Troop 22213 spent the last week of July enjoying Yellowstone National Park. The vacation started early on Sunday morning. The girls were excited and settled into the 12-passenger van that would become their “home” for the next 23 hours. As we were leaving town, we decided to take a detour and see Mount Rushmore. It added on some time to the trip, but it was worth it. The girls enjoyed being able to see this national monument, and it was amazing seeing something that we had only seen in pictures. After the stop, we continued on our way to West Yellowstone. We arrived at 3 a.m. The girls were sent right to bed for a few hours of sleep before our activities really began.
The first day, we went to Fountain Paint Pots and Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. The girls learned that you cannot rush mother nature!
Day two brought us to a ranch where they taught us how to Fly Fish. It was a great experience. We then had supper with a Girl Scout Junior troop from West Yellowstone. They brought their flags, and we had a flag ceremony. After supper we went to the local Smokejumper base and learned all about smokejumping. It was a lot of fun.
Day three was exhausting but fun. The morning started with a nine-mile horseback ride that lasted two hours. One of our guides’ grandparents were from Faribault! After our ride, we enjoyed a great lunch of buffalo burgers and brats. The girls even had some time to rock climb.
Then the adventure began. We went white water rafting. It was the most fun experience we had. We all slept great that night!
Our last day, we spent at the Canyon in Yellowstone. We had “hobo lunches” that we made over a fire, and then we went on a ranger hike to look at the falls. They were wonderful. While in Yellowstone, we completed the Jr Ranger badge and learned a lot along the way! There was a little time found to do some shopping as well.
The next morning was early as we loaded up and got ready to call the van our “home” again. This time the trip only took us about 18 hours. All in all, we had a great time. The girls were wonderful, and we could not have asked for a better trip!
- Robin, troop leader
