Yellowstone-Day 3 Lamar Valley

I hope that you were able to read my start to our Yellowstone trip along with Day 1 and Day 2! On to day 3.

My son Preston was looking forward to this day the most because we were on our way to Lamar Valley and it is known as the best spot to view wildlife!

We slowly made our way to the Lamar River Trail.  We took a scenic drive on a gravel road-Blacktail Plateau Drive, which ended up being pretty bumpy, but we got to see various types of chipmunks, and bison.

As we continued on, we stopped at pull offs anytime we saw ANYTHING!  If we saw a group of people, we knew to grab the binoculars and search.  We ended up seeing a lot of buffalo, mule deer, elk, a coyote, a woodpecker, a pair of bald eagles and even several black bear!  When we came across the Lamar River Trail, we grabbed our bear spray and started off.

As we started down the trail, there was a bridge which made for some great pictures.  We were determined to hike a big chunk of this 5 mile trail, but about 1/2 mile in we encountered some deep water and mud right through the trail.  I guess they had a lot of snow over the winter and more water than usual.  So we headed back for our next adventure.

We found a picnic area for a quick lunch and to our surprise a fox showed up!  Another animal checked off the list!!

We made our way to the Roosevelt Lodge to find two trailheads.  The first was to Lost Creek Falls.  This was an easy trail that brought us to a stunning waterfall.  We were the only group hiking to it, so I guess it really is lost!!

The next trail was to Lost Lake.

This one was definitely a more difficult trail.  Pretty steep and the loose dirt made it a little slippery due to loose dirt.  We also grabbed the bear spray and made a lot of noise to keep them away.

The lake was beautiful and peaceful and we had it all to ourselves!

Next stop was Wraith Falls.  The boys were not thrilled about another hike, but it was an easy 1 mile round trip pretty level hike, so they agreed.  I read that this waterfall sometimes dries up as the summer goes on, but it was beautiful for us!

One more waterfall stop today, Undine Falls, but this one we didn’t have to hike because it’s right off the road.  Make sure to park to get some great pictures.  Did I mention that I LOVE waterfalls?

We made our way back to Mammoth Springs and took a stroll to the Albright Visitor’s Center which was very educational and worth the stop.

We grabbed a quick dinner at the eatery right in town and the boys were thrilled they had ice cream too!

Are you ready for day 4? We are headed to the East Side, then on to Grand Teton.