Yellowstone is Big

Like, it is really really big.

Our objective today was to head over to Lamar Valley to check out the many places to watch for wildlife. It was to be a low key day as Ann was not having a great day, so a chance to see some more of the park and to stop at some overlooks to see if mooses and meeses and wolves and of course bears might be out and about sounded perfect.

We knew we had to plan accordingly, as Lamar Valley is close to the northeast corner of the national park, and we are camped on the western entrance, so GPS called it a two hour drive. That does not take in to account bison jams. So we loaded up the cooler with water and lunch, used the at home facilities one more time, and headed out, knowing it could easily be a three hour drive.

Almost instantly, we realized we had made a mistake…

This was our view as we entered the park. We were a-crawling. The logistics of this place are such that even going 5 mph through the park is still much faster than going around the park. As I mentioned, it’s a very big place. So our options were to turn around and just not go to Yellowstone today, or buckle up and get through it, hoping it was either a bison-jam, or at least knowing that people would spread out a bit more as they poured in to the park. Paths diverge wildly once inside the park, with Old Faithful and farty rock land far to the south, canyon land toward the center, Lamar Valley to the far northeast, etc. So, for the next 30 minutes, we advanced about 5 miles, and we tried subconsciously to convince all of those in front of us that Old Faithful is just awesome.

“Turn south”

”Go see it, you know you want to!”

”It doesn’t smell THAT bad down in geyser land”

“The chalky, watery, stained ground is really pretty actually, especially in the nice light today”

”I bet Old Faithful farts up extra high today,” and so on for five miles.

As we approached the first large intersection, our efforts paid off and most of the cars in front us felt the inexplicable need to turn south, towards Old Faithful, while we happily whipped a left and turned north towards our destination.

It was smooth sailing from that point on, and we really started getting immersed in the natural setting again. We curved around low wide prairies with ever present rivers snarling through them, we saw herds of bison both off in the distance and close to the road side again, and eventually, we started climbing up the steep mountains that had been silently approaching as we motored forward. As we climbed, our tires clung to the sides of the mountains on narrow two lane roads with no guardrails between our truck and steep drop offs to the valleys far below. We were trying to figure out why we couldn’t hear each other whimper when we noticed that we were nearing 9,000 feet and our ears had yet to adjust to the altitude.

After descending from the peaks back down to the prairies below, we pulled off at a few of the turnouts or pullouts positioned frequently and thoughtfully along the side of the road. Knowing that this was the recommended approach for viewing wildlife at a distance, we had purchased a pair of cheap binoculars downtown the night prior. Let me tell you, if we had not had the foresight to pick up those little binoculars, we would have been in pretty much the same position. They sucked. Here is a shot of us using them, and what you cannot hear in a photo is us saying, “Wow! These binoculars suck”

But we pressed on. We just used our eyes since they worked a bit better.

We eventually made it to the center of Lamar Valley, which by the way has THOUSANDS of rocks that litter the ground and, from the right distance, look just like sleeping bears and sleeping moose.

We eventually picked a random gravel side road that indicated there was a hiking trail at the end of its 3 mile length. So we dropped the old Ford into 4×4, engaged rock crawl mode, and started down the washboarded, pothole littered, narrow dusty gravel track. Almost immediately, out careened an old Honda Civic, bouncing joyfully down the road towards us, having just completed the 3 mile each way drive with no ill effect other than being coated in a thick layer of dust and dirt. The Honda hit the paved road behind us, made a right, and peeled away quickly. Ben quietly disengaged four wheel drive and put the transmission back in to highway mode, and down the gravel road we bounced.

Not two miles down the road, we encountered the tell tale signs of wildlife present. A herd of brightly colored, loosely organized, well equipped tourists with all manner of cameras, telescopes, real binoculars, tripods, had gathered on the side of the road, cars parked haphazardly with doors hanging open. Additionally, there were a few haggard park rangers trying their level best to keep these tourists from getting to close to said wildlife and causing a more serious incident. Other than the rangers, all eyes were trained on the valley just below.

We decided to see what was going on.

We parked the truck next to yet another Honda Civic (sigh), hopped out with our shitty binoculars and our cell phones, and headed toward the direction the camera-people were pointing.

Just over in the woods we saw two bear cubs in the tallish grass, playing and wrestling with each other, while BIG mama bear (grizzly? I didn’t get close enough to ask) grazed nearby, never straying too far away from the cubs, but also giving herself a little space because even bears get sick of the kids every now and again.

We watched them through the shitty binoculars and Ben caught a couple videos on the cell phone, and it looked like nothing else was happening, so we headed back to the truck, where we ALMOST HAD YET ANOTHER INCIDENT!!!

This time, it would be a near miss with a low lying, hard to see, prairie pizza. Ann just bought those shoes!

Crisis averted, we started on the long trek back towards the campsite. We were more prepared this time for the steep drop offs, and we even pulled in to one or two just to check out the view.

As we were cruising around a winding mountain road, we came across a bison in a very unlikely place, parked between the side of the road and the steep rocky face, just munching away on thin, exhaust scented grass, without a care in the world.

We reached the valley floor again and decided to stop and check out the fast moving, shallow river winding along the side of the road. Ann found a spot to do a little grounding and Ben decided to see how cold the water was. The answer, pretty cold, but it was a therapeutic stop for both of us.

We wrapped up and headed back to the truck and on to the campsite, where we are hunkering down as yet another line of thunderstorms passes through and we are hopeful that the skies clear up a bit before the aurora comes through later tonight (writing this on Sunday, June 1).

Regardless of the weather, we pull up stakes in the morning and head to our in between stop at Helena, MT where we will once again stock up on groceries, take care of laundry, hit a hot springs for a little heat therapy, and the next day we are on to Glacier National Park!