Yellowstone - 17 July 2014

Yellowstone  -  17 July 2014

What can one say about Yellowstone that has not been said before - It's AWESOME!!!!! 

After the episode of our losing our brakes getting into Yellowstone was not only apprehensive because of the high mountain pass and high mountain driving, but it was also a very impressive approach.  Going from a high plains area where Cody is located to a high (higher) mountain plateau where Yellowstone is located you can really see the artistic effects of erosion and the transition of a the land from sea that used to exists in the middle of the US, to the clashing of tectonic plates that formed the Rockies.  It's like climbing a barrier to get into Shangri-La.  Of course,  the results of forest fires are devastating.

When somebody talks about Yellowstone, the first thing that comes up is Old Faithful.  Actually, Old faithful is not very faithful in its eruptions, it is not precisely every hour, but it's close.  And the Old Faithful Inn - what a historic and unique building put together with raw timber from the region is a very impressive "mountain cabin" where they happen to charge $350 per night and reservations have to be made at least a year in advance.

But Yellowstone is more than just Old Faithful.  Just as interesting and impressive is the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, the mountain peaks, the waterfalls, the abundance of Buffalo, Elk, Moose, and Bear - Grizzly Bear!  Grizzly bears strike fear in the heart of most tourists, and I think the park rangers play that up more than the reality of the danger.  There are only about 800 Grizzlies in Yellowstone, in an area of about 8000 square miles, or approximately one every ten square miles.  What are the chances of coming across one?  Well we DID!!!!  Well, it came across us while we were driving.  It was running so fast across the road and I could see the heavy coat of fur and fat wavering across the sides and his back.  It disappeared so fast into the forest that we did not have time to take a picture.  We did take pictures of just about every other animal.  But of all the natural life the most abundant seem to be the Buffalo, they are everywhere, they are picture hams they think they own the place; go where they want to and when they want to without any fear or concern about people and traffic.  I guess when you have a big muscular body that can flip a car if they wanted to, and a monstrous looking face and head with sharp horns, when they approach you or cross the road, you get out of the way.

I like the grass at your campsite

What!?!  You're telling me this is not my road?

It is too bad that we had to cut our Yellowstone visit from five days to two days due to car problems on the way here.  Hiking the mountains and the Yellowstone Grand Canyon had to be cut and we spent most of our time here sightseeing, getting to see the maximum amount of sights and scenery possible in the short time we had here.  Reservations to the campsites have to be made at least six months ahead of time (I made mine in the middle of January), and reservations for the lodges, especially the Old Faithful Inn Lodge, a year in advance.  Unfortunately we could not stay here any longer even if we wanted to.  Because we were put in an RV site rather than a standard campsite, we were put in the equivalent of an RV sardine can.  We did not have tables, we could not build campfires and we could not use our "pullouts" that we used for our beds.  The reason that was given was that there were "bears" in the area and they were dangerous.  But the campsite down the road (where we were originally scheduled to stay) did allow tents and pullouts.  I suspect that since the RV site was privately managed, they wanted to maximize their revenue.  If you go to Yellowstone, avoid the Fishing Bridge RV campsite.

After two nights, we packed up our little camper and headed to the Grand Tetons Where I hope we can catch up on our mountain hiking, one of the reasons for this trip.