(ok, this isn't actually from Yellowstone - it came from Photo Booth in MacBook. But I didn't have any pictures of me in the park! I digress...)At around 9pm last night the camp manager came by and offered for me to stay in a single room cabin for the two nights instead of in a tent due to crappy weather. I agreed to it, because I am not a person who needs a lot of comfort but I am not trying to pretend to be an experienced mountain man here (only when it comes to setting up tents, not actually sleeping in them. So, I have a little tiny log cabin instead, which is good because it rained quite a bit last night.
Anyway, onto my day at yellowstone! I don't really know how to describe the way it all looks. I think the best I can say is that it is expansive. When I compare it to Yosemite, it seems much more lackidasical somehow. Does it even make sense to describe nature as that? You would just turn a corner and come into these huge valleys with rivers and creeks that kind of zig zag through- definitely different than the roaring waterfalls of Yosemite. And the place is bigger than rhode island! I spent around 7 hours there today and certainly didn't even scratch the surface of stuff to do or see.
Luckily, I took "Geology of National Parks" in college (I put those CA tax dollars to good use. I also have seen Supervolcano, 2012, and nearly all Yogi Bear cartoons, so I am kind of a Yosemite expert. But really, not so much.
It was cool to see all the geothermal events in the park. Old Faithful obviously, but there are tons of other vents and springs and geysers to see, all with different formations and colors and such. I did a 5 mile hike to see the Lone Star Geyser, so aptly named because he is all by himself in the middle of the woods. There was snow all along the path (I'm pretty sure my mom after reading that last sentence just gasped at the horror of snow in June).
The weather actually held up pretty nice- no thunderstorms and just light rain. Did you see that someone got hit by lightning yesterday at Old Faithful? Crazy.
The weather didn't detract from tourists being there! It didn't seem that crowded until you got to the main lodging part- then it kind of resembled Disneyland. I was actually shocked at the number of iternational people there. It just never occured to me that someone would travel all the wag to the USA and then make the long trip to Wyoming. I spoke to a German man (at least I thought he was German) and his wife at the lookout for the geysers, and he said this was his tenth time to yellowstone! Crazy that I live 8 hours away by car and he has me beat.
I was also amazed at the lunacy of some of the people I encountered today. I guess the whole environment just sweeps you up, but I can't understand people who still put their hands into the geothermal vent (after like 10,000 posted signs tell you not to). On my drive out of the park, the guy 6 cars ahead of me saw some bison on the side of the road, so he stopped his car in the middle of the road, got out and took a picture. I can only imagine the cuss words my father would have used if he was with me...
Ok, I'm beat and off to bed. Long day of driving tomorrow and I will keep you posted as always. Thanks for reading!
Joey
Joey, I'm really impressed that you were brave enough to try camping in the first place. Weather or no weather, I'm pretty terrified of bears and don't know how I would feel about being alone in a cloth covered box. Perhaps I will have to learn so that we can be future Montana neighbors. Anyway, I am excited to see your pictures and am so glad you're having fun so far!
ReplyDeleteon memorial day brottmau and i went up to vancouver for funtimes, and we met these french guys at this hostel and they said that the only things they'd seen in america yet were yellowstone, yosemite, and death valley. oh, and vegas. haha! i've lived on the west coast my entire life and have only seen vegas! but i guess i'm not very outdoorsy. so weird.
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