Grand Tetons
Yellowstone
Glacier

"The mountains are calling, and I must go." - John Muir

This is our 2nd National Park Trip as a family and calling it "unique" would be a gross understatement. Covid19..... Should we go? Should we cancel? I asked myself and my wife those questions daily since March. I had this trip booked (in my head) since we returned from the Black Hills in the summer of 2018. I love the mountains, yet here I sit in my office not even remotely close to anything resembling a mountain. Some would question my sanity. Heck, I question my sanity. Daily. After much deliberation, I decided we should go. I don't like crowds and I figured this might be the "golden opportunity" to go if you don't like crowds. I was certain Yellowstone could not be as crowded as a "normal" summer. I think I was right. Anyhow, I will document the highlights (and lowlights) of our trip as best I can. Feel free to reach out with questions or comments.

Day 1 - June 26th, 2020 - Minneapolis, MN to Jackson, WY

Up and at em' bright and early. We had no idea what we were about to embark on. I knew I will feel better once I was on the ground in Jackson. Here are the highlights from day 1.

• We stayed at the Flat Creek Inn. Not the best place for $400/night (yes $400), but it was convenient. 1m from downtown Jackson and 10-15m from hiking in the Grand Tetons, gas station next door and an awesome, scenic running trail right across the road. I could run on that every day....

• It was hot and sunny. Like sweat thru your shirt hot. Keep that comment in mind (foreshadowing....)

• We had a good little lunch and a couple of beers at The Roadhouse Brewery in downtown Jackson. No masks. Just distance.

• After lunch we loaded up and went on our 1st hike to Taggart Lake. The males all dipped their feet in the lake. Of course the water was cold and of course there was 1 idiot who decided to go swimming. He didn't last long.

• Taggart Lake hike is a good starter and good for kids of all ages.

• Instead of an out and back to the lake, we made the loop, which was cool, but there were NO people on the return loop. We saw some sort of animal scat (google it) that even made me a little on edge. I know Mason was scared because he talked the entire way back to the vehicle. That normally wouldn't be a surprise but the context of his talking made it obvious he was letting any Grizzlies know we were coming.

• Not only did we see a large animal's scat, we got to see Mason's scat also. Sorry Grand Teton's. We didn't pack that out. Unprepared on day 1. Will not happen again....

• After a sweaty, smelly hike we cleaned up and headed back downtown for some dinner. Teton Pizza was our pick. Friday's are pizza night in the Carlson household!

• Well not more than 2m after we ordered Mason almost threw up. Instantly we all thought Covid-19. What a miserable trip this was going to be..... So we got our pizza to go, slammed our beers and raced back to the motel. Nothing like eating gourmet pizza in a "$400/night rough around the edges" motel room. Oh well. The scenery outside our room was amazing. Beer was amazing.

• Luckily Mason started feeling better and was able to eat. That was a good sign.

• About the time I was going to settle in for the night, one of my best friends text me and said "Are you in Jackson"? Long story short, he was also in Jackson flying his boss's family into town. They were not staying at the Flat Creek Inn! We did however meet for a couple drinks at the famous Silver Dollar. Covid-19 did take away from what the Silver Dollar could be under normal times, but it is what it is.....

• The best part of meeting my friend Conrad for drinks was he knew instantly what was wrong with Mason. Whoops... Should have read that it is not recommended to go hiking the same day you land at a (much higher) different altitude. 99% sure it was just altitude sickness. Oh well. Next trip I will know better....

Day 2 - June 27th, 2020 - Jackson, WY

Today's rough itinerary was to go for a hike in the Tetons, off roading and see a grizzly or moose. Here are the highlights from day 2.

• I started my day off with a run on the National Elk Refuge trail. Man is that cool. Just nature and myself. And a million cars racing to and from the Tetons or Yellowstone. But its still amazing!

• It was once again hot and sunny to start anyhow.

• First stop. Hidden Falls at Jenny Lake. The easy way to them is via a ferry across the lake. The hard way is a couple mile hike around the lake. The 9 and 11yr old won that battle. We ferried of course.

• The ferry across the lake was pretty cool and the hike to hidden falls was awesome, however we did not make it all the way up to inspiration point due to time commitments (bad planning by me) and whiny kids. We needed to be in Alpine, WY in 2hrs and we were cutting it close. Probably for the better as the boys weren't into the hiking. Hard to play Fortnite on a mountain :-).

