The next day we are part of a serious "Bear Jam", involving all those excited folk wanting to see a black bear and her cub frolicking in a meadow below the road, while a park ranger tries (mostly unsuccessfully) to have people move their vehicles.Two elk, a bull and a cow, on the edge of a stream full of winter run-off, nibble on reeds and stare incuriously at us. Beyond, in a lake still half-frozen, ice floes bob gently, and beyond that, snowy peaks rise. Other cars stop and soon there is an "Elk Jam". The next day we are part of a serious "Bear Jam", involving all those excited folk wanting to see a black bear and her cub frolicking in a meadow below the road, while a park ranger tries (mostly unsuccessfully) to have people move their vehicles.
We are in YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. Abundant wildlife, prominent mountains, conspicuous tourists, even in May. The world's first national park, formed in 1872, is about seven-hour's drive north from Salt Lake City, three hours from Jackson, and is very close to the town of West Yellowstone. At nearly 12,000 square miles it has an amazing variety of sights to offer, whatever your interests. My family and I can already sense that our three days will not be long enough to experience even a fraction of its treasures.
The park's early HUMAN HISTORY can be traced back 11,000 years, and tribes of nomadic people have traveled through the region for most of the 8,500 years since the last ice age. The Sheepeaters, an offshoot of the Shoshone tribe, appear to be the only group which made this area their home year-round, due partly to long harsh winters and partly to fear of the strange landscape. First accounts of this strange, almost alien, landscape in the early 1800s were greeted with disbelief, and stories such as the following one added to the mystique: an early explorer's horse spooked at seeing the geysers and steam, threw off the explorer and ran away. He spent 40 days in this geo-thermal wilderness and weighed only 85 pounds when he was picked up. The area has continued to hold people's imaginations since.
These days the park's human population is dominated by about 3.1 million VISITORS a year, most of whom begin or end their adventures at Old Faithful. On peak days in July and August as many as 25,000 people wait for Old Faithful to erupt. For many families, going to Yellowstone is an annual ritual. They reserve a cabin, hotel or lodge room, or RV site, sometimes as much as two years ahead, so ACCOMODATIONS in the park are often difficult to get, especially at peak summer times. Accomodations in the park range from rustic camping to the luxurious lodges. Many people stay just outside the park and drive in every day. The downside to 'less' people in the park overnight is that vehicle traffic is so heavy on the Grand Loop Drive that it's easy to get caught in a traffic jam, and even some of the short hikes to the closest geysers get clogged with pedestrians.
To BEAT THE RUSH, try to go before summer, in May, as we did. If that's not possible, avoid weekends and drive around in the early morning or late afternoon, when tour buses are not so evident. It's disconcerting to hear so much talk about traffic and human congestion in a place which is supposed to be a natural refuge. But the most popular national parks are popular for good reason, and Yellowstone is perhaps the crown jewel.
The main road in the park is the 142-mile GRAND LOOP DRIVE, with upper and lower loops, forming a rough figure-of-eight in the center of the park, usually open from mid-April to beginning of November, weather permitting. In the winter, only the north entrance at Gardiner is open to automobile traffic; the other entrances are open only to snow vehicles.
We spent three days exploring the park, based at Yellowstone Hotel cabins on the north bank of Lake Yellowstone, which luckily we had found about six months earlier. The cabins are small, but adequate, and the hotel dining room does a wonderful breakfast buffet. They also offer a la carte dinner, which we tried one night (reservations a good idea), but the other two nights we ate casually at the Hamilton General Store at Fishing Bridge village, close to the hotel and cabins. The Fishing Bridge was once a popular spot for fishing cutthroat trout but this was banned. Fishing is permitted in other parts of the park, and along the Firehole River we saw literally hundreds of fishermen, all in thigh-high waders as these waters are (still) cold.
We enter the park on the south from Grand Teton National Park, seeing widespead evidence of the great fires of 1988 which roared through about 36% of the total park area. We see tracts of devastated burnt lodgepole pines, but we also see renewal and new growth, a natural cycle of death and rebirth. The road wanders along the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake from West Thumb and we have magnificent views across the lake, which can be shimmering blue or glowering grey, or whipped up white by the wind. It's the largest lake in the US at such high elevation (over 7000 feet) and more than 100 streams flow in and out of it, including the Snake River, which is an important feature of Grand Teton National Park. We stop at Pumice Point, but the icy wind drives us back into our hired van.
