Here are the details from our trip and what we learned on our tours. We liked each spot for different reasons. Our favorite city was Jackson Hole - we'd love to go back and spend more time there. Our favorite tour was of the south loop of Yellowstone with Doug. And we enjoyed all the beautiful sights of the majestic Tetons, the unique geysers and mud pots in Yellowstone, and the waterfalls and hiking in Glacier.
7/3- Jackson hole
Shopped in town, Eric bought a new cowboy hat, ate at merry piglets and the Gather- wonderful elk bolognese & then headed to Teton village for live music and fireworks on the 3rd of July. We played games for a few hours while we waited. When we got back we heard from our neighbors that a moose came right by our room!
4th of July - parade in town and the kids got a front row to catch all the candy! Then we headed back to Teton village to ride the aerial tram up to the top of the mountain range -10300 ft. We were very cold up there but saw snow and beautiful views of the Teton mountain range. We headed back in to town and got wood fire pizza in an old movie theater and relaxed at the hotel.
7/5
Jenny lake & hiking to hidden falls and inspiration point after taking the shuttle across the lake. I loved the smell of Christmas trees!
We saw a caterpillar, ground squirrel, butterfly, chipmunks, and inchworms & then went to the float trip on snake river and saw a bald eagle, and turkey vultures. Beautiful views & then stopped at Mormon row. We ate Mexican food on the way home and then we relaxed at the hotel for our last night.
7/6
Spent the morning packing and preparing for the glamping by re-packing our food and getting organized. We picked up a few more things at target and then went to the farmers market in Jackson hole where we enjoyed balloon animals, donuts and coffee and huckleberry juice.
Drove the long way to Under Canvas, the glamping hotel. We tried to stop and hike and missed the turn to taggert lake so thought we’d take the suggestion from our raft guide and go to grassy lake road. But it was a bad idea! After 30 min of Kate driving on a one lane dirt road we got to what we thought was a trailhead but it was too back country and no one around so we left. We never did find it before Kate got impatient (and the koolaid spilled on Maeve’s shirt and Cecilia and Maeve crying) and we switched drivers and got clothes out of the trunk and let 200 mosquitos in the car. So on the way back we killed a bunch of the bugs and headed north towards the hotel. We drove through Yellowstone and saw an elk and a bison (and many bison in the Grand Tetons earlier in the day)
7/7
Yellowstone tour - lower/south loop
What we learned: 1st national park, 1988 fire
2.4 million acres, 6 hours to get to one side of the park to another
Eric spotted the first wildlife - an elk
Re-Introduced the wolves in 1995
Kyle was a sponge of information - he remembered what he’d learned from the float trip and shared it with everyone - like that for a black bear - be loud, grizzly and brown bear - don’t make eye contact and go down and stay still & what he learned about the differentce with eagles and osprey and one isn’t good at catching fish
Old faithful - called that bec it’s the easiest geyser to predict when it will go off - we waited for 10-15 min after it was predicted to go off
Continental divide - determines way that water rolls down the mountain
We saw 38 bison
1 calf bison
19 elk
1 baby elk
Saw Christmas tree rock- and they still decorate it on August 25th when it snowed in 1912.
Beautiful Yellowstone river and waterfall and the geyser basin
Here are some things about glamping:
Kate letting the fire go out and Cecilia knew - haha- but Eric spent another hour getting it to come back. Maeve and Kyle in their tent in sleeping bags and we all used the hot bags (bags that they fill with hot water that you put in your sheets as the fire only lasts about 1.5 hours). Lots of fun with winning bingo and getting soem Under Canvas stickers and hats.
Mon 7/8
Private tour- Montana wilds- outside the park (started the tour when the park was shut down)- although I thought I was booking a tour to do the north loop and where the wildlife was. We made the most of it even though we drove all the way to the Lewis and Clark caves and they were booked for the day so the tour guide said he'd never seen that. So we unfortunately wasted 1.5 hr driving up there and back. We did hike to Hegdon lake, saw earthquake lake and heard about the terrible tragedy that killed 28 people.
Also drove to Ennis and saw that pronghorns antelope - 15 and 2 babies
What else we learned on that tour:
Mountain lions can jump 20ft in the air. Bison live in North and South America but buffalo live in Africa and South Asia. Grizzly bears have a hump on them but black bears don’t. Yellowstone is in 3 states because Yellowstone was created before it was a state. Yellowstone was created in March 1872. When elk are born they are odorless so when bears pass by they can’t smell them. A pack of wolfs can take down a bison. Montana has a lot more cows than people. In Montana there is a cave with a slide. Pronghorn Antelope don’t jump over fences they go under them.
Then stopped in Virginia city - an old western town and saw the old stores and train station. Got candy from the candy store and walked around.
