We had high hopes and expectations for Yellowstone. After all, it’s arguable the most famous National Park in the United States. And if Grand Teton was as beautiful as it was, how could Yellowstone be any worse?
We were not disappointed. However, our experience in Yellowstone was different than in Grand Teton. First of all, we had reserved a space in North Yellowstone, at a small Montana town called Gardiner. We stayed at the Rocky Mountain RV Park which was awesome. It was up on a hill with beautiful mountain views, had very good WiFi, which is something we had not experienced in a while and wonderful (empty) showers. We were often visited by wildlife, including elk and mule deer.
During one of the evenings, Dennis and I were enjoying a glass of wine outside and Dennis said “don’t look behind you right now”. I assumed the worst (bear!) but after I, of course turned, it was a gorgeous buck who was chomping at the grass not even 5 feet away. We then turned our chairs to watch the buck eat, after giving him some space.
The first couple of days at Yellowstone, we spent watching the “sights” – visiting Old Faithful and some of the hydrothermal sites (hot springs, fumaroles, geysers and mud pots). Yellowstone boasts over 10,000 hydrothermal sites so we had plenty of options!
The hiking was equally beautiful – we were fortunate to find paths that we could do in one day (~4.5 miles overall) which had a nice view and were great workouts.
Our favorite, hands down, was when we got up before the sunrise and drove about an hour and a half to get to the Lamar valley – called the “American Serengeti”. The purpose was to see as many animals as we could and we weren’t disappointed. We saw two black bears, a herd of bison and heard the howling of the various wolf packs that inhabit this valley. We didn’t have a scope large enough to see in detail but we used my camera to capture as much as possible.
Since we’re traveling in the midst of COVID-19, we haven’t eaten at any restaurants and wear our masks religiously while practicing social distancing. But the one pleasure I’ve allowed myself (and Lucas) is to buy a book wherever we are. To both support independent bookstores of the US and because I love to read more about where we are. I was lucky enough to pick up one of the books that is now one my favorites: American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West. Holy crap what an amazing book. It narrates the story of the Yellowstone wolf reintegration, from both sides of the issue and introduces the stories of some of the Yellowstone wolves.
Yellowstone reminds us of how incredible nature and wilderness can be, if we let it be. I am thankful to the foresight of our ancestors who protected these amazing places. Now it’s our turn to protect some of the creatures within in who are still besieged. We have donated to the Yellowstone Wolf Project and intend to continue supporting the important work this organization does.
After a few days at Yellowstone, we are heading down to Utah and Arches National Park!
To be able to hear wolves in the wild would be heavenly to me!! My favorite is still the bison. I feel like I have been on this adventure with you!!