Escaping the Everyday

It’s been hot hot hot here in Montana! The temps have hit 90s the past few days which means it’s been a little too hot for Cassie to come on adventures with us. She certainly got in her weekly play time.

A couple weeks have passed since Jake and I started our new jobs, so it’s nice to get back into the swing of things! New jobs never stop our adventures though.

History Rock Trail

History Rock Trail was a beautiful trail in the backcountry, a little outside of Bozeman along Hyalite Canyon. This was a run we decided to do together since it was a little eerie running through the woods with not a lot of people on the path.

At one point there was a biker that came up fast behind us and we both whipped our heads around from getting spooked! The biker was lucky he didn’t get sprayed with bear spray.

Jake wanted to get in extra miles, so he was running ahead of me then circling back. I was just trying to get through the path once, but it was smart of us to stay together for trails that aren’t as populated. Certainly, a trail we would never bring Cassie on.

Yellowstone National Park

Wow! This place was simply breathtaking. We knew the park had a ton of wildlife, but I wasn’t expecting much. It was really like no other national park I’ve been to.

When we first got into Yellowstone, we turned the corner into the main area where the gift shops, hotel and welcome center was. I couldn’t believe my eyes because there was an elk just hanging out eating grass with all the chaos around! At first, I thought he was a statue but then his head started moving.

Before we got to the trailhead, there was a bison and black bear roaming around just off the road. There were people stopped along the side of the road to get a picture of them.

I felt like a little kid seeing wildlife for the first time and being amazed at what I was seeing.

We then saw a herd of bison which was pretty cool! Some of them were huge and there were also little babies called red dogs.

Being in Yellowstone in person, the pictures just don’t do justice.

Slough Creek Trail

Slough Creek is a 20 mile out and back trail, but we only did about 7 miles. We were planning do to more, but the bugs were pretty bad. I will say, with all the bugs, it was worth it.

On our way back to the car, Jake stopped and said “look!!” and low and behold there was another bear right off the path! We think it was a smaller grizzly, but we weren’t planning on getting close enough to find out.

The bear was right around the bend if you were coming the other way. Jake noticed there was a group of people coming towards the bear and thankfully he started waving his hands to get their attention. There would be no way they’d see the bear until it was right in front of them.

We ended up bushwhacking a little off the trail to get around, always keeping our eyes on him. We met the people as they were crossing too, and they were so thankful Jake said something! The older guy let us use his binoculars to look at the bear and it was seriously the coolest experience! Talk about an adrenaline rush.

Thankfully for those that are reading, we did not get close enough to put ourselves at serious risk, but you just never know in the wild. We kept our eyes on that bear the whole time until it was well out of sight. Always carrying our bear spray as well.

The bear was just hanging out munching on some grass, so we continued on and made it safely back to the car.

Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

On our way back home, we stopped at the Mammoth Hot Springs. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced something like this.

We traveled along a wooden bridge and if you looked around you could see many signs saying hazardous ground. We are still unsure why there were all those warning signs but we assumed it had something to do with the geothermal pools around us.