• After Jenny Lake, we hauled arse to Apline, WY to go on a UTV adventure via Jackson Hole Adventure Rentals. The drive there was pretty spectacular. I also kept thinking about how cool it would be to have my bike and ride up and down the mountain roads. Some other day.....

• After checking in, getting geared up and getting some crappy map of the mountain, we were off. Well sort of.

• I kept forgetting it was the 4th of July weekend. Umm we spent like 15m behind a caravan of vehicles and I wasn't daring enough to pass them all in the side-by-side just yet. Slowing us down was a truck hauling what seemed like a 100' camper. Eventually the courage kicked in and I played Nascar and took em all. Only to make a wrong turn and get behind them all again. Doh!

• The UTVing was pretty cool but it was fairly busy so wildlife was few and far between. Plus I was driving so it was hard to stare at the immense beauty without taking the UTV over a cliff down into the river. We did manage to get deeper into the woods and find a creek where we stopped for an IPA while the dorks skipped rocks.

• The highlight is... we went off roading and saw some cattle. Yep cattle. Well a couple cattle mating. About 5' away from us. The boys thought that was pretty cool. That also covers me from the "birds and the bees" talk later.

• We did sneak in an ice cream cone in Apline. I tried a little huckleberry (local favorite) for the 1st time. It did not disappoint.

• After the adventure we went back to cleanup and get the dust off.

• Conrad and his co-pilot Jeno were still in town so they offered to take us out to dinner given they come here often and know the town pretty well. Dinner was at Snow King report. One of the two skill hills in town. Obviously not as well known as Jackson Hole - Teton Village. We ate on the deck while looking up at the mountain and watching some storms roll in. We dodged them all until we were done eating, so we raced inside. Perfect timing. Best yet.... the "other Carlson's" sort of paid for dinner. Thank You!

• After dinner we cruised around town and got off the main street where there is about a million people. Such a cool little town. We tried to get into the other famous bar in town called The Cowboy Bar, but it's 21 and up all the time. Bummer. Should have left my kids outside and snuck in a shot. Again, next time....

• Back to the motel to wind down and get off our feet. It was a long day for sure.

Day 3 - June 28th, 2020 - Jackson, WY

We had one mission today. See a Moose!

• I took another run on the National Elk Refuge trail. I'll quit talking about it!

• The weather changed today. Rainy and cool. Perfect Moose spotting weather. Or that is what I told everyone anyhow.

• Back to Jenny Lake except this time we took the long route thru Teton Village, where the billionaires go to get away from the millionaires. Not kidding! A good source told us we would 100% see a moose. No luck!

• We also tried to find the Carlson/Gage estate but they are on a private gated road of course.

• We 1st hiked to Moose Pond. Neat little hike off the beaten path a little. Struck out even though I was laying down my best moose call. All the moose in the area are probably now on the west side of the Tetons.

• On the way out, we hit up Schwabacher Landing. While we were starting our walk, a fellow hiker told us there was a Cow with her calf "just up ahead". So the 4 dorks went like a bat out of hell trying to find her and her calf. We were deep into the valley and saw bear tracks and more scat, so that quickly ended that adventure.

• We tried to once again eat at Liberty burger but the wait was too long for the boys and the lack of social distancing made us decide to head to Jackson Drug. Mason attempted to eat a burger fit for 3 adults. Failed….

• Downtown Jackson was packed. What pandemic?

• I think we were all a little tired. Traveling, hiking, walking, etc... seems to have taken it's toll, so we went back to the motel to wind down with a couple cold IPA's.

• Apparently I didn't take any pictures either???

Day 4 - June 29th, 2020 - Lake Yellowstone Lake Lodge Yellowstone, WY

Time to leave Jackson and head to Yellowstone.

• I took my last run on National Elk Refuge trail. I so want to come back and bike that sucker. Beats the 6" of shoulder I normally bike on.

• I am not sure if I am happy or sad to be leaving. Jackson is my type of town. Plenty of things to keep busy but small enough at the same time. The best of both worlds....

• Cool and damp once again. I also like this type of weather.

