Sunlight Cabin 2018

We left Bear Lake and headed straight to the cabin at Sunlight for our annual Yellowstone loop.

It was evening by the time we arrived, so after some "housekeeping"(it's definitely a work cabin;) we got started on our campfire pizzas.

Because we had been on the road so much the days before, we decided to just take it easy the second day. The water was COLD and the outside temp wasn't as warm as years before so these two were the only ones who braved the floating.

Emm couldn't get any more takers despite her attempts;)

"FREE TUBING AFTER LUNCH"

Kars did quite a bit of fishing. She gets more and more independent about it and really just likes to be left alone for the most part.

They were trapping bears in the area, so we stayed pretty close to home. You never know what you might find along the beach ... a version of a foam hand🤣

We relaxed A LOT ... which was great. Bailee and I got some reading in ....

Mark had hoped to spend the third day fishing in the Beartooths, but the little rain storm prevented that. Instead we played games ...

Watched movies/episodes ...

And later when it cleared, we made our foil dinners and enjoyed some time outside!

It's become a bit of a tradition to take a pic in front of the cabin before we leave. It's funny how an old (kinda smelly) structure can become so meaningful. 

This place holds a lot of special memories for us.

We headed into the park for a little exploring and hiking. We saw 5 bears within about ten miles of each other. In all our Yellowstone years, we have never witnessed a scene like this. A black bear under a tree with a carcass ... then another black bear (blonde) sniffs out the kill from up on the hill. We watch with a crowd as they get closer and closer together... and then a chase ... right across the road where we are all parked and up the other hillside. We were a safe distance, but man it was CRAZY! It's pretty entertaining to listen to all the commentary of ordinary folks who suddenly become experts when observing wildlife. The funniest was this cute Indian lady who repeats "don't run, don't be afraid,  they are in their natural element" as she is scurrying for her car;)

Just as our adrenaline settled a bit, we drive around the corner and Kars spots this cub in a tree. We see mom down below. So cool. A little further down the same road, we saw another black bear just hanging out.

After our bear sightings we were more than ready to hike;) Mark is always looking for trails in the park we haven't done. Cascade Lake Trail was on the agenda. 

We ate lunch at the picnic area and then took off from there. The trail is about 2.5 miles each way ... but relatively flat. With crowds everywhere for the 4th, it was nice to get some solitude. 

We only ran into a few other groups.

It was so pretty, but also pretty buggy!  

It's been a wet year and as we got closer to the lake it was hard to find any dry route. We decided this was close enough as other hikers told us it only got soggier.