Our first taste (definitely, smell) of the famous geo-thermal activity in the park comes at the MUD VOLCANO AREA. The strong sulfide smell and hot steam hit us as we wander along the boardwalk. Hissing and bubbling signal boiling water and churning mud. This is truly a marvel of nature, to see and hear boiling earth. The waters and cones here have wonderfully apt names---Dragon's Mouth Spring, Churning Spring, and Grizzly Fumaroles. This is a genuine "hot spot", as molten magma comes to within 2 or 3 miles of the earth's surface, heating the rock above, which heats the chambers of hot water, to 180-190 F. We are awed, silent. Many bison munch peacefully on the sparse grass nearby, and we are awed again---such huge animals, such power---and we so small. They are close enough for us to see the variations in their fur texture, but we are mindful that they are wild and can become dangerous, so we detour along another path.
The light fades into a surreal landscape of brimstone and fire. We feel like we are at the edge of time as the prehistoric-looking, shaggy bison laconically wander through the swirling steam.
The next day we decide to drive the top loop road, clockwise from Canyon Village.
Our sightseeing priority drives us to NORRIS GEYSER BASIN, which is really two basins separated by a low ridge. It's a sweeping, desert-like lunar landscape, pock-marked with craters and many geysers and bubbling hot springs. The hottest and most acid waters have been measured here, and plenty of signs warn us all to stay on the paths. It's amazing how many brightly colored microbes grow in swathes along some of the riverlets - it's a real microbiologist's paradise, and my husband, Rod, itches to get some samples!
We add to a crowd waiting around ECHINUS GEYSER, and are rewarded after about 25 minutes. It's a fountain geyser, erupting from a hot spring, and we can see water pulsating and surging before fountains of water spray up continuously about 30 feet in the air for about five minutes, steam and vapor drifting over us all. Then it subsides, but we can hear, see and smell that the whole area is still very much alive. The deep blue waters of Cistern Spring dazzle our eyes, the color due to the spring being saturated with silica. Many dead lodgepole pines stand in the spring's outflow, salsified from absorbing the silica-rich water, and they may stand partially petrified for the next 2000 years.
Later that day we visit the standing trunk of a petrified redwood tree, estimated to be about 50 million years old. At that time volcanic mud flows buried whole forests, including redwood, avocado, magnolia, mangrove and maple. It's startling evidence that this region used to be a totally different place. As though we need to be shown this place is different. Where else in the world can we find geysers, hot springs, fumaroles and other signs of hot geo-thermal activity, with snow-capped mountain peaks close by, huge meadows dotted with bison, elk and mule deer, rivers steaming as hot springs empty into them, waterfalls, and a canyon, all in one park?
Next stop - MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS. The small town, which was originally Fort Yellowstone, is the park headquarters. The army managed the park from 1886 to 1916 and did a great job in stopping the wholesale slaughter of bison, elk, and other large grazing animals. Very necessary, as there's a story that in the 1870's the Bottler brothers, hide hunters, killed more that 2000 elk in one season. We are disappointed in the limestone travertine terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs, as many of the springs have dried up or changed course, and many of the wonderful terraces are now dry and crumbling. But the series of terraces at Canary Spring is still very beautiful, with its tapestries of color - yellow, orange, brown, green and white - created by colonies of minute bacteria and algae.
On our way to completing that day's loop we cram in as many stops and sites as the daylight will allow (all the while wishing we had more time):
-we join a "Big Horn Sheep Jam", and my grandson is happily ticking off animals on his park checklist;
- at the Narrows of the Yellowstone River we wonder at the basalt columns, so perfectly sculpted in an even band that it's almost as though a landscape architect designed them; on isolated rock pinnacles rising up from the river canyon an osprey nest is visible even to the naked eye and with the binoculars we clearly see the large white bird guarding her young. It's an (almost) unassailable spot, and reminds us of medieval castles perched on mountain tops;
- the road meanders south through Dunraven Pass on Mount Washburn, the 50-million-year-old volcano which buried the fossil forests. Right now, it's still covered in thick snow, some drifts at least six feet deep. A real contrast to the steaming geysers at Norris;
- Hayden Valley, with its wide grassy meadows, streams and small lakes, is teeming with wildlife, especially huge numbers of bison and elk, and a colony of white pelicans.
