Day 22: Island Park, ID and Mystic Falls Hike

I have never considered myself outdoorsy. I think if there was one trait Jordan wishes I had it would be that I was the kind of girl who camps, hikes, and enjoys being outside. However, I’m realizing location has a lot to do with whether or not I want to be outside. Having spent most of my life in Houston (which I dearly love), it is understandable that I don’t like being outside unless we are directly on or in water. You basically walk into steam bath every time you step outside in Houston and it is totally flat. The topography isn’t all that interesting. This trip has taught me that I actually do like being outside and hiking when the humidity is 27%.

The first half of the day was our usual wash, rinse, repeat. Zoom calls, Kindergarten books, Chevron work calls. A highlight of the first half of our day is that we have an RV park booked for the Grand Canyon! So thankful to have that task done! I have a surprise about our trip to the Grand Canyon, but I’m going to wait until we are there to share it with everyone. For the second time, I got an email from a teacher that one of Hudson’s assignments wasn’t turned in. I had submitted them, but when I went back to look, they were still “uploading,” from about four days ago. I took a picture to show that we did submit them on time, but they were caught in uploading purgatory. It’s a little frustrating because we, especially Hudson and I, are doing our best to make sure assignments are completed and turned in on time. Technology. It’s allowing us to take this trip, but also causes a little stress from time to time.

After school and work, the real fun began. We drove the thirty minutes to the west entrance of Yellowstone. We stopped and bought some bear spray before we entered the park. A few days ago, I was like, “eh, who needs bear spray?” but then I read about a man who was mauled last month in a state park not far from where we are staying and his words of advice were that “everyone carry bear spray.” So we did. Although Jordan did say to me, “If we see a bear, you take the picture, I’ll deploy the bear spray.” Teamwork at its finest.

The wildlife in Yellowstone was showing off this afternoon. As soon as we entered the park, we saw this big guy. Then a herd of bison and huge grouping of elk. The traffic was much worse today than it was on Sunday which was surprising to us. We assumed the traffic would be worse on the weekend. Maybe it was just due to people slowing down to see the animals. The start of our hike was near Biscuit Basin. We hadn’t stopped at Biscuit Basin on Sunday, but I’m so glad we did today. I think it was our favorite geothermal spot. We saw a small geyser, active bubbling springs and the colors were incredible. Hudson said after Dragon’s Mouth Spring, that Sapphire Pool, was his favorite spring. Lucy loved the blue color, but still isn’t a fan of the smell. I mean, who is really?

We followed the boardwalks to where the Mystic Falls hike began. Several publications said this hike was great for families and it was until we reached a fork in the road.

We hadn’t really thought we would take the longer route, but we got to this point pretty quickly and the kids seemed like they were doing great so both Jordan and I shrugged and said, “Let’s take the longer route.” I’m going to say this was one of our top ten parenting mistakes. Before I move on, I have to tell you a story from a few nights ago. Somehow we got on the topic of sharks and I asked Jordan if he would ever go shark diving in a cage off the coast of South Africa. He, of course, said yes. The kids were asking all sorts of questions, so we pulled up a youtube video and showed them what we were talking about. They immediately asked if we would ever let them do it. We said it depends on a lot of factors, but it was dangerous so we would be very thoughtful about it. Cut to today. We take the path to the overlook and about halfway up the trail Jordan and I are shooting looks at each other like “this was a bad idea.” There are switchbacks that climb 500 feet that are very narrow and steep. It is most likely fine for adults (who are wearing hiking boots), but for a 8 and 5 year old in sneakers it was daunting. Jordan was gripping Lucy’s hand. My feet slipped under me several times. For some reason on a hike, Hudson sheds his typical cautious rule-follower personality and leaves the trail to climb every rock and ledge possible. Typically, we let him. Today I screamed, “Stay on the path,” or “Get away from the edge” more times than I can remember. It wasn’t our easiest hike, but the emotional toll it took was exhausting. We tried to remind the kids that what they were doing was a little dangerous (we didn’t want to freak them out too much), but also that they were doing great. Luckily, we made it to the overlook without major incident. Hudson has a scratch on his shin. I have one on the back of my ankle. Lucy was filthy. The three of us all fell down at some point. Jordan was the only one who didn’t skid or fall. He was also the only one wearing hiking boots. I made a mental note that we all needed hiking boots if we were ever going to do something like this again. The overlook was amazing though and even though some questionable parenting got us there, I’m glad we made it! As we were sitting there, Hudson asked, “Was that more dangerous than swimming with sharks in cages?” And now, that we had cleared the switchbacks, Jordan and I sighed and said “yes.” This thrilled him. Later when we asked him about his favorite part of the hike, he said “the danger aspect.”

From there, we made our way to the falls and they were stunning. The rest of the hike was easy. As we were making our way down the trail, Hudson asked if it was a bad decision to take the longer route. Jordan replied “It was a bad decision, but it had a good outcome.” Hudson asked what that meant and Jordan said, “We got lucky.”

The light in Yellowstone in early evening is beyond beautiful. The sun glinting off the river was so pretty to me. Apparently, I said this a lot, because Lucy said, “Mom, we know. You think it is ALL pretty.” She wasn’t wrong. I think, in total, the hike was about 4 miles and we arrived back at the truck around 5:45.

We experienced our worst traffic jam on the way out of the park which was unfortunate because we were all tired and very hungry and our snack supply had been depleted on the hike. When we FINALLY got out of the park, we stopped at Beartooth Barbeque in West Yellowstone. It was really good, really expensive Barbeque. They make their own bbq potato chips though and that alone was worth the price. Lucy kept saying, “I really want to go get some ice cream, but I can NOT stop eating these chips. They are delicious!” The owner was super friendly and while I recognize they totally overcharge because hungry tourists are stopping at one of the closest restaurants outside Yelllowstone, I would recommend going there.

We got back to the RV around 8:15 and once everyone showered, we all went to bed. I have already decided the kids will sleep in tomorrow. I am so impressed by their physical ability. Kids can do so much more than we think they can. I wouldn’t suggest this hike to other parents with young kids, but there is something really cool watching your kids push their limits and end the day with a little more confidence than they had at the beginning. I just need to order them some hiking boots.

Until next time…

Sarah