After getting in late last night and waiting even later for some pizza from Pinky-G’s in Jackson, we slept in a bit this morning. We loaded up the family trickster, hit a place called the Bunnery for what turned out to be brunch, and then we were on our way. The food was great, by the way.
On the advice of our rafting guide, we headed to the Death Canyon trailhead and hiked to the Phelps Lake overlook. It’s about 2 miles round trip and the view is worth it. For more adventurous hikers, you can head down about another mile to the lake and do some swimming. We were happy at the overlook and then headed back to the car. From there, it was on to Yellowstone.
We waited to enter the south gate for about 15 minutes. There are two lines, we chose the one with the chatty ranger. No lie, the ranger working the other booth processed at least 15 cars in the time our line handled 4. The ranger in our line was a woman, the one in the other was a man, do whatever you please with that information.
Once in the park, we headed to Lewis Falls to do a little creek stomping. From there, we headed to the lake lodge in order to check in to our cabin and have dinner. After a quick meal at the cafeteria, we headed out to the Hayden Valley for some wildlife viewing as the sun was setting.
The wildlife was plentiful. We saw several bison, two different elk herds and a bear. The highlight of the evening, however, was a pack of wolves that we were able to watch work its way across the valley. At one point they appeared to be hunting an elk that had wandered from the herd, but they ended up moving along, much to the relief of said elk. It was really something to see all of the elk on high alert as the wolves meandered along.
Our cabin at the lake lodge is nice and as I type this everyone is already conked out from another long day. Tomorrow it’s all day sightseeing in Yellowstone capped off with a fishing trip in the evening. Can’t wait!
Sunset over the Yellowstone River
Phelps Lake
Lewis Falls
Bear near Yellowstone River