ckck:
I looked out the window this morning and was crushed as it was raining and this was the day I was going to go to Yellowstone National Park, America’s first such park, and the last of the really big national parks on my trip (as far as I can tell).
The park is a drive from Bozeman though, and by the time I reached its archway entrance, while it was still very cloudy and grey, at least it wasn’t raining. By the time I ventured around the Mammoth Hot Springs near the entrance, the sun even made an appearance so thankfully, after being rather crushed in the morning, it turned out to be a totally okay day to visit Yellowstone.
You know, except for all the tourists.
It’s such a contrast from yesterday’s desolation, and I just really can’t handle tourists. You get there, you can barely find places to park, it’s crowded, screaming children, all those things. I’m glad I had such a serene day before today, and thankfully Yellowstone is big enough to swallow the hordes, unlike Yosemite where it really felt crowded.
I have to say though, Yellowstone turned out to be something of a disappointment. Beyond the obvious attractions, there’s just very little to see. The scenery is nothing extraordinary at all, and it’s even downright ugly at times as large areas of the park consists of dead trees, both standing and fallen. Why this is, what this comes from, how long it’s been that way, I don’t know, but it can’t match the scenic beauty of most places I’ve been, even places that were even considered scenic in any official way.
Yellowstone’s key strength however is it’s animal inhabitants, and those sights were what made my day worthwhile in the end. I’d barely gotten into the park when a limping wolf (!) comes down the road at me (with a horde of gawking tourists pulled over up ahead). Exciting to see, but also a bit disheartening as a truly wild wolf would be far more shy of humans, a sentiment that can be attributed to all these animals in the park.
Driving a bit further, cars pulled over, people with their cameras out and what would you know, there’s a bear just over on that hill. I wasn’t quick enough to take a photo, plus it was really quite far away, but still, a bear’s a bear.
High up on one of the passes in the park, a car just in front of me breaks and pulls over, pointing upwards and once again, there’s a grizzly bear! This time I actually had my telephoto lens ready, but it was too far away (and not facing me) to get any decent shots.. But hey, at least there’s a brown blur in a sea of green that actually was a real grizzly bear.
The greatest sight of the day however were the bison. Or buffalo (I prefer bison). Not only are they such an exotic sight for me as a European, but they’re such an iconic symbol of (North) America in many ways too, and this apparently being calving season I saw plenty of calves as well. I got one rather postcard shot of one bison grazing just by the side of this small creek, and later on I encountered a whole herd of them, several times in fact. Beautiful animals.
Eventually I made my way to Old Faithful. At that point I’d seen many of the hot springs, geothermal activities and geyser spots the park had to offered, but I hadn’t seen any actual eruption and thankfully by the time I got to Old Faithful, I didn’t have to wait too long to see it doing it’s thing. It’s really not the most amazing thing ever, really (I think I’m more of a big mountains, big open spaces kind of guy), but it’s nice to have seen it anyway, and at that time it wasn’t very crowded either.
And that’s as far as I got. I had lofty ideas of being down in Wyoming right down, but by the time I was done at Old Faithful it was already past sunset, and the closest exit was the westerly one, where I headed and then back to Bozeman once again, as it offers more affordable motels rather than the ones close to the park.
I have a dilemma though, south to northern Colorado (I really would want to see Colorado’s Rockies) and then east through Kansas, or east through Wyoming and South Dakota (etc.).. Decisions, decisions. Time to sleep on it.
Following this trip has been great, and I was wondering what his journey through the west would look like.
That is a tough dilemma. I’d be tempted to head south to Park City, UT, then west to Steamboat Springs, CO, into Rocky Mountain National Park. You’d pick up Grand Teton National Park in WY, the Great Salt Lake (not that great, really) and Dinosaur National Monument along the way. From RMNP, you’d have options to visit Boulder, Fort Collins, or Denver.
Heading west through Wyoming into the Black Hills of South Dakota would take you to Devil’s Tower (Close Encounters), Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Badlands National Park. It’s nearing peak tourist season for the Black Hills, where I’m heading this weekend, and it is going to be busy. It is, after all, Custer Days.
-
wordsnamesfaces reblogged this from ckck and added:
his journey through...look like. That is...tough dilemma....
-
imsorryyouredisappointed liked this
-
lackinginsanity liked this
-
ckck posted this