• Since we were passing by all of our Moose "hot spots" on our way to Yellowstone, we decided to give them all one more look. Again, we struck out. I am beginning to think my wife's farting may have something to do with it.

• Ummm, yeah. It's June 29th. It's snowing on our drive all the way to Yellowstone.

• First minor Covid disappointment. We planned to swing into the Blue Heron Lounge at the Jackson Lake Lodge and have lunch (maybe a beer) and mill around, but it was closed. The next best thing was to use the public restrooms. Huge win!

• So since our lunch plans failed, we bee-lined it for our "cottage". Another minor bummer due to Covid was the Yellowstone Lake Lodge itself was all but shut down. You could go inside a few feet, check in, and go right back out. Someone was even opening the doors so I didn't have to touch anything. The main lodge looked old and rustic. Next time....

• We checked into our cottage. No TV, internet, phone, refrigerator, microwave and weak cell service. Good for me, bad for the boys. We weren't here to watch TV or play games. Fridge would have nice to keep my beer cold though.

• We did drive around and this place is really cool. We saw Bison about as close as you can get without scratching the car. They are everywhere on the resort. Same for elk. Pretty nice bonus.

• Oh I did forget to mention that Mason managed to stream about 7GB of data from Jackson to Yellowstone. This put us into "safety mode" which took me until the following day due to poor cell service and safety (i.e. throttled) mode. Kids.....

• With or without a cell phone, we managed. Pro-tip: I use Google Maps and always download them ahead of time on wifi so you can use the service without a cell signal. Handy when you are in the mountains or remote areas.

• 1st stop.... Old Faithful. Boy did we time that right. Parked at 3:08, speed walked to Old Faithful, got there about 3:12 and it went off at 3:14. Lots of people not social distancing by the way. I hate lines and I hate waiting. So that was ideal given it goes off every 70-ish mins.

• After seeing Old Faithful, we did a short hike behind it to get a little better feel of the area. Not sure where that sulfur smell is coming from???

• I want to check the history books, but I am guessing not too many people, if anyone, has ever played catch (baseball) in the parking lot of Old Faithful. Well Austin and I did. He's currently missing baseball so we brought the mitts to play catch every day. I forgot to mention that back in Jackson. Yes, we played catch outside of the motel every day. He's nuts!

• We also drank a beer in the parking lot of Old Faithful. That I know someone has done. It was pretty relaxing to sit there, have a beer, eat a snack and people watch. It was a busy place.

• The last planned stop of the day was the Grand Prismatic Spring. Wow on so many levels. The parking lot has room for about 50 cars and there was about 75 cars waiting to park in the already full lot. I could sense tempers starting to flare. So I did what any upstanding citizen would do. I parked in a no-parking zone. It was super close to the boardwalk also. Another huge win. So far on this trip we were winning, even without seeing a Moose.

• The Grand Prismatic Spring is hard to describe in words. It's out of this world to be honest. The colors and whatnot seem fake. The whole thing feels like Hollywood and not in a bad way. I guess surreal is maybe a good word to use. It's a quick stop. 30m to check it all out. Maybe that is why the parking lot is so small. I can only imagine what that lot is like on a non Covid year. I would probably have skipped it.....

• For dinner, you could go get "take out" from the Lodge. That consisted of driving to the lodge, standing in line (6' apart with masks), ordering on some crummy kiosk, then waiting in a "pen" on a designated circle until they called your number. All in all, hard to get mad. It is what it is..... until we got back to the cottage and noticed my order was missing. I could blame myself for not checking at the Lodge, but since I am writing this in and 100% control, I will blame them. So I drove back and waited in line with the other folks who were also missing their orders. Aha... it was not just me! So there we sat in our cottage eating dinner. Forgot to mention, the table was big enough for 1 person. So I sat in my bed eating dinner, having a beer. We survived!

Day 5 - June 30th, 2020 - Lake Yellowstone Lake Lodge Yellowstone, WY

Time to see Yellowstone. The goal was to hit as much of the park as we could

• Started the day with a lazy run along side Lake Yellowstone. Passed a bull elk just bedding down about 50yds away. Could have cared less about me.

• Cool and damp again today. Perfect for hiking and sightseeing

• One of the main roads was closed all year for construction. Bummer as that saves us an hour-ish each way trying to get to the Mammoth area.

