The First National Park: Yellowstone

Entering Yellowstone from the North

I’d visited Yellowstone back in 1985 as I drove my Honda Civic across country to Annapolis, Maryland.   What I remember most is my first time in a campground, the massive beauty of Yellowstone Falls, and bison that towered over my tiny car as they crossed the road in front of and around me.  I was not particularly impressed by the spindly lodgepole pines which are Yellowstone’s prominent tree, but I did love the volcanism everywhere.

Mud pots are my favorite

This time we had four nights in this enormous and most unique park.  Yellowstone owes its geysers and fumaroles to the supervolcano underneath it.  It last erupted here some 640,000 years ago, blowing a hole in the surrounding mountains and collapsing into the crater that is now visible only to the trained eye.  Still hovering over a humungous hot spot in the Earth’s crust, Yellowstone’s Old Faithful geyser and the thousands of other geothermal wonders are powered by the radioactively-heated magma deep below the crust. 

Grand Prismatic Spring

We headed north to Mammoth Hot Springs, passing through a herd of bison on the road, much to the girls’ delight.  A traffic jam heralded some exciting prize, and sure enough, two black bears, a mama and a baby, were slinking through the trees trying to avoid the hordes of camera-crazy tourists.  We were astounded at the number of people jumping out of their cars to snap photos despite the constant warnings posted and explained by the Park Service: Bears are wild and dangerous!

We had to buy bear spray

Safe in the sanctuary of Karl the RV

Another smaller bison herd wandered through the streets of Mammoth Hot Springs.  Tia rolled down her window for a closer look, but a snorting bull looked over at her ferociously, and she rolled it right back up.  Turns out bison are even more dangerous than bears: People think they are docile cow-like creatures until they charge and gore you, as demonstrated by several Visitor Center warning videos.

Watch out for buffalo!

The Mammoth campground was full by the time we got there, but by chance we found Eagle Creek Campground close by, 2 miles up a dirt road, with bison grazing on the hillside above us.  We got the last spot, idyllic in the sunset. 

Highly recommended

In the morning the geothermal touring began.  We strolled the boardwalks of Mammoth Hot Springs, gaping at the travertine terraces and steaming waters.  The Visitor Center was full of taxidermied bison, moose, wolf, coyote, and elk, and we spent a good number of minutes reading a book about all the ways that people have died in Yellowstone (bear attacks, falling into scalding water, falling trees, to name a few).  We were too chicken to actually buy the book.

Singing in the rain

Great Geyser performs

That afternoon we headed up to the Lamar Valley, home to several wolf packs and the most renowned wildlife area of Yellowstone.  Stopping at every turnout with a placard, we were delighted by herds of bison, elk, antelope, and flocks of geese. 

The stunning Lamar Valley, home to the famous Yellowstone wolves

Stopping at a turnout that had many people set up with their viewing scopes, we asked what they were looking at.  “Oh, a wolf pack has been moving across those hills, they went into that grove of trees,” a very nice lady from Oklahoma told us.  “We’re waiting for them to come back out.”  Tia and Sasha were wide-eyed.  “But you can look through my scope at that bald eagle over there in that dead tree!” said the lady.  Next, they sighted a coyote heading across the valley, and everyone was super-generous with their scopes, letting us all look through to our hearts’ content. 

A coyote, not a wolf

Bison fought each other, knocking into each other head-to-head, and elk foraged through the sagebrush.  We finally turned around at the head of the valley and enjoyed the long vistas across an incredibly beautiful and wild landscape.

Stay out of the way

Woolly traffic jams

Back at our campsite, overlooking the valley to the north, we walked the cats.  Chase in particular was interested in the birds.  They were getting used to their leashes, and loved rolling around in the dirt.

Longing to go outside

Our next stop the following morning was Geyser City:  Old Faithful and the geyser basins.  We got our campsite at Madison campground, then headed through the glut of bubbling hot springs, mudpots, fumaroles, steaming pools, and geysers. 

Castle geyser erupts, creating a rainbow

Oh, if you could only take a dip in these incredible hot springs!

Who doesn't like geothermal activity?

Old Faithful was faithful.  We watched it explode twice right up front, in between perusing the Visitor Center displays.  Then we walked the geyser basins, taking in a remarkable eruption of Castle Geyser, as well as catching the end of Grand Geyser.  The geothermal activity was enchanting and magical. 

Old Faithful, always a crowd-pleaser

I prefer these out-of-the-way pools

Our final day was spent heading to the Canyon of the Yellowstone, hoping to walk the rim.  Even though I bought bear spray, the snow was too deep and we hadn’t brought our boots, so we contented ourselves with the overlook turnouts along with buses of tourists. 

The Canyon of the Yellowstone

The Yellowstone River that created the canyon

Yellowstone Falls

On our way through Hayden Valley, we saw another group parked at a turnout, their spotting scopes all turned down the valley.  “What are you looking at?”  Sasha asked.  “A grizzly, right there!” the very nice man replied.  “Here, take a look!”  And so we got a great view of a grizzly, fresh out of hibernation and grubbing through the sagebrush for anything edible.  He was absolutely gorgeous.

Here's our bear!

We overnighted at Fishing Bridge, taking a look at the completely frozen-over Yellowstone Lake before heading out of the park.   Passing by the slow-moving Yellowstone river, we watched two trumpeter swans land, feet outstretched, their long, graceful necks curving in an S as they settled on the water. 

Frozen Lake Yellowstone

We never saw a wolf, to our disappointment.  Wolves are Yellowstone’s success story, having been eradicated from the park early in the 20th century, and brought back in 1995 in the midst of intense controversy. 

Wolves are large, aggressive, territorial, intelligent, and predatory...a lot like us

Turns out the wolf is critical to the health of Yellowstone’s ecosystem.  The park Service had eradicated the wolf, trying to protect the local herbivores, both wild and domestic.  Without the wolf, the elk population ballooned out of control, stripping the vegetation and new trees and denuding the streamside grasses.  After the re-introduction of the wolf, the health of the elk herds improved drastically, the old and sick weeded out by the wolf packs.  The whole ecosystem became more vibrant, including coyotes, bison, and foxes as well as cottonwood groves, lodgepole pines, and grasslands.

Welcome back, top predators

“This is my favorite park,” Tia proclaimed.  “It has everything:  wildlife and geysers, woods and snow, walking trails, rivers, lakes, boardwalks, boiling springs, canyons and waterfalls, I love it!”  That about sums it up for all of us.  Though not the most beautiful of the parks, it’s the most amazing. 

We love Yellowstone