Then stopped at cliff and wade lake - beautiful blue green water and skipped some rocks and enjoyed the scenery
7/9:
Early morning to Lamar valley:
500+ Bison plus 50+ babies
20 Elk
1 Deer
4 mule deer
4 pronged horned antelope
1 moose (that Maeve saw so unsure)
Wolf den in Lamar valley and then 7 wolves in the distance in Lamar valley
1 fox
1 osprey
After the long day of wildlife spotting, we went to the grizzly and wolf center and saw animals that we hadn’t - a rehab center for bears but they also had birds of prey and river otters so the kids were excited about that. A quick dinner in town helped re-energize us and then back to the tents. The kids were tired and Cecilia didn’t like the flys in our room so after a lot of screaming (and neighbors complaining- bec they thought we were the same people causing a commotion at midnight the night before that we both had to complain about) we finally calmed down to shower in the heat of the day (instead of how Eric does at 40 degree mornings - but he even wanted to shower and something broke with the water at all tents so he had to wait) and enjoyed s’mores, games and shaved ice before going to bed. Eric and Kate stayed up to see some stars and then packed up and headed out the next morning.
7/10:
Drove to Kalispell through Butte and swan lake - both beautiful areas - but then in Swan Lake on the two lane highway because we opted for the scenic way we had a 30 min slowdown because we were right behind a new paint truck that was putting down new paint stripes. We then ate near our hotel at a pizza place and got our fishing license at Cabelas for the next day.
7/11- the big 40th birthday! We went to Flathead lake that is the biggest natural lake west of the Mississippi
Down rigger fishing vs bobber fishing
Number of fish - 14 lake trout
Dad has missed 6
Kyle has missed 3
Maeve has missed 1
Cecilia has missed 1
Biggest fish was 27 inches
Flathead lake monster - like Nessie - but called Flossie
We then went to Whitefish for a nice dinner at Abruzzo but stopped for my birthday drink at Starbucks on the way. Once we got to dinner we were all pretty wiped by the sun and being on the water (and some of us having the effects of eating out for the last week) so Kyle was most excited for his buttered noodles because he hadn't been able to eat much besides a burger with no bun and pizza so he ate a ton. Cecilia and Maeve ate pasta and we tried our best to eat our food but brought some home (and ate it as leftovers the day we left) and then in bed by 9pm!
7/12- Glacier going to the sun road tour with the Glacier institute
What we learned: White bark pine is dying in the park due to blister rust disease and then the Clark’s nut cracker bird that eats the seeds and cracks the pine nuts will die out
Glacier has the oldest park formation as it manages the ecosystem and always has very well and continues to just let the natural disasters (like fires) burn and the disease take over the trees and the ecosystem to take care of itself.
Apgar- MN man that started that
Lake McDonald - largest lake in the park
1934 - going to the sun road - and only one that goes to the middle of the park
James j hill - built lake McDonald lodge
Continental divide - rain water ends in Mississippi or the pacific and then triple divide if it falls north then it goes to Canada so then the look from the west to the east is different
Bear diet- love berries - and only 2% of their diet is meat (Eric guessed right)
Where we stopped:
Tetons are taller - as the glaciers have worn down and glacier is the shortest range of the national parks
Indian paintbrush - wildflowers
Haystack falls and bird woman falls
Only glacier you can see from the road - Jackson glacier
St Mary’s lake and visitor center
Logan’s pass and alpine meadows
Sacred dance
1 black bear
1 marmot
15 big horn sheep
2 mule deer
1 ground squirrel
1 white tailed deer
Then ate in Columbia falls at night owl and back room and got some fry bread (a Montana special) and honey butter and then did laundry, swam and got sweet peaks ice cream again.
7/13:
Our free day in the park so we took the many suggestions to go to Glacier and hike. We didn't know if the kids could do it but they impressed us!
Hiked 6 miles to avalanche lake through the trail of two cedars. Saw a few animals: white tail deer, squirrel, blue bird, chipmunk and frog. It was beautiful scenery and we took our shoes off and the water was freezing - probably 40 degrees! Kyle got his shorts wet but got over it quickly. The hike out took about 2 hours and the way back an hour. So excited that the kids did such a great job! The hiking stick and promise of iPad for the car ride home helped!
We were still going strong after the picnic lunch if pb&j and leftover pizza that we then drove up to Logan’s pass and saw 2 mountain goats on the road. Eric and Maeve hiked hidden lake overlook for another 3 miles! Saw some big horn sheep but no mountain goats.
We stopped for burgers and shopping in Columbia falls. Eric loved his burger at Mudman burger.
7/14:
Awaiting our plane that left mid-day so we headed to Mountain mini golf. Hotel called after we checked out that Kyle forgot his lamb so we needed to go back! Kyle also was not happy at losing in golf although Kate and Kyle were the only ones to get a hole in one! Airport was hot and under a lot of construction so we were able to finally find our way in and head home after a trip of creating a lot of memories and great pictures and stories!
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