Sunday, June 30th- Saturday, July 6th - Yellowstone NP

Yellowstone was a lot of fun.  We started out the week staying at Fishing Bridge Campground.  It is one of the few RV sites in Yellowstone that has full hookups- Electric (50A), Water, and Sewer- right at your site.  That is really convenient.  We were not too impressed with the campground through.  It was set up to maximize the number of campers, not really with the atmosphere in mind.  The sites were really tight, so after our first night, we moved on to find a new site.

We drove around on Sunday morning and began our search for a new site.  There are many campgrounds in Yellowstone that are first come – first served.  We ended up finding a nice site at the Indian Creek campground on the north-west side of the park.  It was a dry campsite- as most of the other campgrounds are, but we really liked it.  Indian Creek is a much smaller campground that is set in the woods.  On the way into the campground, we saw a Cinnamon colored- black bear and her two cubs.  A park ranger told us that was what it was.  I didn’t realize that there were cinnamon colored- black bears.  I thought they were a different species of bear.  It was a really nice greeting on our way into the park. 

Our site was nice.  It had a campfire ring and picnic table along with plenty of grass and trees.  – Fishing Creek had none of that.  It was nice to be out in the woods.—been without power.  We liked the site so much, that after the first day there, we canceled the rest of our reservations at Bridge Bay and stayed the remaining time in the Indian Creek Site. 

Our site at Indian Creek- Yellowstone NP

One of our neighbors- 1990 VW Camper by Winnebago.. I checked it out... really nice!  We saw a lot of them in the parks!

Crazy boys on a hike with Dad

We had a lot of fun in Yellowstone.  We saw most, if not all of the sites to see there.  We enjoyed the waterfalls, geysers, mudpots, steam from the diverse geology.  We really enjoyed the wildlife.  We saw Black bears, Grizzly bears, Buffalo- lots, Elk, Mule Deer, and Whitetail Deer. 

There was a stream that flowed by the campground that the kids really enjoyed swimming in too.  After the first two days, we decided that we were going to brave the waters to get cleaned up.  That water was FREEZING!  But…. We got ‘er done.  Chilly!  The kids said swimming there was the most fun they had there… too funny with all of the sites we saw. 

We drove a lot in the park.  We pulled the camper down to Madison Junction to dump the camper and top off on water on Wednesday.  It was a really convenient setup at the campground there.  We filled up, and then we all took showers.  Then, we dumped and filled back up with water again to head back to the campground. 

On Tuesday, we drove up to Gardiner, MT to do some laundry one day.  That was really convenient.  They had some really big machines that made quick work of our wash.  They also had Wi-Fi and AT&T coverage for the time we were there.  The gift shop next to the Laundromat even had coffee for 25 cents a cup… couldn’t beat it.  We grabbed a pizza from KBAR pizza for dinner.  It was great- buffalo chicken pizza and a cheese pizza.  Gardiner, MT is the first town immediately outside of Yellowstone at the north entrance. 

The Yellowstone Association is located in Gardiner.  The Yellowstone Association is a non-profit association dedicated to conservation of the park.  Members make a donation of $35 or however much per year to support the park.  It allows the association to support the park in ways that the federal government is not able to meet certain needs.  The membership also gets members a 15% discount on park souvenirs in all of the national parks that recognize the memberships.  I wish I had bought on back in Rocky Mountain NP- it could have saved us even more.  It’s a great way for individuals to support the National Park System.

First Elk we saw on the way into the park

Traci's Awesome Cookin'!

Relaxing and reading..  Lewis and Clark book.. 

These are "open top buses"... yellow in Yellowstone.. red in Glacier... pretty slick..

Priceless... :)

Rhoda... doing her part to clear out the traffic jam... 

This guy was not happy...

On Wednesday, our friends- the Honey family arrived to join up with us.  We drove out the North-East entrance to the park to meet them in Red Lodge, MT.  Red Lodge- is a DRIVE!  I forgot how far it was when we started our trip.  It is a beautiful drive though.  We drove up and over the Beartooth highway out of the park and through perhaps the most beautiful area of our country.  BEAUTIFUL!

