Katie's Second Report

6/22/09

Off we go, we were heading to Devils Tower. It was cool! We did a 1 mile and a quarter walk around the base of it. We could see people rock climbing on the spectacular rock. One comment that I would have for them is don’t look down! After the walk we were heading for the KOA (Kamping of America). There was a swimming pool, bouncy ground area, and a basketball hoop. Sounds like my kind of camping! Next we got so caught up on the Wi-Fi, laundry, and fun activities that we ended up having dinner at 10:00 at night. We had Mac n’ Cheese and it seemed like it took forever to cook, probably because it was so late and I was so hungry. Then we hopped in Bucky and got a goodnight sleep.

6/23/09

Burr! It is freezing and we are going rafting. I am looking 3% forward to it because I am cold and I am daunted by it. The reason why is because I read the book “Down River” and that book has some scary rapids in it. But I am up for the challenge (I didn’t have much of a choice I had a ticket reserved though)! So we went to the river rafting place and waited to depart. So then they were gathering everyone together and held up this big yellow jacket and said “who wants to wear this”? Of course Mom raises her hand and another woman from Oklahoma named Terry did too. So the two of them looked like tweedy birds it was funny. Terry had a daughter named Kirsten and both of them were on our raft. Terry was so funny, one thing that she said that cracked me up the most was, “Are we supposed to be doing something?” She said this as were heading toward a huge rock wall where there is a rapid by. OMG! She was cracking us all up! After we went down these amazingly fun rapids we had to stop at Wal-Mart. We replenished our food supply and headed off for Yellowstone. Well let’s just say we were traveling along the road and all of a sudden we see all these cars stopped. So we started to go by and Dan and Dad wanted to stop but I had to use the potty and Mom didn’t care. So guess who got outnumbered, me! So we turned around good thing we did because there was a 200 pound Grizzly bear there. It was a spectacular scene and an amazing one too. Well the park rangers were there and they were saying if the bear gets closer then all of us have to move back. Then he said everybody in their cars. This was cool because Bucky was the closest car to the bear. Then the bear headed up into the woods so we left to stay at Bridge Bay campsite. Once there I got a good night sleep except for one part. Dan woke up and was in a sudden rush saying “I have to go to the bathroom”. It was hilarious because he was banging on the door and couldn’t get out. So Dad gave him a hand and then I zonked out.

6/24/09

We started heading up to our camp site where we were going to be staying for 3 nights and 4 days. On our way there we stopped and toured around in different places. One spot was called Trout Lake where we took a 1 mile and a half walk. We stopped at a little river/stream and saw rainbow trout spawning. This was unique because I have never seen this happen before. Later that evening we were coming back to Canyon Village when once again a lot of people were stopped. So we pulled over and there was another Grizzly Bear on the side of the road. I was glad that I saw it on the side of a road then hiking next to one. Then it went back in the woods and we took off to our campsite.

6/25/09

I wake up and there is a great waft in the air. Mom and Dad made bacon and egg wraps. This made a great start to our day. We went to the Norris Geysers and saw the biggest geyser in the United States. Which the biggest one is called Steamboat Geyser but it didn’t blow for us. We did a mile walk around to see the other geysers. Then we took off for Mammoth Hot Springs and did a walk. But we were really shocked at how dry they were. There was no water I could officially say that it was dryer than a saltine cracker! Which when we got into Bucky we were heading to the visitors center and there was about 15 elk. I got some video shots of them which were neat. Then after we were done with that we went back to our campsite and all of us, except Mom, took a nap.




6/26/09

Today I was really excited because I was going to be able to say “I’ve seen Old Faithful”. So we took off but it was a little yucky out. It was starting to clear up as we drove closer to the Geysers which were excellent news! Once we got to Old Faithful it was sunny out and we were heading to park. When we got to the parking lot I was amazed because there were a lot of cars there. Then we had perfect timing because we saw Old Faithful blow and then this lady said that Beehive Geyser is going to go off after Old Faithful. So we went and saw it go off. It was a spectacular scene to watch. Then we went back to Bucky and had lunch, and then we were going to walk on the trails around the Geysers. Fortunately we saw Castle Geyser go off which both Beehive and Castle only go off every 13 ½ hours. This was a cool day.

6/27/09

Off we go and we are leaving Yellowstone, and heading to the Tetons. On our way there I asked Dad “Are there any bears in the Tetons?” He responded and said “no”. So then Danny chimed in and said “if we see a bear I’ll give you a dollar”. Of course I shook on it and go figure about 3 minutes later there were a lot of cars pulled over. We stopped got out and asked “what do you see” the answer was a bear to the right and a moose to the left. It was fascinating to see the bear but also it wasn’t a reluctant feeling. Then the bear took off to the woods so we couldn’t see it anymore. But there was still the moose and Dad got really close. This is a little story that was really funny about Dad and the moose. So Dad starts to head down this dirt road, and then he gets to this part where there is a block in the road. He is only 20 meters from the moose and he starts to get up on the pole that’s blocking the path. Meanwhile Dan, Mom and I are watching him. Well I start to head towards Bucky and there are these people standing right next to Bucky. I overheard them say “what is that guy doing he is climbing over the pole oh wait he is standing on it, what an idiot, that’s stupid”. I was laughing so hard. Then we took off a got a campsite at Signal Campground in the Tetons. Then we did some hiking and ate dinner (can you believe it we went out and ate, we didn’t have oodles and noodles) in Jackson Hole. Next we went back to the camp and got ready for the ranger show on wolves.