Next day we do the bottom loop, counter-clockwise, our main destination Old Faithful. But, first we are drawn to the GRAND CANYON OF THE YELLOWSTONE The Yellowstone River has carved its way down a thousand feet, creating a masterpiece of sculpted rock, magnificently colored with red, orange, yellow, and white. We marvel at the grandeur from Artist Point on the south rim, the Lower Falls in the distance seeming small in comparison, but we feel the awesome power of the falling water on the short walk to the Brink of the Lower Falls on the north rim. The water roars as it plunges over the edge, the spray dampens our clothes, and a rainbow glints in the mist.
South of Norris we stop at FOUNTAIN PAINT POTS. A short walk takes us to a mud pot, formed when hot acidic water breaks down rock, turning it into clay or mud. It evokes an enormous cauldron of thick soup bubbling, with sometimes a bubble surfacing and breaking with a loud plop, the whole constantly heaving and shifting. This is boiling earth, and we are reminded again how insignificant we are in the face of nature. Nearby, Clepsydra Geyser spurts fountains of hot water constantly and all around a strong sulphide smell assails the nose. Kids are complaining, "Mom, this smells so bad! Like rotten eggs!"
OLD FAITHFUL is the most crowded place we find in the park. Tour buses converge here and all the tourist amenities are jam-packed. The clock in the park office indicates the next eruption will be around 1:30pm so we settle on the benches conveniently ranged in a semi-circle around the geyser. So do an estimated 300 other people, and there's a collective sigh of expectation when the first water begins to shoot up at 1:26pm. The "show" is spectacular, but not as dramatic as the eruption of Daisy, which we are lucky enough to experience a couple of hours later. Old Faithful is the only geyser that some people see in the park, which is a shame as there is so much more.
Old Faithful Geyser is part of the UPPER GEYSER BASIN which has 20% of all the earth's geysers. Along the circular 2-mile boardwalk are so many other geysers, springs and pools that we can easily believe this. The bubbling, spitting, rumbling sounds are all around, warm spray mists us, and in one case a geyser is so close to the walk that it gushes over everyone who passes. Some kids are playing in it, running through the warm water like they run through a sprinkler at home. My grandson joins in and is soon drenched, but ecstatic. This really is geology in action!
At the far end of the walk is MORNING GLORY POOL (named after the flower), the hot waters a clear bright turquoise blue, fringed with orange and green. Sadly, today the colors are less heart-wrenchingly beautiful and evocative, as destructive humans have changed the temperature and chemisrty of the pool by tossing things in. Three elk are splashing in the Firehole River nearby and as we watch, a fourth joins the fun. It's a wonderful feeling to be able to watch these wild animals in the environment, doing their natural things.
On the way back on the undulating Yellowstone Plateau we cross the CONTINENTAL DIVIDE twice, heralded not by towering cliffs, but by two markers: Continental Divide 8391 feet, and 8262 feet.
The next morning we leave the park via West Yellowstone, stopping briefly at MIDWAY GEYSER BASIN, as we want to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. It's the largest hot spring in North America, with a diameter of 370 feet and a depth of 121 feet. The deep blue of the spring, sometimes clearly visible behind the swirling clouds of steam, contrasts with beautifully colored ribbons of microbial mats lining the outflow. Excelsior Geyser is a huge pool which discharges 4000 gallons of hot water in to the Firehole River every minute. We try to absorb some of the facts and figures, which attempt to give a quantity and a number to these marvels of nature, as otherwise they are too mind-boggling. In the face of all this, humans seem very small and insignificant.
On the final stretch of road before we leave the park we see multiple herds of bison, grazing placidly along the river bank, and finally a herd of elk standing, staring incuriously at us. We've come full circle, the elk and surrounding mountains welcoming us into the park and ushering us out again.
For More Information:
1.Web sites to check out
www.americanparknetwork.com
www.TravelYellowstone.com
2. Books
-National Geographic Park Profiles: Yellowstone (www.nationalgeographic.com)
-National Parkways: Yellowstone National Park (available in the park)
-Yellowstone; The Story Behind the Scenery, by Hugh Crandall, KC Publications, 1977
-Yellowstone and the Fires of Change, by George Wuerthner, Haggis House, 1988
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