And so here we are more than 6 months after our actual trip and I am finally getting around to blogging about Day #5…oh well, at least I’m getting it done.
We had a general plan on what we wanted to see that day but since we knew it was going to be our last full day in the park we asked the boys at breakfast if there was anything they wanted to see, to which Leighton said “Old Faithful” and Caedmon said “geysers”. Luckily they are one in the same and so we planned to head there first and then finish out our day with some time at the West Thumb Geyser Basin.
We actually couldn’t have timed it better, not that we tried or could even predict when Old Faithful was going to go off, but we basically pulled into the parking lot and could see people gathering and walked up to the edge and within a couple of minutes Old Faithful erupted. I didn’t get the greatest shots because I was too busy watching and there were a lot of people around. From there we went into the Ranger Station which was full of interactive and educational displays and learned a ton. One of the displays talked about how they can predict when Old Faithful will erupt again (it’s actually based on how long the previous eruption lasts, less than 90 seconds, then again in an hour, more than 2 minutes, then it’ll erupt in about 90 minutes). In learning that we knew we had less than an hour before the next eruption and so we explored and learned and then headed out to watch Old Faithful one last time.
From there we headed to West Thumb Geyser Basin which was right on the edge of Yellowstone Lake. In fact some of the once active geysers and hot pools are now submerged under the lake. It was a beautiful setting. There was also a new momma deer that had her baby stowed away under one of the walk ways that the rangers shut down so we had a little extra walking to do to see all that we wanted to, but we also got some glimpses of momma deer getting food for her baby. We had discovered that the boys with their bright blond hair were also attractions for many of the Asian tourists that were there, they were often stopped and had their pictures taken. At one point Leighton decided he wanted to take a photo of us, and before we knew it, a tourist was taking a photo of him taking a photo of us. It made all of us laugh, and needless to say Leighton needs a little work at aiming the camera as we got a number of nice shots of Clint’s ear and my nose in close up.
We then drove slowly around the lake and took the little side road, Gull Point Drive and got some amazing views of the lake and surrounding mountains.
We drove into Lake Village just to see the historic Yellow Lake Hotel that was being restored and did some shopping at the little store there on the lake edge.
After shopping we loaded back up and headed past Fishing Village to Storm Point Trail and went on a great 2 mile hike. It was a bit windy but beautiful and a great way to end our day.
I offered to drive the way out of the park and back to our cabin, and on the way hit a large rock that I thought I had swerved to miss. It unfortunately ripped a large hole in our tire. From where we were, it was a shorter distance to our cabin rather than heading back into the park to Fishing Bridge. Ultimately the next morning Clint ended up driving the owner of the place we were staying’s truck into Cody to get a new tire and driving back to put it on. They were super sweet and accommodating and while Clint was gone the boys and I finished packing up and then played in the little playground. The owner saw us playing and came down and offered to let the boys take a ride on the horses which they both loved and thought it was the best thing ever. We had planned initially on heading out through the south end of the park and doing a hike on the south side and then driving through Grand Teton’s Park and then heading home that way, but with the delay with the tire, plans changed and we finally got away about noon and headed back home the way we had come.
We had a great week exploring and enjoying the beauty and creation that was there. And I know we only touched on part of it. We will definitely plan a trip again in the years to come to explore some more.
Hiking Mommy 