We entered Yellowstone today from the West Entrance. What an experience! First of all, its probably the most people we've seen since we left St. Louis! It took a while to get used to the cars on the road. By the way - I took this picture! I really did - with my crappy little camera!
The wildness is what grabbed me. Even with all the cars. I know that sounds weird, but there is something incredibly rugged and wild. Even with all the people. I suppose that is what excellent Park Management is all about. We drove along sort of open-jawed ... within moments we had seen Elk, Deer, Yellow-Bellied Marmoset (looks a bit like a fat prairie dog) and two different Bald Eagles. One on a nest ... well, that was a HUGE nest and the other soaring. I was not up to speed with the camera so, trust me. The wildlife like Yellowstone!
Then we began driving through the area with all the geysers! Good heavens. I guess I never really looked at a lot of pictures of Yellowstone because this took me by surprise! There was a basin of dozens of hot spots, and it was really amazing.
(But again - there seemed to be hundreds of people! Argh!) We took a lot of walks and some back roads, and found our way to Old Faithful. Luck was with us because thousands of people were gathered and sitting around with cameras up so we knew we arrived at the right spot at the right time. And sure enough:
It was pretty amazing to see it gush way up in the air. Lots of oohing and aaaahing. And then we got coffee at the Inn and high tailed it before they all got in their cars.
We wound our way along the Terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs.
These were pretty neat formations and there were some beautiful flowers as well as lots o
f birds.Oh. And Elk. Lots of Elk.
Lots of mamas and babies and maybe some of the younger boys too. I'm not too up on my Elk biology. There were no antlers -- so I'm guessing they were young and/or female.
Then when we were driving to our hotel ------------>
that was taken from inside the car.
Come on - are we sure Disney doesn't run this National Park?
Lots more where this all comes from -- we have so much more to see and I know we won't get it all in. But the weather is gorgeous - we got all the way up to 63 degrees this afternoon around 4:30 pm. Yeah. I like that in June!
Ahhhhhhhh,.....I am so going there. Problem for me is timing. Business dictates that I can only take winter vacations. Wonder how the Stone looks in January.
ReplyDeleteI think if you have a guide or someone who really knows what they're doing you can have a blast in Yellowstone in the winter. But you'll be doing it on snowmobiles and cross-country skis - not in the luxury of a car!
ReplyDeleteThey just let the snowmobiles in, what, last year? Must be great fun, though I might feel kinda guilty.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed by a couple things: the tameness of the animals is one, and suspect that they revert to form the further you branch off of the touristy hotspots. But nice as all the geology is, your other photos look a hell of lot greener. (Loved the Tetons photos, and Idaho looks great.)
Thanks for sharing. It's been great to read about.
Yep, snowmobiles are now allowed in Yellowstone but very limited. Horses can still be ridden in in the winter.
ReplyDeleteThe animals are funny - I'm not so sure they're "tame" but they sure aren't spooked by humans. The Elk and Deer are more interested in the food...which is better when you're on someone's lawn and where people plant things like flowers and vegetables.
The buffalo and moose and bears -- they stay pretty far away. The only sightings are through binoculars for them.
I think they keep their wild on.
It seems that the Parks - Glacier, Yellowstone and Teton - have all had about five weeks of rain. We are just moving through so it is all gorgeous to us.
The folks who live here and have had about 1 day of sun since last October are a bit tired of it!