Sam said it very well: It's over-run, over-rated and over-managed. Yellowstone is absolutely swarmed with people. Seriously, it was like the Mall of America. We heard multiple languages, saw who-knows-what ethnicities wearing all kinds of clothes imaginable, drove past every kind of camper, motorcycle, car, and bicycle known to ply the roads. There were traffic jams! There were lines! There were shoulder-to-shoulder people on the boardwalks through the hotsprings!
What we didn't see were many animals. I have more wildlife in my yard back in Duluth. I expect that the animals are long gone back into the bush by early summer. I know I would, if I were faced with the throngs of humans. We did, as Charlie mentioned, get caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic as a large buffalo herd crossed the road. They obviously get right-of-way, and are quite leisurely in their efforts. Sometimes, apparently, they decide to retrace their steps, crossing back and forth a few times, pausing on the road to contemplate their next heading, or to snort a blob of buffalo snot onto a bumper. We were there for a long, long time. (See the picture at the right.) When this happens, all the buffalo awe wears right off, and you begin sighing profanities and making idle threats, just as if caught in rush hour. It's embarassing.
Yellowstone is very much a car event. In America's favorite national park, and you have to be in a car to experience it--your feet are not nearly as useful as your driver's license. There are very few places to go, without a real jaunt into the backcountry, that aren't completely overrun. Yesterday afternoon, we took a six-mile "wildlife loop" road, which was badly-maintained gravel road, in hopes of seeing some animals. We pulled over half way thru, grabbed our lunch stuff, and walked down a hill to sit under an old tree to eat. Spread out a nice blanket, had a great view of a meadow and a mountain range, ate some great food. I was thinking, "Aren't we the smart ones? Getting off the beaten trail!" Within minutes, a ranger tracked us down and made us pack up and leave. "Bear management area," she tells us. How would we know that, I asked? Apparently, if it's not a posted site, you can't be there. Period. You can drive thru, with your car kicking up mushrooms of dust and making all sorts of motor noise, but you can't get out to walk the land. Annoying as hell. My traveling companions, non-conformists and generally unafraid of bears given our intimate experiences bears in our Duluth neighborhood, were skeptical of Ms. Ranger's authority and bear expertise. I was able, via Mom Threats, to get them all back in the car politely and without incident.
We got what I really think is one of the best campsites in all of Yellowstone. The campgrounds are compact and seemingly designed to manage the gazoodles of humans that must be a real challenge, both in numbers and behavior, for the Park Service folks (note the above paragraph). They keep campers corralled in just a handful of campgrounds in the park, and these few facilities are not exactly posh as campgrounds go. Ours, for example, did not have showers.
But I found a sweet spot on the edge the campground, right next to Gibbon Creek, with a view of the valley and mountains behind. As it turns out, this was the best part of our trip to Yellowstone! We spent most of our afternoon yesterday playing in the creek, which was just a blast. Sam cooked up great food, we had fires in the evening listening to someone down creek playing their fiddle (the whole campground would errupt in applause at the end of each song), And, as Ben mentioned in his blog, our bear box (a big metal box alongside our site in which to keep food, stoves, etc...) had already been mauled a bit. The nights were COLD, down into the low 30s. I would pull my whole head into my sleeping bag to keep warm, and then begin to feel as if I couldn't get a whole breath. The campsite was at about 7800 feet, and combined with my re-breathing in the sleeping bag--ack!
Stopped at Old Faithful on our way out of the park today. The crowds made Sam pathological, but we managed to see one unexpected geyser, Beehive, do it's thing. And one geyser is really all you really need, turns out. I think my favorite part of the trip, aside from hanging with my boys in the creek, was seeing Old Faithful Lodge. Ohmygod so magnificent and elegant and it just makes you ache for the true old west adventures, when people would arrive by stagecoach, and the ladies would wear white linen traveling suits and wide-brimmed straw hats. Beautiful maple writing tables with leaded stained glass and copper lamps adorn the second floor lobby. No one sits at them to write letters and postcards anymore--they sit empty, but it's like there are ghosts in the leather-backed chairs. The whole place, which is beyond enormous, smells of that wonderful smokey, cabin smell. The boys and I ate a few sandwiches and iced tea on the second floor deck that overlooks the geyser field, where the benches are deep and comfortable and 100 years old. Sam and I decided that if we were to ever come back, we would simply blow a wad of cash and stay at the Inn and be elegant travellers. Also, the bathrooms! They are the most beautiful I've ever, ever seen in a public place. All art deco tile, marble dividers, with alabaster lamp shades and curved silver sink spigots. I could have stayed in the bathroom happily all day!
We had some lunch in West Yellowstone (think Wall Drug covering an eight-block area), which is just west of the park and about a 45-minute drive from Sam's Big Sky home. We drove down the Gallatin River Valley to his town, which is everything Montana should be, and got a hotel room for the night. The boys and I boiled off some dirt in the hot tub, ate more peanut butter for supper, and I got the laundry done. Sam happened to have double company this weekend--his friends from Duluth came for the weekend. He showed us around Big Sky a bit, and then we let him get back to his life with his friends. We'll hang out a big tomorrow, and then we're heading down the road and aiming for Minnesota.
I'm looking forward to getting back to the prairie, and a few more nights of camping. Winter is coming, and I'm squeezing the life out of what's left of this time in the sun and with my wonderful boys. Amen.
3 comments:
Nice buffalo pic!
Better and probably more accurate than Fodor's!
Yes, the places you can access by car are crowded. But if you park and go for a walk, you should be able to find the solitude and nature that the park offers. There are tons of trails -- you don't actually have to do backcountry camping (backpack in) to get away from the people. Nor do you have to walk that far (a mile is adequate for leaving the crowds behind.) The deer, elk, coyotes, etc., usually move out of the woods in front of you, so you must walk quietly to see them. But if you encounter bison on a trail, you have to bushwhack around their chosen part of the trail, they have the right-of-way!
Alternatively, my husband and I take our fly rods and follow a stream and can spend the whole day a mile of a road and never see people -- just sandhill cranes, moose, deer, elk, golden eagles, and sometimes some trumpeter swans. We try hard NOT to see bears when we are on foot.
As for wildlife -- you were apparently unfortunate. Even if you don't get off the roads, it is worth checking what the traffic jam is about. I've seen bear jams (grizzly, not brown), moose jams, and if there are crowds of folks with spotting scopes set up, it is likely a wolf jam. I've stopped and borrowed a look through a scope (the people with those are accustomed to sharing) and seen wolves feeding on elk kill, swimming a river, or just "playing". And where were you that you didn't see the ubiquitous elk? There are usually elk walking through the tourist areas and thermal features near Gardiner.
I understand your frustration with the crowds -- we avoid those areas. We live near the park, and have found it well worth visiting at the end or beginning of the tourist season, when the crowds thin out, to see the things that draw crowds mid-summer (like the boardwalks at the thermal features). Unfortunately, at those times of year I find it too nippy to camp -- but the lodge is a wonderful place to stay.
I would suggest that when you visit Yellowstone (or Yosemite, or the Smokies, or any of the popular national parks) in the future, check at the entrance gate with the rangers to find any areas that have special management or restrictions due to wildlife. They should be able to clue you in so that you can plan your walks and picnics.
I'm glad you found a good campsite -- that can be Extremely Difficult during high tourist season. Please don't give up on Yellowstone, it is a wonderful place.
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