Yellowstone Vacation! DAYS 3 and 4!

DAY 3

Sunday was Day 3 of our vacation and we were packing up from the Canyons and headed north to Mammoth Hot Springs.  This is where we would stay for the next 2 nights.  We decided to start the day with a drive to West Yellowstone, Montana.  On the way we made stops at Gibbons Falls and another roadside geyser. 

Took a break from our picnic lunches and had some pizza.  It was also nice to have cell service while we were here!

While we were in West Yellowstone we made a stop at the wolf and grizzly rescue center.  We had some friends who really enjoyed this place while they were there and thought our kids would enjoy it too.  And they did.  They got to watch feeding time for 2 of the bears and saw the wolves, otters, eagles, and other birds.  

It started snowing when we were leaving the center but that didn't stop us from making an ice cream stop.  Everyone says to try the huckleberry ice cream and that's what we did.  It was pretty good.  Cohen was a big fan!

Back in the park, we made our way north to Mammoth.  We saw a lot of animals along the way, mainly elk and bison.  Once while we were stopped I snapped this picture showing the snow blowing in.  It was neat to watch it as it came closer!

Some of the views driving up to Mammoth.

Roaring Mountain Fumaroles

This Roaring Mountain Fumarole was very neat.  Steam just constantly came out of the mountain and the sound was crazy.  These are the hottest geothermal features in the whole park.  We learned all of this on our gypsy app that I highly recommend anyone use when you visit Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.  It was so helpful!

While we made this stop I got a picture of Cohen and Bryce with this raven.  We would laugh at first because the first one we saw we automatically called it a crow.  Once you see these things you know they are definitely ravens because of their size.  I remember being told by our guide when we snowmobiled how smart they are and that they have been known to unzip bags to get food. 

When we came into Mammoth it was such a cute little town.  The leaves were beautiful and yellow and there were elk all over the town.  We were staying at the Mammoth Hot Springs hotel and the elk were all around it.  They had police who would help with traffic which was waiting for elk to cross.   Of course the kids loved this. 

After we checked in we headed out to the Lamar Valley.  This is one of the best places for wildlife and Kelly had read a lot about it.  I think he was most excited about this area of the park.  The views definitely didn't disappoint.  We also got to see a beautiful sunset.  While we were out that night we did see wolves in the valley.  You know when you come up on a lot of cars pulled over you have found something.  They were definitely a good ways away and we had to look at them through our binoculars to see them. 

This girl was kicking, leaping and dancing everywhere we went

Hard to believe we covered all of this in one day!  From West Yellowstone to the Lamar Valley and everything in between.  We had some tired kiddos.  They look so sweet sleeping but let me just tell you, every day there were numerous fights, arguments, tattle telling, you name it.  I didn't have a picture of all those moments but trust me they were there!  Don't be fooled by all the smiles!  In fact they were probably kicking each other in their sleep! Lol!

DAY 4

The next morning we got up early to go back in the Lamar Valley to see what animals we might see.  Lots and lots of bison!  We also saw more wolves.  They were in almost the same spot and again were pretty far away.  I did try to get a picture with my camera but it may look more like a black dot than a wolf.  

The Petrified Tree

The black spot is a wolf...there's also one laying in the grass right in front of the one standing

We continued driving on to the North East entrance to the park in Cooke City.  While we were driving Kelly randomly pulled over saying he thought the spot was a good one for some animals.  He had said this about 174 times at this point so while he gets out looking through the binoculars we were content to sit in the car.  I took this picture of him joking about him being our "lookout" guy.  Five minutes later he turns to look at me with this big grin and he said "I found something...a moose!"  Sure enough he had spotted a big bull moose on the edge of the woods.  We ended up sitting in this spot for an hour or so and even hiked down closer to the moose.  At the time we first pulled over we were the only car in this spot but of course it didn't take long before others stopped and we had a crowd looking at this moose.  One man set up his spotting scope and he let us all look in it and you could see the moose so good.  It was definitely a highlight for us because we had hoped to see a bull moose.  

This shows how far out the moose was to start.  It was actually further than this.

We walked down to the willows to see if we could get a good view and we sure did!

While we watched the moose the scenery around us was worth a photo too!

He gave us a show before going back into the woods.  It was definitely a favorite moment for us. So glad Kelly decided that spot "looked like a good spot to see some animals."

We were ready for lunch after the moose watching so we decided to eat in Cooke City.  Now this "city" has a winter population of 85.  There was pretty much nothing in the town!  The place we ate told us up front they were out of french fries, tater tots, and chips and I have no clue how close the nearest town with an actual store was.  I'm guessing at least an hour and a half.  No thanks!  It reminded me of some mining town.  I'm pretty sure we made our one and only stop in Cooke City. 

We made our way back to Mammoth and enjoyed some more elk watching.  They were right outside our hotel door.  I got another picture of this hotel to have in our book and it was fun seeing all the elk in the front. 

We spent the afternoon at the Mammoth Hot Springs terraces.  This is more geothermal features.  We climbed a lot of steps but got some pretty views of the town along the way too. 

When we headed back down into town we got a show from the elk.  It was the end of the rut for them but these 2 clearly were into each other.  The kids got a lesson in elk mating, only it was a little backwards.  We did watch the bull elk chase after the girl, do a lot of smelling, she ran off, he chased after her and got right to our car window and bugled!  It was so neat to hear that.  Kelly was telling the kids to be quiet and not move to quick.  That elk was right beside him.  We were able to video to get the bugle which was fun. 

Check out those horns

Come backkkkk

 

We ended our last night in Mammoth with a picnic right in town.  We listened to the elk and just had a good time.  I think the kids were loving our picnics.  

We were all on one side of the table to stay warm!  I think Cohen did eventually move over to the other side. 

This was our last night in Mammoth Hot Springs.  We would have to pack up and move on to the next spot on Tuesday!