A Mostly Yellowstone Report

[dlo]

@@Patty

 

I love your Teton panorama in post 40, very nice. With @@SafariChick doing her 20th and me doing my 10th in Africa this year and your 20th this year @@Patty I think we may have to all do Africa together on the next round number anniversary date!

[SafariChick]

@@Patty we're doing a bit crazy 3-country itinerary - Ethiopia four nights (for wolves), Rwanda four nights (for gorillas) and Kenya four nights (Laikipia Wilderness Camp for dogs). My husband has only been to Africa once before and he was interested in seeing species he hadn't seen the first time and two out of the three target species will be new for me as well. I've been wanting to see gorillas for ages and we both have wanted to see the wolves for a while. I've seen dogs but I have absolutely no problem seeing them again!

[SafariChick]

@@dlo I could certainly get behind that idea!

[Patty]

@@dlo I remember your wedding trip. Can't believe it's been 10 years!

 

Hope you and @@SafariChick have great celebrations. I'll be looking forward to hearing about them.

 

Ithumba 2026?

Edited May 29, 2016 by Patty

[dlo]

Ithumba you say? Maybe we should make it you're 25th! I would go in a heartbeat. 10 years is crazy and I don't think there is any way I'll ever have a better trip. @@Atravelynn Leely and you were so positive to me on my first trip report I'll always appreciate it.

[Atravelynn]

Ithumba you say? Maybe we should make it you're 25th! I would go in a heartbeat. 10 years is crazy and I don't think there is any way I'll ever have a better trip. @@Atravelynn Leely and you were so positive to me on my first trip report I'll always appreciate it.

Thanks dlo. Time flies. Nothing wrong with the 10 year plan! It would give lots of time to save.

 

Nice FIF. Frog in flight. How lucky can you get to arrive in time for the frog jumping contest, rounding out your trip experiences.

[SafariChick]

@@Patty @@dlo Ithumba sounds great, would love to get there some day!

[Game Warden]

@@Patty You've set the bar high with your wonderful photography and narrative and created a great road map for those following in your footsteps. Which one day, I'd love to do.

 

Thanks, Matt.

[kittykat23uk]

@@Patty what a wonderful trip! Thank you for taking me back to Yellowstone through your trip report. Makes me want to go back again!

[Patty]

Here's the final installment.

 

Despite living within a 4 hour drive of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks for the last 28 years, we've somehow never made it there. Don't ask me why because it's absolute gem. The parks are adjacent to each other and jointly managed. Together they only get a quarter or less of the visitation of nearby Yosemite. Last minute cancellations allowed us to grab a room at the Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia for the first night and one at the Cedar Grove Lodge at the bottom of Kings Canyon for the second night. Sequoia was not too busy even on a weekend and Kings Canyon was even quieter. Except at...

This was shortly after we entered the park and what turned out to be our only black bear sighting (there are no grizzlies left in California). Again people are parked halfway blocking the road. The bear was in a clearing but some people tried to walk out to the bear so by the time we pulled off of the road, the bear had moved back into the forest, arghhhhhh

 

Sequoia is home to magnificent giant sequoias. We visited groves in the Giant Forest area of Sequoia and the General Grant Grove in Kings Canyon.

 

Moro Rock in Sequoia

 

A lodgepole chipmunk

 

Our favorite part of the park was the drive down into Kings Canyon. The Kings River was raging and the falls flowing at this time of year.

 

Grizzly Falls

 

The 21 room Cedar Grove Lodge at the canyon bottom is very basic but has an unbeatable location. We had one of the 3 ground level rooms with a patio overlooking the river and would highly recommend one of these if you're able to book one. It was also run in a comically disorganized fashion but we really enjoyed our time here. There's only a snack bar and small market for food options.

 

Here's a last early morning shot from the trail head to Zumwalt Meadow in Kings Canyon.

 

Thanks everyone for commenting, liking and following along!

[Atdahl]

Sorry that I'm late your TR party @@Patty. I took my time and read through the entire report. I especially like your mentions of Elko and Craters of the Moon. After passing them by multiple times on the way to and from YNP I can see that we might have been too hasty. A stop once might have been nice. The same can be said for Sequoia and Kings Canyon. Alas, our opportunity might have passed now that we have moved to Az.

 

What a great report! I am so happy that you and Mark had a good time. Grizzly Bear...check, Black Bear with cinnamon cubs...check, Swan not garbage bag...check, and finally a close wolf encounter...check mate.

 

We never did get a chance to see that Black bear with cinnamon cubs so that's a great sighting you had especially because you had them to yourselves for a while. I am disappointed that you too encountered the "Tourons" (Tourist Morons) in the park. We saw our share and with the crowds just growing this year (probably 10%+ higher than last year's 4.1 million) I expect there will be lots more.

 

Now that I am done weeding through our recent Yellowstone photos, looks like I need to think about posting a TR myself.

 

Thanks for sharing your Yellowstone and beyond adventure with us.

 

Alan

[Patty]

Thanks, Alan! Hope you and Karen had a great trip and I'm really looking forward to hearing about yours!

[TonyQ]

@@Patty

Thank you for posting - really enjoyable report. You saw a lot of wildlife - and I loved the photos. (More birds for the Big Year!).Very engaging writing about a part of the world we have never visited. (And you also make me think about places that are a few hours drive from home that we have never visited...)

Congratulations on your 20th - nice to see you both enjoying it.

Edited June 1, 2016 by TonyQ

[Patty]

Thanks @@TonyQ! Hope you have a great trip to Svalbard (a part of the world that fascinates me which I haven't visited yet) and looking forward to your report and photos.

[lll]

@@Patty Thanks so much for pics and reports! Brought back many memories. I worked at Lake Hotel one summer and lived in JH for 7 very fun years. Will be moving back to the Idaho side of the Tetons in Sept after 2 years in Swaziland. A little afraid of jumping almost right into winter, but your pics are helping me look forward to it. Can't wait to see how my 2 swazi dogs handle it too

[kilopascal]

@@Patty Thanks for posting this. I hope to be in Yellowstone and Grand Tetons next year during the same weeks you were there so having this trip report was great.

[Alexander33]

@@Patty

 

You remind me once more of the fact that we have so many amazing places to experience nature right in our own country. I really enjoyed your report. The mousing red fox is definitely an iconic Yellowstone scene that I hope to have the chance to witness firsthand someday, but everything in your report was inspiring. Really, think I need to go to Ketchum just to eat!

 

Thank you for sharing your trip with us.

[michael-ibk]

A gem of a report, Patty, thank you - and congrats on your 20th anniversary. Following on that tradition, I will spend my 40th birthday in Africa, does that count?

 

Really enjoyed travelling along with you on this one. You had wonderful sightings, Bears, Pronghorns, Bisons, Elks, Moose, Otters - fantastic. Like so many others the mousing Fox is the highlight for me. Also appreciated all the food photos - quite hungry now.

[Safaridude]

@@Patty

 

A great trip report. Particularly enjoyed the fox sequence. I love that you infused photos of food into the TR. Judging by your previous avatar photo that you are a foodie?

[Patty]

@@lll Hope you have a smooth transition back.

 

@@kilopascal Have fun planning.

 

@@Alexander33, @@michael-ibk, @@Safaridude I have to say the mousing fox was our favorite sighting as well and yes @@Safaridude my previous avatar was taken at a cooking class in the kitchen of a local restaurant.