You could taste the quality and see the attention to detail that had gone into all the dishes. Faith said it was even better than the Italian food we’d had in Italy.

Piccola Cucina at Ox Pasture

Red Lodge, MT

This is 5-star NYC Italian dining, but in a small town in Montana. What more could one ask for?

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Chief Joseph Scenic Byway

After our lunch, we attempted to find a nearby bakery to pre-purchase a snack for later. Unfortunately the bakery was closed, so we settled on getting some coffee for Faith, and then drove south on Highway 120, crossing back into Wyoming. Soon, we reached the start of the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, which returns to Cook City from the southeast.

Dead Indian Summit Overlook

The highway follows the route that the Nez Perce indians used to escape from the US Army as they were being forced from their homelands. Several signs along the way detailed their journey and tactics. Dead Indian Summit Overlook provided the best views and information.

Sunlight Bridge

About 10 miles from the top of the pass, we reached the Sunlight Bridge, which crosses 1,200′ above Sunlight Creek, which feeds into the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River. It was an impressive but narrow canyon with steep rock walls and clear rushing water far below. The Sunlight Bridge is the highest in Wyoming.

Trout Lake

Back in Yellowstone

Chief Joseph Scenic Byway

Beartooth Highway Sign

Since we’d been trading off napping during the cloudy drive back to Yellowstone, we found somewhat of a second wind. Faith and I decided to do a short hike just east of the Lamar Valley. The Trout Lake Trail is a short, 1.2mi lollipop-shaped loop trail that climbs to a beautiful lake surrounded by wildflowers. We actually saw several large trout jumping in the lake, as well as a family of geese and a least chipmunk.

Ice Cream // Roosevelt Arch

We’d originally planned to explore Mammoth Hot Springs in the evening, but unfortunately, Faith came down with some altitude sickness and Dad was in need of some eye drops, so we went to a grocery store in Gardiner instead. After everyone was finally feeling better, we got some ice cream from Scoop! There It Is and Yellowstone Perk (we abandoned Yellowstone Perk after one cone purchase because we realized it was incredibly expensive). Flavors of the night were huckleberry and raspberry sorbet; both were very good.

After finishing our ice cream, we walked/drove to the Roosevelt Arch. The arch is named after Teddy Roosevelt, because he was visiting the park during the time of its construction and gave a speech at its dedication when they laid the cornerstone. The inscription on the top quotes the 1872 legislation that established Yellowstone as the world’s first national park, “For the benefit and enjoyment of the people”.

Ice cream in Gardiner

Roosevelt Arch

The Best Things We Saw Today

Isaac

The best thing I saw today was… “Trout Lake and the moose”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the salad at lunch”.

Faith

The best thing I saw today was… “the top of the Beartooth Highway and the moose”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the shrimp pasta at lunch”.

Jerry

The best thing I saw today was… “either moose or bears”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the Italian salad and pasta”.

Amy

The best thing I saw today was… “the bears playing this morning”.

The best thing I ate today was… “breakfast this morning at the Bearclaw Bakery”.

Video

Conclusion

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Tomorrow, we’ll continue to explore Yellowstone National Park during our final day there.

– Isaac, Faith, Jerry, and Amy

Restaurant

Location

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* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

The post Day 3 – Beartooth Highway, NE Yellowstone // Church Trip 2021 appeared first on Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com.

Day 2, Part 2 – Yellowstone National Park // Church Trip 2021

Isaac Church — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Last night and this morning, we explored Grand Teton National Park, and then headed up to Yellowstone after a late lunch at Jackson Lake Lodge. I’m picking up where we left off on Part 1 of this post.

Yellowstone National Park

After driving the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, we arrived at Yellowstone’s south entrance, and began our journey along the park loop road. I’ll save my Yellowstone fun facts for a later post.

Yellowstone National Park

Lewis River Canyon // Lewis Falls

We drove alongside the Lewis River Canyon for a while, finally arriving at Lewis Falls, which is viewable just off the main road. We would quickly learn that most of Yellowstone’s main highlights (and crowds) are but a quick stop off the main drag.