Beautiful view.. tough driving...

Mountain Goats... 

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Yay!!  They're here!

Along the way we saw mountain goats for the first time.  This group was at the highest point of our trek up and over the mountains to Red Lodge.  We stopped to grab some pizza and rest in Red Lodge before making the drive back over the mountain.  We got back to our campsite late in the night and had to take it easy on the road in the park.  Buffalo are very difficult to see on the roads at night.  Their fur absorbs almost all light when headlights shine on it.  The only thing you see is horns and eyes.  So, we took it easy on our drive back to the campsite.

On Thursday, we spent plenty of time relaxing and sightseeing.  We went down to see Old Faithful with everyone on Thursday.  It was a nice trip.  We packed a lunch and had a nice time seeing the geyser, looking at the lodge, and seeing a bunch of different shops for souvenirs and grocery items.  Yellowstone seems to be very commercialized to cater to campers.  – much more so than the other parks that we have seen.  After seeing Old Faithful, we drove around the east side of the park to look at some of the wildlife and waterfalls.  It started to rain a little bit for the first time that week.  The geo-thermal features react to the rainfall.  The rain causes more steam and activity.  It is beautiful to see. 

On Friday, we had more rain, so we relaxed for most of the day- trying to stay warm and dry.  We made a trip up to Mammoth Hotsprings and around the park headquarters there.  We went into another gift shop there and then went back to the campground to make our plans for the trip up the Glacier NP the following day.   

Oh yeah, there was another Airstreamer camping in Indian Creek.  I spent some time talking with him.  He had a 2012 27FB (Forward Bedroom) Camper.  He also invested in a solar power system.  I spotted him when we pulled into the park, but he had some family visiting, so we talked some on Friday about his system.  He had it installed by AM solar- the company I had researched in Eugene, Oregon.  (We were planning on checking it out.)  The system he had installed was really impressive.  He had a 600 Watt system on the roof- 6 panels.  He then put 6 large cell batteries in the compartment under his bed.  There was a large solar power controller there, power inverter, and another breaker box.  The system he had produced close to 30 Amps of AC electricity!  Awesome!  He is completely off the grid.  I don’t know if we need to have a system as elaborate as the one he has, but it was impressive to see the possibilities.  He is able to run his TV, microwave, and/or his Air Conditioner if he wants to with that power.  We did discover that one of the major inconveniences of boon-docking is that you eventually run out of battery juice to run your water pump- no matter how much you conserve your water.  We were able to last 3 days with the water we had in our tank using it very conservatively and using the available bathroom facilities to cut down on our use.  However, the short drive with the truck was not able to re-charge the system through the 7 pin connector….. so option 1- generator ($800-$1200 + maintenance and fuel) or option 2- solar (unsure of the total / requirements).  We are going to do some more homework on solar before jumping into the generator crew… we will see.   

Take-aways from the week:

Do more research and invest in Solar power for boon-docking- water pump power and refrigerator thermostat is the minimum.

It is great to just relax and enjoy the simple things with the kids- like swimming in a stream J

Work stinks- Vacations are great!

God’s creation in Yellowstone is amazing.

There is a reason why tourists get hurt and/or killed by wildlife in the National Parks.

Moose Drool is a great beer!

It’s great spending time together with family and friends in the parks.

Hats off to the National Park Service for the Junior Ranger program- Well done!

You can fill up your camper water tank by using a “waterthief” attachment on an unthreaded faucet- for a measly $4… money well spent. 

Traci is an awesome campfire chef- We ate very well!

The Ford F-350 Power-stroke was money well spent.  It gets great mileage pulling (15-16mpg) and not pulling (20-22mpg) the camper on the trip.  The transmission is a life-saver / brake-saver- amazing.

Support the NPS through the Park associations.