The Bratwurstindianer on tour in Grand Teton and Yellowstone - 3

We fell in love with Yellowstone on our first hike, and walking away from the crowds is actually, what we are always looking for. Unfortunately for us, some amazing things in Yellowstone are made to be easily accessible for everyone and to see some geysers and hot springs the Bratwurstindianer set out and mingled with the bus tourists.

Due to a traffic accident along the route, which closed the way to Old Faithful we had to change our plans for that day. This way we ended up in Fishing Bridge, where we walked in the Yellowstone Lake and the kids took their time to finish the Junior Ranger Program. We drove on to the Mud Volcano area, were we spotted a bunch of bison. Amazing these animals! Sad how some people do not respect the wildlife.

At Fishing Bridge visitor center 1.

At Fishing Bridge visitor center 2.

At Fishing Bridge visitor center 3.

At the Yellowstone Lake.

Bison up close - at the mud volcano. 

More Bison at the mud volcano.

Lovers at the mud volcano.

The second day among the bus tourists, we did the geyser tour. Of course we had to stop at the Old Faithful. If you want to avoid the crowds talk to a ranger and asked them for recommendations where to see geysers along a hike. I think on this day I finally realized that we hadn't planned enough time for this lovely place. 

The colors and mineral structures around the geysers and hot springs are wonderful.

Around a hot spring 1. 

Around a hot spring 2. 

Around a hot spring 3. 

No tree grows here.

After a hot day it is time to spent some relaxing hours in camp. And I had to test out our new salad servers. And there was of course BRATWURST!

New salad server.

Bratwurst and potatos.

K trying to produce more firewood.

 And even before your realize it, its the last day of vacation. K and I set out early in the morning in the hope to see some wildlife. We saw some mule deer and an otter. The views were stunning and the air fresh and cold, slightly above freezing.

Tetons in the morning.

Mule deers in the far.

K and I headed back to the camp and after a nice breakfast the Bratwurstindianer decided to spent their last day in the area with a hike and of course some swimming. We walked the Death Canyon Trail up to Phelps Lake, where we spent some time at the lake and enjoyed the wonderful surrounding.

View onto lake.

Trail.

Waterfall.

Elk.

This I had to steal from my dad, he was lucky enough to walk twice into a black bear!

P at camp.

And then it was time to get on the road again and head back to the Bay area. But before we left Yellowstone we had to participate in a special event. My dad is probably the only officially sworn in Junior Ranger of his age group. After participating in an educational ranger program, he was ready to take the test. And sure enough he made it!

Bison skull at the Ranger program.

Official swear.

All 3 Yellowstone Junior Rangers.

On the way back, we drove through Idaho, famous for its potatos. Haha! I think there is much more to it and we were surprised by an amazing view into this canyon at Twin Falls. By the way Evel Knievel tried to jump over this canyon back in the days. There seems to be some nice hiking opportunities in the area and we plan to come back some day.

Canyon at Twin Lakes.

 We celebrated K's 8th birthday with some bowling and ice cream at Winnemucca.

Happy 8th birthday!

 And it seems to become a habit to spent the last day on the way home in South Lake Tahoe - cocktails, great food and the last beard pic.

Big smiles in Tahoe.

Writing this up and selecting the pics for the blog, I realize that I am specializing in taking pics in crowded areas and let it seem as if we had it all to ourselves. Yeah well, we kind of did :)

The Bratwurstindianer on tour in Yellowstone and Grand Teton - 2

Day 3 took us to Grand Teton. All the campgrounds were already taken and we were lucky to get one of the last spots at the Gros Ventre campground. We set up camp and checked out the river. Wonderful cold water!
We made a fire and guess what's for dinner : Bratwurst :)

Bratwurst for dinner.

Tetons from Gros Ventre in the morning.

View from Gros Ventre Campground.

Day 4 was our first hiking day and we were so looking forward to it. The best husband chose a tour, a loop around the two ocean lake. Before heading over to the trailhead we stopped at a lookout for a chat with the ranger, who warned us that we were about to head into grizzly territory and recommended that we try our bear spray first to know how to handle it. And luckily we did, because after only 300 m on the trail a grizzly was looking at us. Sitting in the grass, only 25 m away from us. Alright, arms up and slowly walking back. So no two ocean loop trail for us that day.

