Yellowstone National Park

Monday June 19, 2006

We had a good dinner at the Pioneer Grill last night, including a hot fudge sundae for dessert. Before we left for dinner we saw our new neighbors who had checked in next door arrive. They were an older couple, so we were hoping they would be an “early to bed” sort. Sure enough, by the time we got back around 7:30 pm, I think they were both already in bed. Not a peep was heard by them all night (until 6:30 am, anyway, when they checked out). We did have some noise to deal with in the night though. Around midnight we were both awoken by a huge chorus of coyotes, yipping away very close by our cabin. The sound was stunning, and we tried getting our window open to hear better, but by the time we figured out the lock in the dark they had quieted down. Now that’s the type of nighttime yapping I don’t mind!

We had booked some cabins in Yellowstone starting on 6/21 (we’ll have to move around every night or so, based on the availability they had at the last minute) and we have 2 “free” nights between Grand Teton and Yellowstone. We had planned it that way, in case we really wanted to camp or backpack at Grand Teton. But after three days here we felt like we’ve had enough, so we decided to head up to Yellowstone and camp there for 2 nights before our cabin stays. Last night at the Lodge, while putting up our blogs and photos, we checked the weather for Yellowstone. Unfortunately it was showing lows in the low 30’s for the next few days, so Sage invoked the “40 degree rule” in order to get a hotel for the night. We also discovered that Edmonton won AGAIN on Saturday night, forcing a game 7 for tonight. I haven’t missed a Stanley Cup clinching game since at least 1992, and I had thought that streak was going to come to an end this spring, but a game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals is like lemonade on the 4th of July – too sweet for words. Therefore we found a room in Gardiner, MT, just north of the park, for tonight.

We left Grand Teton around 8:30 am and headed north. Yellowstone National Park is only about 5 miles from Grand Teton. The weather was very cloudy and overcast (in fact we had thunderstorms last night, real big boomers) so we were more than happy to take today to simply drive up through Yellowstone, stop at a few stops, and get in some sights from the road before checking in to watch the game at 6:00 pm. Almost as soon as we left Grand Teton and entered Yellowstone we could see the difference in the landscape. Where Grand Teton was all jagged peaks and alpine lakes, Southern Yellowstone was rounded hills, lots of pine trees, and deep gorges. The other natural feature that jumped out is the fire damage. Yellowstone had really damaging forest fires in 1988, and I’m not sure if all the damage in the park is left from that fire or subsequent fires, but the damage looks immense. It’s amazing how the forest recovers so quickly, though. There are fields after fields of dead tree trunks 40-50 feet high, and all around them 10 times the number of young pine trees all about 10 feet high. They say in 30-50 years the forest will look just like it did before the fires. But the number of downed trees today is staggering.

Speaking of staggering, the adjective applies to the park itself as well. I don’t know the square miles, but Yellowstone is huge. (Editor’s note: Yellowstone National Park is about the same size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. COMBINED.) It’s about 150 miles driving from the south to the north, and probably just as wide. We headed north through the drizzle and decided to stop with the hordes at Old Faithful. The eruption of Old Faithful Geyser every 90 minutes or so is the biggest non-event I’ve ever seen in my life. We were “lucky” that we arrived only about 20 minutes before the next eruption. Even in the drizzle loads of people gathered around the circular pathway to stand or sit at the smoke emanating from the geyser. Every few minutes or so a few bubbles would come up, people would start to titter, but they were always just precursors to the big show. It erupted about 2 minutes later than the visitor center had predicted, and really all it does is shoot water up about 90 feet in the air for about 20 seconds, then it shoots water up about 10 feet for another minute or two. It’s not that I don’t find geysers or the other thermal features here fascinating. I think they’re pretty hot, actually. It’s just the mass-marketing and packaging of Old Faithful that annoys me. Later in the day we stopped at Norris Geyser Basin and saw Steamboat Geyser. Steamboat last had a “major” eruption in May 2005, when it blew over 300 feet in the air. They say that Steamboat Geyser could erupt as short as 4 days apart, or as much as 50 years apart. Now why isn’t that more interesting? The unpredictability of the geyser is what we should celebrate, not some fascist geyser that can be timed almost to the minute.

Along with the stampede of people leaving Old Faithful, we raced out ahead of the crowd for a lunch break at West Yellowstone, MT. This is another of your basic “National Park Gateway” towns, with your gift shops, ice cream stands and plenty of cheap beer at pubs ands saloons. We stopped for a horrible lunch at The Gusher Pub & Casino. (I guess because they have Keno and Slots it’s a casino, but I think they had a total of 4 machines.) Afterwards we headed back into the park and stopped, as I mentioned before, at Norris Geyser Basin. Not as big as the Upper Geyser Basin where Old Faithful is, but it has a lot of bubblers, steam vents, and the ever present smell of sulfur. I’m sure we’ll be seeing plenty more of the thermals during our week here.

After Norris we headed up toward Mammoth in the North, and got caught in our first Animal Jam. Yellowstone is famous for its Bear Jams, traffic jams caused by a bear seen from the side of the road. We’ve gotten to the point where we’re so starved for animal sightings that we’re more than willing to jump into any jam and clog up the traffic like the rest of the yahoos. (Yes, we’re becoming the yahoos that we once rebelled against.) This wasn’t a Bear Jam, but a Bison Jam. A herd of bison, probably numbering over 50, was right next to the road, with a few on the other side as well. We pulled over (legally into a turnout, mind you) and got some great shots right up close. We saw some other bison as well during the day, usually only 2 or 3 at a time, not a big herd like this one. We also saw a few elk (aka wapiti), but no bears unfortunately. By the time we got to Gardiner it was close to 4:00 pm. When I made the reservation last night I only did it for 1 night, so checking in I asked if I could extend it to 2 nights. Unfortunately they’re booked up tomorrow (must be a wedding or something coming to town). We checked the weather for tomorrow in the park (while it started hailing outside – how serendipitous that we’re not camping today!) and it showed a bit warmer, low around 40. The only other hotels in town with any vacancy wanted over $100 a night, so it looks like we’re camping tomorrow. Hopefully these thunderstorms are a thing of the past. At least we’ll know we’ll have a hot shower and warm bed the next night.

Sage has the hikes planned for tomorrow…hopefully we’ll get away from the hordes (Yellowstone is absolutely packed with people it seems, and it’s not even high summer season yet) and see some wildlife.

License plate update: We’re still 3 US plates away from the 51 total: Maine, Rhode Island and DC. I’m assuming we’ll see DC at least in the last 10 miles on the way home (though we didn’t see it on the way out, so who knows). I have a feeling Rhode Island will be our downfall.