Ten Sleep

This summer, i also took a road trip to Ten Sleep Wyoming with one of my best friends Sarah, her boyfriend, & some of his friends. We did the whole drive in one day, getting there just before the sun went down, giving us plenty of time to set up camp. 

The boys climbed every day, so me & sarah got to do our own thing, & spent most of the days finding hiking trails to explore, or hammocking by a nearby lake & reading- i think i finished three books while we were there. Our campground was in the canyon, & very hot, so everyday we drove to higher elevations in the mountains where it cooled down to about 60 degrees. We didn't have cell service, & the wifi at the campground was no the greatest, so we defiantly got lucky with the trails we found. 

Sarah & I also took a day to drive to Grand Teton National park to hang out there for the day. It was a really cool drive, going from the red rocks to the mountains. It was very different from when i was there a few months ago, the water was actually warm enough to swim in this time. We also did a short hike by Jenny lake that lead to a really cool view of the Tetons. 

A few of the nights we went into the town of Ten Sleep for dinner, or hung out at the local brewery. The town was really small & consisted of two restaurants, a general store, a brewery, a gas station & a school, surrounded by ranches. 

We also spent a lot of time hanging out at the campground playing uno, waiting for everyone to return back to camp.

This trip was super fun because we really had no plans while we were there. We woke up every morning had our coffee, & explored the area, or just hung out. 

Trip Highlights:

- Being worry free & disconnecting from the world for a few days

- Being told by a guy we passed on a hike that vans are not real hiking shoes, but he likes the style

- Stumbling upon so many cool lakes & views of the mountains

- Being able to see the stars so clearly at night

- Learning new climbing lingo, definitely did not get tired of climbing talk after 10 days:/

Yellowstone road trip

Over the summer, we took a road trip out Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks. We rented a giant RV to drive out there in, & towed my Jeep behind so we had a vehicle to explore in. We left late Saturday evening, & spent the night at a truck stop in North Dakota. As soon as the sun went down, the bugs came out, making it almost impossible to see out of the windshield. We had to pull over  multiple times to clean it before stopping for the night. 

The next day we got up early & got back on the road. We drove all the way to Bozeman Montana where we spent the night in a campground right outside of town. We explored a little around Bozeman, & had to stop at Bridger Bowl, where my jeep saw mountain snow for the first time!! 

The next morning we woke up to a view of snow covered mountains! We then met up with Lisa & Shawn & headed to Yellowstone, stoping at Big Sky along the way. 

We arrived at our campground & set up camp. Our campground was super cool, & very secluded. It was a national forest campground, so no running water, but it was on a lake with an awesome view. The first night was pretty cold, it snowed, but a very fun experience- don't think I've ever camped in the snow before. We had a fire place & a flat screen tv in the rv, so all the kids watched a movie & stayed warm by the (indoor) fire.

 The next couple of days we spent exploring Yellowstone National Park. We saw lots of buffalo, a few grizzly & black bears & a few pronghorns. We saw old faithful, & lots of hot springs. Stopped at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, & crossed the Continental Divide. 

We did do a hike in Yellowstone, which was kinda sketchy because of all the bears we saw while we were there. We only saw a few other people on the trail, but all the kids had bear bells & we did have bear spray. The view at the end of the hike was definitely worth it. 

We did take a day off from driving, & just hung around the campground. We spent most of the day by the lake, the kids played baseball & rode bikes around all day. We found a little off roading trail by our campground that we drove the jeep down.

This campground was the perfect place for us, waking up in the mornings to drink our coffee by the lake, and watching the sunset behind the mountains each night. 

We then packed up & headed to our next spot, Grant Teton National Park. We spent a few nights here exploring the park. 

One of the nights, we walked down to the lake from our campground & skipped rocks. There was nobody else down there so we had it all to ourselves. 

We drove down to Jackson Hole for an afternoon. We had some lunch at a local brewery, & had to stop at the famous saddle bar for a drink. 

We then headed to Custer State Park in South Dakota. This is where we split with Lisa & Shawn, they were driving straight home after the Tetons. We stayed at an RV park, which was not ideal, but we spent most of the time exploring the area anyways. We drove around the park, going through the rock tunnels & enjoying the views. We stoped at Mount Rushmore & drove through deadwood, where they were having a music festival. 

Most of the trip was spent without cell service or wifi, so we really got to disconnect from everything & spend quality time together & really appreciate our surroundings. :)

Trip Highlights

- Sitting around a fire in the middle of the woods cooking dinner while it was snowing

- Taking my jeep to the mountains, defiantly a bucket list activity for me

- Enjoying some music from an authentic bluegrass band at our campground in South Dakota, very amusing for Autumn & I

- Hearing all the stories & memories from the times we have taken this trip before

- Trying to drive through the rock tunnels, & having to back out multiple times because cars kept trying to come thought the other side

- Getting stopped before entering the saddle bar because it was 21+, then explaining to them that i am in fact 21

Yellowstone Video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sklKM1rrEC4