Base Camp:
Based on a note from my dad, I have decided to start each substack by explaining where we parked the travel trailer and established a sort of “home” for the week. On Sunday, August 4th we arrived at Buffalo Bill State Park. Nestled in a windy valley just off of the Buffalo Bill Reservoir, this park had beautiful mountain views in all directions. To our delight, we had a pull-through and pretty level campsite, meaning Zac didn’t have to back the trailer in or make a lot of adjustments. Buffalo Bill State park is about 15 minutes west of Cody, Wyoming and about 45 mins east of the east entrance to Yellowstone National Park. When I booked this spot I thought it would be a great location to explore Yellowstone multiple nights after work through the week. Little did I know that this National Park is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined!
Monday, August 5th
After work we headed to the east entrance of Yellowstone and decided to head south once we got into the park. This direction took us to the West Thumb shoreline that had a variety of geyser basins in a rainbow of colors. Next we headed to Old Faithful, and were lucky enough to only wait 15 minutes for its eruption. We did a little walk around this area after the event and then hopped back into the truck for our final stop. Lastly, we drove over to grand prismatic spring where we were able to view the amazing colors of this natural phenomenon from ground level. I do feel like we missed the best perspective of this spring by not going to the overlook, but we made a decision based on how dark it was getting and how long the hike might take us. Oh well! It was still a very cool thing to see from ground level and I am trying hard not to feel like we missed out on anything during this trip, so I am not dwelling on it!
Tuesday, August 6th
This evening we decided to head into the town of Cody to grab some supplies and maybe an ice cream. On the way, we stopped along the reservoir to view the dam along the Buffalo Bill Reservoir and its visitor center.
After a quick tour of the visitor center we continued to head into Cody. We grabbed some delicious ice cream and walked past a gun show set up outside historic Buffalo Bill’s Irma Hotel. We had a beer while we watched the first couple minutes and then decided to head back to the campground to call it an early night.
Wednesday, August 7th
Our second evening in Yellowstone National Park took us north after entering from the eastern entrance again. This time we were heading towards the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We took a little hike to see the upper and lower falls in this section and couldn’t believe this was the same park that we saw on Monday! While on the way to these overlooks we drove through Hayden Pass which is known for wildlife activity, and it definitely lived up to its reputation. We ended up being two cars away from a Bison crossing the road. These animals are HUGE and I am so glad we were a good distance away from them, it was crazy to see people getting out of their cars to try to get close for a picture. On our way back from the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone we stopped at the Mud Volcano and Dragon Mouth’s Spring which had two bison running through the parking lot. Once the bison were clear from the lot, we hopped out of the truck and were hit by a rancid smell that was a combination of beans and rotten eggs. Despite the awful scent, we proceeded up the trail towards mud volcano. It was a big, bubbling mud pot that somehow smelled even worse up close. We continued down the path to visit Dragon’s Mouth Spring which was named perfectly based on the sound and look of it. That was our final stop before driving the 2 hours back to our campground.
Thursday, August 8th
This Thursday evening we planned to visit the Cody Rodeo, which happens every summer night at 8pm. With that in mind we decided to check out the restaurant that the gun show from Tuesday night was in front of. They mentioned during the show that they offer all-you-can-eat prime rib, which immediately grabbed Zac’s attention. We arrived and were immediately seated so Zac got to work. Leaving the restaurant bloated and ready for a nap, we rallied and headed to the rodeo. We grabbed a front row seat and settled in for the events. They had barrel racing, bull riding, roping, and there was even a rodeo clown cracking jokes throughout the show! The barrel racing was my favorite, as it was hard watching people fly off of a bull and seeing calfs getting lassoed, but I can appreciate the sport of it all.
Friday, August 9th
Woke up bright and early (since we both took the day off) and headed to Yellowstone National Park. We were starting to get tired of this drive but it was necessary in order to get to the other National Park we were planning to see, Grand Teton. These parks are separated by about 7 miles and they offer way different experiences. Yellowstone almost feels like a theme park with the amount of people and individual things to see, while Grand Teton has a gorgeous mountain range with hikes that are less crowded. We started our journey on the outer drive of the park and enjoyed distant views of the range. This path took us down to Jackson Hole, a busy downtown with cowboy bars, leather shops, and art galleries that seemed to go on for blocks. We strolled through the touristy stores and enjoyed some samples of whisky before stopping at a brewery for a couple mid-day beers. Afterwards we headed back into the park and took the inner drive to be closer to the mountains. We ended up at Jenny Lake, where we took a boat shuttle across for a gorgeous hike between the mountains. The hike was challenging but we took our fair share of breaks up to the waterfall, overlook and then into cascade canyon. The views were spectacular and it was one of the most rewarding hikes we’ve done so far. After taking it in for a couple minutes we quickly scaled back down the mountain to make sure we wouldn’t miss the last shuttle across Jenny Lake, leaving at 7pm. If we missed it, there would be a 5 mile hike back to our truck - so we weren’t risking it. We managed to get to the boat with about half an hour to spare and were very thankful. We grabbed some grub along the 3 hour drive back to the campground and managed to get an amazing sunset view behind the Tetons on the way as well.
Saturday, August 10th
A day of driving was exactly what we needed after our tiring trip to the Tetons. We packed up our “base camp” and started to head east towards Hot Springs State Park. It was a dreary day, which was amplified by Zac getting a speeding ticket while driving into town, and the hot springs weren’t as exciting as what we had already seen in Yellowstone. We walked around the park a bit- visiting one of the springs and crossing a suspension bridge, but kept this stop short in order to stay on track for our weekend.
Sunday, August 11th
Slept off the funk of the ticket from yesterday and started the day on a good foot by getting our grocery shopping done first thing in the morning. We then headed to Devils Tower. Zac had no idea what to expect, but having seen the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, I was excited to share in the awe of seeing the butte for the first time together. We did the short hike around the tower and were able to see a few rock climbers making their way to the top. This was a perfect stop to break up our drive to the next campground: Sheps Canyon Recreation Area in South Dakota, I’ll tell you all about it in next week’s “base camp”.
Thank you for your patience on this one, I somehow fell sick AGAIN and have been dragging my feet sending this out. Watch the reel for this week below!
Love the pics!