• Started with Hayden Valley which is real close to where we were staying. I could have spent all day here just watching the animals. No wolf pack.

• Next stop, Artists Point (aka the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone). Pretty amazing scenery and pictures.

• We swung into the small village of Canyon which is where we were supposed to stay before Covid shut it down.

• Next stop, Norris Geyser Basin. Also cool, but I and the family were already a little bored with the geyser's. They are everywhere and all start to look and smell (or is that Jamie) the same.

• From Norris Geyser, it's a short drive to Mammoth. Sort of a neat little town. Non-covid, you could probably spend more time here but not much was open or if it was they were limiting guests. We ate lunch here at a picnic table and enjoyed the people watching and scenery. Austin and I also played catch again. I am willing to bet nobody has ever done that either.

• After Mammoth were we off to Lamar Valley. Holy Cow.... It's surreal. Too much wildlife to count. Bison, Elk, Antelope were everywhere. But no wolves, bears or moose.

• We were starting to get down as we had yet to see anything "exotic". Sadly, with the way Covid was, we had to head back towards our cottage so we could clean up and get dinner in time.

• On the way back, our luck changed. First we saw 4 mountain goats at the South Canyon Rim. How the heck they don't fall off and die is beyond me. We drove no more than a couple mins and all hell broke loose. The road was mass chaos so I asked someone what was going on. He said there was a bear about 100yds ahead so we parked and started running. Not really knowing what we were doing. See the video's below for a better experience.

• After that encounter, we hopped back in and drove a couple more mins and there was a coyote just cruising in the field hunting no more than 50yds off the road. Coyote's I see all the time so not that exciting, but given the past 30-45 mins, pretty cool.

• We no more than turned the corner and again, there was a lot of commotion. People everywhere with spotting scopes and what not. So we pulled into an open spot (thankfully) and I asked some lady what was happening. She said the Wapati wolf pack was out and about. Her full time job happened to be researching the wolf pack. How lucky was that? She let us look thru her spotting scope. They were about a mile away just screwing around. She also said if you go up on top of the hill you might get a better look so we ran up the hill and everyone had spotting scopes on tripods setup and nobody cared if you looked. I think Austin was about to go into cardiac arrest he was so excited. After 15m of freezing due to not dressing properly, we moved on.

• What a flurry of excitement. Time to head back now that we were behind schedule. 15m from our cottage we came to a screeching halt once again. What this time? Another bear. After not moving for minutes, luckily they have park rangers that get the traffic moving. We got a couple glimpses of the bear cruising through the woods but nothing as exciting as the previous encounter.

• That changed the mood of the family and made dinner more appealing as eating in my bed is not ideal. Couple beers to wrap the day up and a quiet night reading. You don't last long after the long days on the run.

Day 6 - July 1st, 2020 - Holiday Inn Helena MT

As quickly as we got here, it is time to leave. Off to Helena on our way to Glacier

• Started the day with a 1/2 hearted run along side Lake Yellowstone. Just didn't feel like running today. Should have just went for a long walk along the lake. What a view.

• Bummed we are leaving, but change is good right?

• Sunny and warm as we left.

• We rolled into West Yellowstone and I had no idea. Looks like a very cool town. Tourist trap for sure, but when you are a tourist, I guess it makes sense.

• For whatever reason, we decided to see the Wolf/Bear exhibit in W. Yellowstone. I am usually not up for this gimmicky stuff, but the Grizzly exhibit was actually pretty cool to watch them up so close and to see how powerful they are.

• The drive from from W. Yellowstone to Helena was awesome. For a large portion of the drive, you are right next to the Madison River. World famous for fly fishing and there were too many boats and people to count. I was drooling and I would take any shack along that river. Mountains on both sides, large lots with cool houses/cabins. Probably all north of a million even for a dump.

• We're moving....

• We stopped in Enis for lunch. Also a very cool looking little town with no stop lights and a "main" street. The lunch was awesome and provided a good break from the driving.

• We rolled into Helena mid-afternoon. It's a dry desert climate. One I could adjust to. Saw some ladies biking up the mountain as we rolled into town. Again, very jealous....

