Labor Day Weekend

We had the BEST Labor Day weekend! We haven't got to camp much this year, because life has been so crazy busy. Steph, Mark, and I needed to finish our miles for our Yellowstone Conqueror's Challenge, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone, and camp close to the west entrance of the park. Phil and Joyce found us a beautiful spot in Island Park. 

Phil, Joyce, Mark, and I got up there on a Thursday evening. We set up camp and then headed to Henry's Lake to watch the big tanker planes fill up with water to fight the Sawtell Peak fire. We got there just in time for a beautiful sunset.

Sunset on Henry's Lake.

It was cool to watch the planes fill up. So much respect for all the firefighters out fighting hard fires this summer!

Eric and Steph got up there on Friday morning. We waited for them, and then we left Eric and Phil in charge of the pups while the rest of us drove to Yellowstone to work on our challenge miles. We climbed Purple Mountain, which was a new one for all of us. It had great views of the valley below. Loved it!

The trail leading up Purple Mountain.

The views of the valley below.

The rest of the day we hung around camp.

 Reeses has had a really rough time since Oreo died, so there was no way we could leave her for that long. We decided to bring her with us, and it was the best decision ever! We made her a ramp to get in and out of the trailer, and it worked perfectly. Phil and Eric spoiled her rotten while we were gone to Yellowstone, she had two other dogs to keep her company, and she was in heaven all weekend. I seriously got teary a couple times, because I haven't seen her that content in a long time. She's been so lonely.

Our awesome campsite.

Sleepy and happy!

Steph and Eric brought Kota and she was so funny! A busy little pup, but so well behaved!

Saturday was our final day in the park, and we finished off our 75 miles in Yellowstone! So glad we signed up for the challenge. It made going into the park this summer a big priority, and we had some great adventures. Loved every mile of it!

We started off with the Chain of Lakes, and it was awesome! It's an 11.5 mile point to point trail that takes you past 4 beautiful lakes, forest areas, meadows, across creeks, etc. It was perfect.

The start of the Chain of Lakes trail.

Ice Lake was the first one, and it was our absolute favorite!

We were the first ones on the trail, and there were spider webs everywhere! Mark walked like this clearing the way for us! 😂 He had streams of webs hanging off both of his poles.

Ice Lake from the other end.

Tricia-Steph-Joyce-Mark

The water was so calm. Check out the cool log reflection.

Creek crossing!

Wolf Lake was my second favorite. It was bordered by forest on one side, and huge meadows on the other. The edges were coved in lily pads!

More creek crossings!

Wolf Lake

Grebe Lake was the 3rd one. The campsites were closed around it due to an aggressive bear in the area. We saw lots of scat, but no bear.

At Grebe Lake, we watched an osprey dive down into the water to get a fish. It was wild! The sound of it hitting the water was crazy, and I had no idea they went all the way under. So cool!

Leaving Grebe Lake.

The last lake we went by was Cascade. There was a lot of people who hiked out to fish at that one.

After that, we were just a couple miles short of completing our challenge miles, so Joyce went back to camp, and Mark, Steph, and I did one more short hike to finish up. We did park of the Gneiss Creek Trail along the river.

Me and Steph

Gneiss Creek Trail

I kept saying that we needed to see a bear to make the perfect ending to our challenge. Sure enough, on the way out of the park, we saw a mama bear and the cutest baby! The baby was climbing a tree to get a better look at the tourists. So cute!

Mama bear

Cute little baby hanging on tight!

The rest of the day was spent hanging out with everyone at camp. We had a little bit of a signal, so the guys watched a football game. 😂

 

Reeses and Kota.

Camping is exhausting for a puppy! 😁

The guys watching the game.

She was so exhausted and happy each night!

We got up Sunday morning and had a big group breakfast. Phil made the yummiest huckleberry pancakes and bacon, Steph and Eric did eggs, and Mark and I did sausage and hash browns. Yum!

Breakfast time!

Kota wanted to play with Reeses so bad! Kota would try to drag Reeses around by her leash. 😂 Reeses is too old, and would mostly just lay down and ignore Kota. Reeses acted annoyed a few times, but we could tell she loved having the company.

After breakfast, Phil, Joyce, Mark, and I went and floated Big Springs in our kayaks. So pretty, and we saw a moose right at the start!

A cute moose!

Getting started.

Phil, with Maddie as captain. 😁

So fun!

The forest service came around and told us we could have a fire the last night, so we put the TV to good use again, and watched a movie. So fun!

We went out to the barn when we got home on Monday, and gave Reeses an inaugural bath in the new wash station. She loved it, and it worked awesome!

Such a great and much needed break away! Life has been so busy and stressful lately, so it was just what we needed!