Tiff & Jared's adventures

MY oh my. Finally after three days, we have WiFi at a campground – still no cell service. Don’t worry all, we’re still alive and ready to blog. Yellowstone was amazing. Jared had never been, and I hadn’t been since high school and I’m so glad we stopped here.

Day 1 (prequel):  Arrived super late at Bridge Bay campground (hauled @$$ from Mount Rushmore).

Actual Day 1: We stayed in Mammoth Hot Springs the second night, so we had to wake up early and drive over because the campground was first come-first serve. Thank goodness we did! The views were amazing and there were elk everywhere – in the campground, near the lodge, sitting on the grass. Just look how great this view is –

We then backtracked and went to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We did Uncle Tom’s Trail, and it wasn’t for the faint of heart. It was a 328 (?) step descent to the view of the falls, but well worth it. There were two falls, Upper and Lower Falls, and we stopped at different vantage points to admire the beauty. Later in the day, we drove through Lamar Valley and saw yes, a bunch of bison!! Jared and  I walked up to the river and got some pretty good shots. That night, we went back to Mammoth and camped. The site was absolutely beautiful – there were probably a dozen elk outside our tent grazing on grass.Day 2: We woke up pretty early and hit Mammoth Hot Springs, which is a tiered landscape of sheer sulfurous-smelling beauty. Not sure about all the chemical/technical mumbo jumbo, but there were hot pools of water and danger signs for thermal grounds. After that, we treated ourselves to a two scoop helping of huckleberry ice cream. If you ever find yourself in Mammoth, get the double scoop of  ice cream at the general store for $4.25. It was huge! Probably five scoops and a meal for the both of us; plus, huckleberry is DELICIOUS.

After that, we drove to Bunsen Peak trailhead for the hike. Before we started, we saw a warning sign posted on the trailhead signalling that a mama grizzly and her two cubs had been spotted nearby and we should be on the lookout. To signify the severity, the trail across the street was closed. But YOLO, right? Two other groups happened to be in the parking lot, and we decided to join forces to fight the bear. Instead of doing Bunsen Peak, we  chose to do Osprey Falls, a 9.2 mile hike that traversed to a beautiful waterfall. Small world. The first family happened to be from Leesburg, VA – where Jared is from! The second couple was from San Francisco, previously from Baltimore, MD. The first family peaced out early, but we went on with the San Franciscan couple. They were awesome! After three miles of moderate hiking, we hit some major switchbacks and descended a total of 800 feet to the waterfall. Amanda and I almost died but the boys were trucking ahead, no fear at all. I would argue the climb back up was easier because we didn’t have to worry about sliding off the mountain! About 5PM we were almost back to the car when GUESS WHAT HAPPENED. We SAW THE FREAKING MAMA GRIZZLY BEAR. We were about a mile out minding our business when Amanda spotted her about 100 yards to the left of the trail, playing in the grass with her cubs. She abruptly sat up and fixated her eyes on us (cue me peeing myself). We slowly began to back up and talk loudly in order to assert our position. Next comes the most tense thirty seconds of my life – does she walk towards us or turn away? Thank goodness, she decided we weren’t tasty enough to eat and she hit the road towards the woods. We decided to wait ten minutes just to give her a head start so that we wouldn’t have any surprises. During that time, I figured it would be a good idea to test out my bear spray to make sure that it worked. DO NOT DO THIS WHEN THE WIND IS BLOWING TOWARDS YOU. I almost choked Jared and myself, but at least I figured out that we would be temporarily protected from Mama Bear. After about a ten minute wait, we began walking towards the parking lot and thank goodness, once we reached the open, we saw Mama and company about 500 yards across a stream. PHEW! Video will be coming shortly. One of our fellow hiking companions managed to capture a video of the ordeal and we’re waiting to receive it.

After the hike, we drove towards our last Yellowstone campground, Madison. We got stopped in the road for about 30 minutes because a herd of 8 bison wanted to jump in with the traffic. After getting through, we made it to the campsite and by then, our legs felt like jello (at least mine did). After a dinner of beans, avocado, corn and tomatoes, we called it an early night.

Day 3: Sad to say, last day in Yellowstone. Before heading out for the Grand Tetons, we stopped at a few geysers. We stopped at Midway Geyser and saw Grand Prismatic Pool, the largest and most colorful in Yellowstone. Then, we made our way to Ole Faithful because everyone has to see that, right? We only had to wait about 15 minutes for the 2 minute explosion of water, not a bad deal. After seeing our share of geysers, we left Yellowstone and made it to the Grand Tetons in about 45 minutes. Still no cell service, but we’re staying at the Colter Bay campground here and we have WiFi woo! Will be posting about Grand Teton within the next few days 🙂