The Pinto Family: Yellowstone and Grand Tetons

We had the trip of a lifetime to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons! We left the day after the kids got out of school and were gone May 25-June 2. While this is the start of summer break for us in the south, it was still chilly and we hiked through quite a bit of snow in both parks. But we beat the summer crowds and saw a ton of wildlife out and about - it was a perfect time to go! We spent 4 days in Yellowstone, staying at Old Faithful Inn. We would stay there again in a heartbeat, and could easily go back and spend another week there seeing all new things. The highlight in Yellowstone for most of us was the hike through Lamar Valley and the horseback ride on the ranch, but I have to say, seeing all the geysers, mudpots, waterfalls, the Grand Prismatic pool, and an abundance of wildlife was also just so awesome!! This is the wildlife we saw in Yellowstone: Bison, elk, mule deer, rabbit, hawk, ducks, geese, chipmunks, squirrel, magpie, grizzly bears,pronghorn, black bears, Uinta ground squirrel, osprey, red fox, moose, sandhill crane.

The Western entrance

Bison everywhere - babies too!

The dining room in Old Faithful Inn - we enjoyed the all you can eat buffet there one night - what a treat!

Staying at this huge old log cabin was so special - the ambience there, especially in the evening, was so great! We were on the go a lot and so didn't spend a ton of time relaxing at the inn, but it was the perfect place to stay - even had 3 queen beds in 1 room - and it was no big deal to have to walk down the hall to the bathrooms.

The Northern entrance

We went to the town of Gardiner, MT, just on the Northern edge of Yellowstone, to go to mass and that is also where we did our rafting and horseback riding out of.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Being way to close to a bison!

Grand Prismatic

The secret hike led us across this fun marsh, through snow and to an amazing waterfall.

White water rafting the Yellowstone River with Flying Pig adventures. It was a lot of fun, though only class 2-3 rapids so not super thrilling for the boys who are more experienced rafters.

It was Sam and Grace's first time white water rafting so it was perfect - we saw a ton of wildlife along the way.

Later that day we drove up a rough rode north of Gardiner, MT to Hell's A-Roaring Ranch. This experience was one of the highlights of the whole trip! We went horseback riding for a 2 hrs through the Montana mountains where there was nothing but wildlife and mountains and open ranges in site - it was absolutely breathtaking! Then we came back to ranch for a delicious hearty steak dinner followed by a campfire complete with story telling, song singing, and roasting marshmallows - just perfect!!!

Old Faithful

Lamar Valley hike

Enjoying the peace of nature

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Moose were so cool to see!

We passed over the Continental Divide on the drive from Yellowstone to Grand Tetons.

A beautiful drive

The Tetons are just spectacular!

Every hike was beautiful in its own way there!

In the Tetons we stayed at Colter Bay cabins, which wasn't anything fancy, but worked great with the 2 bedrooms and 4 beds. We had 3 days in Grand Tetons, and again, could have easily spent another week here. It would particularly be great to go back when warm enough to enjoy all the water options here (like rafting, kayaking, etc) but we packed a lot of great hikes in here. The highlight for all was the Jenny Lake hike for sure, but every hike was spectacular, and seeing a grizzly bear with her cub right next to our car and going to a rodeo in Jackson Hole were also new and fun happenings! We saw the following wildlife in Grand Tetons: grizzly bears, bison, raven, weasel, Uinta ground squirrels, duck, minnow, yellow bellied marmot, sandhill crane, moose, elk, snake,butterflies.