Lewis River Canyon

Lewis River

Lewis Falls

Yellowstone Lake // West Thumb Geyser Basin

Yet another short drive later, we pulled into West Thumb Geyser Basin, which sits on the shore of Yellowstone Lake. As you may know, Yellowstone was once a giant volcano that erupted, leaving a depression called a caldera, ringed by mountains. The “West Thumb” of Yellowstone Lake is a smaller caldera within the larger Yellowstone Caldera. Yellowstone Lake is absolutely massive, even compared to Bear Lake which we’d gawked at the day before.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

This was our first* experience with hydrothermal geological activity within the park, and it was a bit mind-blowing for me. We were surrounded by putrid sulfuric smells, vibrant colors, and strange sounds. It’s not like anything I’ve ever experienced before. Some of the pools boiled and churned, while some were incredibly deep, deeper than the eye could see. Some features were violent, and some were calm and almost soothing to watch.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

*Faith has been to Yellowstone before, but didn’t really get to explore much beyond Old Faithful and a few other features.

While at the Geyser Basin, we also got some nice views of Yellowstone Lake.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

Elk // LeHardys Rapids

Leaving West Thumb, we swung around the NE side of Yellowstone Lake, making a brief stop at LeHardys rapids. We saw a massive bull elk with huge antlers making its way through one of the roadside campground, but were only able to snap a picture of its rear end.

Bull Elk

LeHardys Rapids

Bison // Pelican // Mud Volcano

Continuing north, we spotted our first bison on the side of the road. There would be many more to come, but we stopped to take some pictures; this was special because it was our first sighting. We also noticed a beautiful white, orange-billed pelican gliding in the river across the road. Soon, a second bison emerged out of the woods and began grazing.

Bison

Pelican

It was now time for our second geothermal area of the day, Yellowstone’s Mud Volcano. This area is known for its bubbling mud pots, extremely acidic lakes, and some other water features. We spent some time walking around the boardwalk, interrupted by a brief dash back to the car to escape a sudden but fleeting hailstorm. This was also our first spotting of a mule deer, named for their floppy, mule-like ears.

Mud Volcano - Yellowstone National Park

As we headed over to the left side of the basin, we saw a bison playfully rolling in the dirt extremely close to the path. We were able to get some great pictures [somewhat] safely behind the fence. A park ranger had arrived to monitor the situation and make sure no one was too close or in danger of any kind. According to the ranger, bison roll around both to cool off (the dirt acts like sunscreen), and to attract females.

Bison at Mud Vocano

Hayden Valley

After finishing up at Mud Volcano, we drove north again to arrive in the Hayden Valley, one of the park’s two common homes for grazing bison herds. Sure enough, we saw bison dotting the near and distant hillsides. This was one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever seen; the lighting, river, clouds, hills, grassy plains, distant hailstorm, and wildlife created a surreal atmosphere. We also spotted two trumpeter swans in the Hayden River.

Elk, Part 2

It was getting late, but there was so much too see. We decided we’d better head to our hotel (still a good distance away on the north side of the park) before it got dark and all the beautiful wildlife transformed into road hazards. Still, there were many quick stops along the way, and being near the 45th parallel, we had plenty of daylight left, though it was dimming quickly. On hillsides beside the road, we saw one cow and two more bull elk with majestic antlers. The second bull sat down, so you could only see his antlers sticking up above the hillside. It was quite the humorous sight, like he was trying to hide but was oblivious of the protruding headgear.

Elk cow

Bull elk

Bull elk - Yellowstone National Park

Brink of the Upper Falls // Roaring MOuntain

We couldn’t help but stop at yet a couple more places on the journey to our hotel. We made a quick pull-in to Brink of the Upper Falls overlook, which takes you right to the drop of the Upper Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. There was no one at the overlook (except another handful of mule deer), and the isolation made the experience even more enjoyable. We left the falls and headed up to Roaring Mountain, a fumarole-laden hillside. Fumaroles are more-or-less steam vents that are also part of the active volcano.

Mule deer

Brink of the Upper Falls

Roaring Mountain

Mammoth

Finally, we decided we couldn’t take any more stops due to impending darkness, so we headed straight to our hotel in Gardiner, MT, which is at the NW end of the park. There was a gorgeous sunset to enjoy along the way, and we ran across a herd of elk in Mammoth, the village which holds the park headquarters. From Mammoth, the road descends steeply to Gardiner, crossing the state line out of Wyoming into Montana. We finally arrived at the Roosevelt Hotel (which was surprisingly nice for a motor inn) just before 22:00, and crashed in bed, anticipating another early start in the morning.

Yellowstone sunset

Elk in Mammoth

Elk at the Post office in Mammoth

Elk - Mammoth - Yellowstone