The past few years I have wanted to go back and stay at Campfire and see the park again. Luckily my friends are open to my random ideas so we booked it! We got a cabin at Campfire and not much has changed there besides being a lot more expensive I guess (or so my mom says) and it was just as I expected. Super rustic and cabin-y. No cell phone reception. No wifi. Just nature, and it was as beautiful as I remember.
We headed into the park for two of the days. It was the 100th anniversary of national parks system so entry to the park was free for our first day. This was great but it also meant it was a bit busy but it was manageable. The first day we did the Old Faithful loop and saw a lot of bison and elk. We walked my favorite hot pot and found a new spot that we had never been. It was near the lake and it was gorgeous. Can't believe we had never done that stop. We finished off the day with swimming in the Firehole river swimming hole. This is what I wanted to come back to so bad - I had remembered stopping here one time and thinking it was just the most fun thing ever! When we got here it wasn't exactly like I remembered but that didn't take away from the fun we had getting in the semi-cold water and letting the current take us and then walk back up just to have the current take us again. There were fish jumping just feet away from us and the sun was setting. It was pretty great. Sadly there were multiple fires burning while we were there and while we were driving out the fire was just yards from the road. They have a "let it burn" policy inside the park so they rangers and firefighters just watch the fire basically.
Day two was spent more north. We saw some paint pots, the canyon and the upper and lower falls. Three of us did the crazy stair hike down to a lookout point of lower falls, 320+ steep stairs down the side of the canyon. Nope, not for me. So me and Brooke hung out in the parking lot and had some random laughs. I tried to feed a crow - you know just my usual. The fires were blazing on this day so there was ash falling all around as well. Pretty crazy.
We then drove more north to Roosevelt Lodge and on the way stopped to look at a black bear in a tree - who knew they really climbed trees? Like to the very top of a pine tree! What?! Once we got to the lodge we all got a drink and sat on the rocking chairs on the porch and just took in the surroundings. Not too shabby! On the drive back home we saw a momma black bear and her two cubs, pretty adorable!
We had dinner in town and then headed home for some indoor S'mores (since the fire danger is so high they didn't allow any campfires sadly) and then called it a day. In the morning we had breakfast in the cafe per tradition and then I put my toes in the Madison river which was super cold, not surprisingly. After we loaded up the cars we headed into town where I got a custom screenprinted tee, some fudge and a delicious huckleberry iced tea. Sarah got some fun traditional purchases as well. We had to leave by 11:30 so we could make our 1pm check in at Bear World in Idaho to feed the bear cubs. We made it right at 1pm! And oh my goodness the baby bears were adorable. They were 7 months old and 60+ pounds. We bottle fed each of the 6 cubs and they were so sweet. They have the longest eyelashes and the sweetest eyes. So worth it. After buying some lottery tickets and getting lunch in Twin Falls we made the final trek home.
Another successful Yellowstone trip full of it's own new memories. I am already looking forward to our next one and it will need to be longer! I want to visit Mammoth hot springs and possible head south into the Tetons and Jackson. Long road trip but probably beautiful. Here's to an amazing Yellowstone 2016 and looking forward to Yellowstone 2017!
To see more pictures from the trip click on this link:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6ZzNZ6t1WSXbkhReVRmdWI0NGs
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