As Michael mentioned in our last post, the next stop after
the Tetons was Yellowstone.
I always
thought it was a bit arbitrary that Yellowstone had become the iconic park of
the American people.
When I was working
with Ken Burns’ crew on “National Parks: America’s Best Idea”, I heard so many
incredible stories about each and every one of the 59 parks.
It’s true that Yellowstone was the first
national park in the world, that its history is rife with conflict and triumph,
and that it spans over 2 million acres of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, but
there are so many other parks and stories to consider, so many other icons of a
complex conservation history.
Once we
arrived in Yellowstone, however, my thoughts shifted.
While Yellowstone may not be
the image of the American national
parks, it is definitely one of the most awe-inspiring and unique places in the
country.
I can definitively say that
every man, woman, and child in the country should be given the opportunity to
see the incredible creation that has become our park.
Unfortunately, like so many things, much of Yellowstone has
become commercialized and is run by “concessionaires”. In general, we have not had great luck with
these groups. Not only are their camping
prices outrageous, the first site we were assigned in Yellowstone was literally
a tiny, steep hill bisected by a culvert crawling with mosquito larvae. The couple in the site next to us had the
same issue (i.e. uhhh…where are we supposed to put our tent?), so we decided
all together to go back and say we needed a new site or a refund. Thankfully, this time they were nicer and
actually paid attention to which site they assigned. It wasn’t fantastic, but we had a few trees,
a relatively flat area for the tent, and were neighbors to the campground hosts
who were a really sweet retired couple who rode around the park with their dog
in a basket on the back of their motorcycle.
We were in Bridge Bay which is part of Yellowstone Lake, a huge alpine
lake in the caldera of the volcano that formed the park. The rangers advised us to take a quick walk
on the Storm Point Loop and mentioned that we would see a marmot show. We weren’t quite sure what to make of that,
but we were stir crazy, so we headed out with bear bell and bear spray (yes, we
are paranoid). Within the first few
hundred yards, we encountered our first bison.
He was just chilling and we probably could have just walked up to him
and pet him without as much as a flinch.
They are seriously just enormous cows.
Anyhow, it was our first bison, so we were excited. The trail was nice although it quickly became
evident why it was named Storm Point.
Trees were down everywhere from what we assumed were windy winters. Pretty soon, we came upon the marmots. And they did indeed give us a show. Sort of an extremely fat version of a
poke-less porcupine, the marmots chattered and ambled between holes, trying in
vain to run away from us, only to poke out again with curiosity. Definitely an odd creature. The end of the trail was a nice overlook across
Yellowstone Lake and we sauntered back with enough time to do a few loads of
laundry, shower, and cook pasta in the parking lot while waiting for our last
load to dry.
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| We'll let this speak for itself... |
We headed toward the southern part of the park for our first
full day.
There is a lot of driving in
Yellowstone, but we saw a number of cool things.
Our first stop was West Thumb Geyser Basin
which was our first experience with the geothermic activity that makes
Yellowstone so famous.
As we were
leaving, we noticed a lot of people congregating at one end of the parking lot
so, expecting another geyser, we headed that direction and found ourselves a
few dozen feet from a first elk.
Where
bison are just big funny cows, elk are quite majestic.
Of course, we proceeded to see so many elk –
some on the well-manicured lawns of the pricey hotels – that became are now
banal.
We took a short hike to Lonestar
Geyser, but were disappointed as the trail was mostly paved or packed gravel
and we missed the geyser erupting by about an hour.
It was really hot, so we didn’t want to wait
another two hours for it to erupt again.
We headed to Old Faithful and then took the long drive back to camp,
catching a lot more wildlife as it approached dusk.
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| Old Faithful |
The next day, we tried to hike to Mystic Falls, but we ended
up at the wrong turnout and after hiking about a mile (with no falls) we
decided it was too hot to go to the correct turnout.
We headed northwest on the main roads this
time, catching the Grand Prismatic Spring, Obsidian Cliff, Sheepeater Cliff,
and Roaring Mountain along the way.
Roaring Mountain is so-called because one could once hear the steam
vents for miles.
Now it is just a slight
hiss and rumble but still pretty remarkable.
Sadly, we didn’t actually see any obsidian as the region around the
cliff was closed many years ago due to people stealing the rocks for
souvenirs.
The site has a neat history
nonetheless.
Lastly, we stopped at Mammoth
Hot Springs, but it began to rain and quickly became too cold to keep walking
and taking pictures.
We visited the
visitors’ museum instead and drove back through Hayden Valley on our way south.
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| Grand Prismatic Spring |
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| Mammoth Hot Springs |
Our last day we hoped to combine some sight-seeing with a
bit of travel outside the park.
We drove
through Roosevelt Country and Tower Fall which was quite spectacular.
Aside from the road, it is really removed
from the bustle of the main attractions and afforded some excellent views.
I even caught a brief glimpse of the
hindquarters of a bear.
We stopped quickly
at the Petrified Tree (so fascinating) and then hit the road for our next stop
all the while thinking that the volcano under Yellowstone could erupt any day
and change the entire landscape.
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| Petrified Tree |
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| Roosevelt Country |
Next
stop: Glacier National Park and some Montana explorations.
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