• The boys went right to the pool while the wife and I did some laundry. It would have been a (smelly) disaster had we not did laundry. The swimming was probably the highlight of the trip for the boys so far. We had the pool to ourselves. It was nice to get off our feet and chill out. Up until now, we had been on the go all day, every day.

• I went to Target finally and got a styrofoam cooler and a bunch of food and snacks to last us a the rest of the trip. Ummm... should have done this day 1 in Jackson. Lesson learned.

• I wanted to eat at this very cool looking brew pub with homemade pizza about 1/2 mile away, but the family was too tired so instead we ordered pizza in. Stuffed and in bed well before 9:00.

• No pictures this day??? Asleep at the wheel I guess.

Day 7 - July 2nd, 2020 - Great Northern Resort Glacier MT

Off to Glacier

• Up and at em early. Went for a run first and was back in the groove. Nice town. I could live here.

• The drive to Glacier reminds me of northern MN. Pine trees, lakes, small towns and cabins. It was busy. It's like it was a holiday weekend or something.

• One of the highlights for me was stopping at the Flathead Brewery on Flathead lake on Polson MT. The lake, the view, the restaurant..... enough said. Google it or look at the pictures. Oh, yeah. The IPAs were delicious also. Too bad we weren't staying here.

• We checked into to the Great Northern Resort in the mid afternoon. What a cool place to stay. It's not the Ritz-Carlton, but I would stay here over it any day.

• We repacked and headed straight for Apgar and into Glacier National Park.

• The road was closed past Avalanche parking lot due to snow, yes snow. They were still snow blowing the Going to the Sun road on July 2nd!!!!! So we improvised and did what we could. We walked the Trail of the Cedars and hiked to Avalanche Lake. Both were amazing. It was muddy if you got off the trail though. Highlights: We saw a deer on the trail, Mason took a dump in the woods and didn't get eaten and the view from Avalanche Lake was insane. Oh yeah, the kids didn't like the 550' of elevation gain and complained all the way.

• The beer in the parking lot was refreshing.

• On the way out of the park, traffic snarled to a halt. I wasn't sure what was going on but sure enough, just like Yellowstone, it was a bear. This time on the other side of a raging river so we were very safe to film it and watch it.

• On the way back, we stopped at Apgar Village which was super cool, but not as cool as it could have been due to Covid. We didn't go into of the shops and pretty much kept our distance from the crowds.

• The next bummer was, in Apgar (just up the road from the village), all restaurants were closed for indoor seating so it was take out only. We ended up eating at a Mexican food truck and sitting on a bench. Oh well. We lived, but Apgar is also pretty cool and it would have been a great way to wind down a long day by having a nice sit down meal (for once).

• On the bright side, the deck of our lodge was amazing. The view and the picture I post just can't do it justice. I can see why a lot of the employees return after they finish college.

Day 8 - July 3rd, 2020 - Great Northern Resort Glacier MT

Glacier

• I found a nice kid friendly hike called Barefoot trail really close to the resort. Austin was screwing around with a stick and let's just say I am lucky to still see out of both eyes..... Not a good way to start a hike. Very cool little trail though and reminded me of deer hunting at home.

• We drove to Glacier to explore more of it but we were denied. It was full. Stupid Covid

• So I called an audible and we drove to Essex for no reason other than to see what lies to the East. We ate lunch on the side of the road with a view of Glacier. Mom pooped in the bushes.

• Austin and I also played catch once again with a view of Glacier in the background. Pretty awesome.

• The next audible was to drive to Whitefish about 40m away. We hiked the Whitefish trail. This one is also perfect for the kids. Guess what, Mason pooped. Way too much pooping by people in the woods on this trip.

• After the hike we stopped at the Whitefish beach on the lake right downtown. Looks like it would be amazing on a non-covid year. Austin stubbed his toe in the parking lot and was bleeding so we didn't stay all that long. I think the mountain run-off water was about 60 degrees also so most people were in and out in a hurry.

• We also learned after cracking beers and noticing not 1 of the other 200 people on the beach were drinking that no alcohol was allowed :-).

• Very cool town, cool lake. Must return some day

• We hustled back to the resort for "Friday night music on the porch". After cleaning up, we went to the porch, grabbed a table, ordered some burgers and beers and enjoyed the night.

