Day 5

After a short and brisk night of sleep, we woke up around 6:15 to a beautiful sunrise creeping over the mountainous terrain, surrounding eagle creek campground.   Evan, Dave, and Josh ended up not sleeping outside of the tents under the stars.  Because it was extremely chilly, a fire was immediately made.  We warmed up and scrounged for breakfast as we began planning the day’s events. Josh had to leave by 2 in the afternoon, so we designed our stops with that in mind- by 2 pm we ended up in the southern portion of Yellowstone, cutting about an hour off of his commute back to Utah.  We were on the road by 8:45 and into the Park by 9.  

Having seen much of the attractions and natural wonders in the north sphere of the park the day before, we drove south for an hour towards the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  After a quick check in at the visitor center, we arrived at the Grand Canyon around 10:30.   One of the first things that we noticed as a group was the amount of people packed in around the guardrails overlooking the beautiful ravines.  The touristy, commercial feel of Yellowstone stood in contrast to the peaceful and calming atmosphere that we enjoyed in Badlands National Park. 

We wove our way through vacationing Americans and bus-fulls of international sightseers and eventually secured some good viewpoints.  We all took a moment to admire the brightly colored stratified rock of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon.   Further down the gorge, a large waterfall tumbled and rushed down the cliff to feed a picturesque river carving its way through the ravine. We took a group shot as well as some panoramic pictures before climbing a short hike.  We made our way back to the car to proceed to our next stop.

From the Grand Canyon, we continued south another hour and hunger struck.   As we looked around for a place to eat, we came upon Yellowstone Lake, the biggest standing body of water in the park.  We had not initially planned to stop at the lake but we were hungry and it seemed like a cool spot to explore.  When we rounded the bend to park and got our first good glimpse of the view- we immediately knew that it was good decision.  The lake itself half-frozen and surrounded by snow covered mountains was one of the most beautiful sights that we saw in our stay at the park.  Josh, who worked a summer in college on a crab boat in Alaska, said this view was comparable to those in Alaska.  A perfect temperature of 65 and breezy completed the afternoon as we stopped to eat and take in our incredible surroundings.

When we were finished with our meal, we hopped in the car with Josh for the last time as we drove to our final destination in Yellowstone, Old Faithful.  When we arrived, the boardwalk surrounding America’s most famous geyser was packed to the gills with tourists from all over.   About a thousand people huddled around for a glimpse of the majestic fountain.  We filmed and photographed Old faithful and left quickly as it was hot and crowded. 

As we prepared to drive back through the park to Bozeman, Montana we exchanged goodbyes with Morken.  It was an incredible experience to see Yellowstone Park and we were honored to have Josh join us.

To close the day we drove out of Yellowstone and stopped just outside the park entrance in Gardiner, Mt.  As we perused the gift shops and antique stores, we met an amazing couple working outside the park.  A Christian husband and wife team with many stories of church planting and adventures in the park.   The husband was ex-navy and was clerking Elk Inc, a hunting outfitters store.   The wife was the owner and operator of an antique store a block over.  One of the greatest things that stuck out to us was their opportunity to witness to the over 1 million tourists driving through Yellowstone each year.  Along with them playing Christian music in the stores, they also serve the tourists by driving visitors who have been kicked out the park (drugs, alcohol, etc.) back to their vehicles/hotels/airport.  This gives them the opportunity to share the gospel.  The stories that they experienced in the park were truly inspirational.

We returned with good pictures and even better memories.

- David

Yellowstone's Grand Canyon - the picture doesn't truly capture all of the beautiful colors

Los boys with the waterfall as a backdrop.  Had to fight through many tourists to get this shot

Pete, Dave, and H.B. staring death in the face, as well as a beautiful landscape

Yellowstone Lake, covered in ice still and framed by snow capped mountains

Another groupie, taken by a kind lady from Texas

Ye Ole Faithful - no choice but to make this a stop

Tam and Evan trying to get the best possible view...

...over this crowd of people

Boom goes the dynamite 

Bison that we saw hanging out in a parking lot on our way out of the park.