Colter Bay Hiking and Foxes

June 12, 2021

After our four-night stay in Gros Ventre, we were hoping to get a campsite in Yellowstone to no avail. Luckily, a site  for three nights opened up in Colter Bay, which is farther north in the Tetons, bringing us closer to Yellowstone. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than missing Yellowstone altogether, so we took it.

It was a short and scenic drive, passing Oxbow Bend on our way.

Not us in the kayaks this time.

We arrived at our campsite in the early afternoon, so we decided to take a short three-mile hike. The trailhead for the Swan Lake-Heron Pond loop started from Colter Bay Village near the marina. 

You can barely see the lone swan for which Swan Lake was presumably named.

Close-up of the beaver lodge. This is the second one we've seen, but so far, no beavers have appeared.

I spotted an American Coot swimming around. The wildlife on this trail were pretty far away.

View of the Tetons from Heron Pond

White pelicans could barely be seen across the pond.

We had one unexpected surprise treat at our campground. We learned that there was a fox's den just off the  road leading to our campsite and the fox had three kits. Campers were always set up with their cameras across the road from the den in hopes of getting a glimpse of the fox family. We joined them a couple of times and were lucky enough to catch them.

First we saw one, then there were two. I just loved the little spot of white on the tip of their tails. They were very playful with each other.

This is the only time I saw all three of them at the same time.

Here's mom back from her hunt. 

I don't generally show animals from the rear, but I just loved the look of her beautiful, bushy trail.

The next two days in Colter Bay, we spent driving to Yellowstone National Park. More about that adventure in the next post.