• This was my favorite night. The music was awesome. Actually the singer was horrible, but the weather was awesome, the view was awesome and the folk music was fantastic (especially when he wasn't singing). We met a few couples, drank way too many IPA's and walked back to our room. I blame the too many IPAs on Pat the owner's mom. She's 74 and has the spunk of an 18yr old.

• Sat on the deck of our room and watched the sunset over the mountains. Questioning why I live in MN. I belong here.....

Day 9 - July 4th, 2020 - Great Northern Resort Glacier MT

Glacier

• Happy 4th of July. Willow's (the dog) birthday. Up and at em early.

• Went for a run I think. Not sure how I pulled that off given the amount of beers I consumed the night before. Somehow I managed to do a more than decent run also. Practice I guess.

• I did run into a guy walking his dog while I was running thru some desolate back road that said he just saw a black bear in the bushes about 100yds up. I was pretty macho as I ran past then put some more thought into it. Given I could run pretty much anywhere I wanted, I turned back and headed to a busier road.

• We "snuck" into the back entrance of GNP and hiked the Huckleberry trail.

• Didn't like this one very much for 2 reasons. 1 - BUGS. The mosquitos were MN-style and we were not dressed for that. 2 - The trail was not very well used and we were walking thru the brush a lot which made me think of bears.

• But this hike did allow us to drive right into GNP w/o going thru a toll gate. There was a sign and box to put your money in honor style system. Since we had a pass, we were cool, but they were turning people back the day prior and we drove right in.

• Headed to Salt Lick Lookout to see the Mountain Goats

• Ate lunch in the parking lot. Did we play catch? Probably. I don't recall. Did run into a guy and his wife perhaps. He told us he has a 108 megapixel camera. Just about fell off the cliff. WOW. Then I watched them struggle to know if the bathroom was open. This after seeing 20 people come in and out???

• Went to the Whiskey distillery for a quick tasting and bought a bottle. Should have bought more.

• Headed back to the lodge to get ready for whitewater rafting. Dang it was hot, but that felt great getting wet. Rafting was ok. Would have like to do like 3-4 hrs of it but seeing the beauty of the park and hearing all the history was very cool

• Had dinner (steaks) during the WW Rafting trip. We beached after the last rapids and did this. Sort of gimmicky, but oh well. I’ve done worse.

• Packed a little and let the boys play Fortnite

• Had beers on the resort porch with the owners wife. Talked about why we need to move. Can’t convince the kids 😞.

• Packed some more and had beers on the porch of the lodge. The weather and view were amazing. Could have and should have sat there all night drinking beer

Day 10 - July 5th, 2020 - Minneapolis

• Over slept and woke up at 5:41. Out the door at 5:55. I ate a Lara bar, pooped, showered and packed in 14m.

• Pulled out of the parking lot at 6:01. Sad because I was going to wake up early and enjoy the last morning in the beautiful town.

• Took about 10m to get thru security and to our “gate”. I could travel for work if all the airports were that easy.

• Lots of sad thoughts waiting to leave. The mountains are where I belong.

• Left at 8:10, landed at 11:30 MSP time. Quick flight.

• Back to reality. Miserable……...

Highlights

• Jackson - Our scavenger hunts for a Moose. The boys really got into it. Pretty sure I need some work on my Moose call though

• Yellowstone - The 1-2hr stretch in Lamar and Hayden Valley where we saw a Coyote, Black Bear, Wolves, Bison and Elk. Just missing the Grizzly Bear and Moose.

• Glacier - Toss up. Whitewater Rafting was great because the entire family enjoyed it. Lake Polson. Whitefish. Porch music and Beers

Lowlights

• Jackson - We never got to eat at Liberty Burger. Tried a few times but due to it's popularity and Covid, no such luck. No Moose also!!!!

• Yellowstone - The Lake Yellowstone Lodge, again due to Covid. Eating a $20 box meal in my bed was not what I planned.

• Glacier - 80% of the park was closed and we didn't get to do the Going to the Sun road. Technically we could have biked it, but it was 30 miles round trip or more if I remember correctly and the boys would have died.

Stats

• Miles Ran - 23.33

• Miles Hiked - 23.92

• Miles Swam - 72yds

• Miles Rafted - 3

• IPA’s Consumed - a lot