We decided to head over to the Colter Bay Area, were we would set up our camp for the night, and started a trail along Jackson Lake and sure enough we ended up in the beautiful clear waters of the lake.

Ahhhhhh - a black bear - don't touch!

The Tetons and Jackson Lake.

K on the trail along Jackson Lake.

At camp at Colter Bay Campground after the hike. 

Even though the Colter Bay campground is big, it does not feel cramped and we had a huge space. Vacation is also about food and a decent breakfast is something wonderful. After a scrambled egg and avocado breakfast we set out to walk around the Jenny Lake the following day. The walk around Jenny Lake is a nice 7 mile hike, with a beautiful waterfall along the way. We stopped for lunch on a large bolder leaping into the lake. The best husband and K had to take a bath, because they just cannot resist - ever.

Breakfast time.

At the waterfall.

Jenny Lake  Tour.

At Jenny Lake.

And then finally Yellowstone! The next morning we set out for our first tour into the oldest National Park of the US. We decided to do a day hike and headed to the Dogshead Loop Trail. It starts off on a section of the Continental Divide trail and we meet a couple of through hikers. At the Shoshone Lake we turned away from the Continental Divide and followed the Lewis River up to the Lewis Lake. All in all 11.2 miles, 2 short stops for a swim in the river and a picknick. No bear this time, just some tracks on the river bank.

First sunscreen, then hike. 

Resting at the Lewis river.

Bratwurstindianer at the river look-out.

Along the way.

On this hike the Bratwurstindianer were born. After our encounter with the grizzly on the first hike, P was a bit nervous and to distract himself and make some noise he started to sing. He made up a song about us, the Bratwurstindianer, walking through the bear country. Let's just say that stuck with us throughout this vacation.

The Bratwurstindianer on tour to Yellowstone and Grand Teton - 1

We had the pleasure of spending a couple of days in the oldest national park of the United States. And being there you immediately understand why this place needs to be protected. Bison, Elk, Moose, Wolf, Bear and many more animals are roaming this place free with minimal contact to human and it's one of the last places you can experience them in their natural habitat - just for that it is AMAZING. The thing is though, that if you go, you will most likely not see all of the animals, but that isn't too bad, because besides the animals, the wast grasslands, broad rivers, geysers, woods and mountains are worth a visit by themselves.

So we made the trip, it took us 3 days to get there. So I will start with our journey to the magnificent Grand Teton. We started off packed with tents and a Jucy van and headed to our first camp night at Rye Patch Recreational Park in Nevada. Most of your surrounding looks already like desert, but along the river you have trees and wildlife and among all this a nice campground. Camping on the river can have it's challenges and the humongous frogs kept us up all night.

View onto camping area.

Fire and hammock, what else do you need for a perfect vacation start.

Jucy. 

Camp site view in the evening.

After an OK night, we drove on to Utah with a stop in Elko for the Californian Trail Interpretive Center. It is crazy what some people went through to get to the West Coast and it makes you appreciate all the modern ways of traveling.

Seeing the Elephant.

Californian Trail Interpretive Center.

Worlds largest Mimosa  -  seen and finished in Elko.

I had looked up a campground which was, as I thought, near Salt Lake City. As it turned out to reach the campsite we had to drive another 1.5 h after passing SLC. Which is still close to Salt Lake City if you are looking from San Mateo, but after a couple of hours driving, this last hour feels painfully long. Anyhow, we made it to the most windy and desolate campground ever on Antelope Island State Park. Besides us only one other RV was visible. Because of the wind, that night we made no camp fire. We pinched our tents, which luckily did not fly away and had melon and chips for dinner. Beside the wind the campground was beautiful, we had an amazing sunset, moonset and sunrise and heard coyotes in the night.

Sunset 1.

Sunset 2.

In the moon light. 

The moon setting.

Sunrise.

Clouds during sunrise.