I had been reluctant to stop in Yellowstone in July because I was concerned it would be crowded. I had frustrating visions of spending hours behind a line of stopped RVs but that never materialized. The park is so huge that there’s plenty of relative solitude for those who don’t need to stick to the tried-&-true tourist hotspots.
Which brings us to Old Faithful. There’s more development – though low key and pleasantly contextual – here than most other areas of the park. When we learn that the celebrity geyser will next erupt at 9:30 tonight we quickly put that behind us and return to the road and enjoy the ride up past Yellowstone Lake, with the Grand Tetons off in the distance. The air is cool, the water calm and the atmosphere clear. It is beautiful. After spending some time here we are back on the road and quickly encounter a buffalo walking slowly about 20’ off the road. We stop for a close look (but not too close – these beasts attack numerous goobers annually, killing some) and he seems completely disinterested. Avery likes this.
That buffalo is the first of many we’ll encounter. Usually when you see cars pulled over where there is no formal parking it signals a good opportunity to view wildlife. We soon see such a group of cars and people. We find a parking place up the road and walk back, noticing people gathering on the right shoulder. They’re viewing a mother grizzly and 2 cubs and a ranger is present to direct traffic. I’ve gotten my 200mm lens attached and tell the ranger that I’m going to climb down the hill to within about 20’ of the bears for a better shot. He enjoyed the joke and Avery and I took turns with the camera from the safe distance of the road edge. There are groups of naturalists who, with the rangers, track certain animals, especially with offspring, and can come back day after day with telescopes and long lenses to get good shots. Apparently this grizzly family has remained in this meadow for about a week. I suppose she realizes she has nothing to fear as long as no one tries to approach.
Further down the main loop road we see a similar grouping of viewers and photographers perched on a hill looking off toward a distant meadow where they said they’d been watching a wolf family with several cubs. Since the wolves make use of a den the naturalist know where they’ll be from day to day. They’re too far away for us to see without a telescope but it was very interesting anyway. Off to the right we can see a herd of elk though.
We head up toward Fort Yellowstone in hopes of seeing more elk – up close. We’re ready for lunch also and I remember that they have picnic tables there. On the way we stop twice to photograph several brown bears. Avery starts keeping count of the bears we’ve seen – he’s having a great time.
Gillian and I were at Fort Yellowstone 3 years ago and were surprised to see so many elk lounging between the old officer’s housing, unconcerned with the people milling about. We were there in the fall and the elk are forced to come to lower elevations where the snow hasn’t yet covered the grass. Avery and I are here in the middle of summer and only 2 doe elk are resting in the grass. It is still a fascinating place with well-preserved (and seemingly still inhabited) late 19th century structures that housed the soldiers from the Calvary’s Company M that President Teddy Roosevelt sent to keep the park clear of poachers, squatters, souvenir hunters, etc. who threatened to destroy the newly declared treasure. The wood-sided officer’s quarters are rather large, similar to the 2-level foursquare typology popular at the time, the enlisted men’s cottages are smaller though no less interesting in scale and detail. They seem to be based on the traditional farmhouse with ample porches facing the public green. Other buildings of note are the post office, the stone Engineer’s Building, stables, etc.
After our pleasant picnic (there was a very attentive magpie who seemed to spend a lot of time around our table) we photograph some of the buildings and then head south toward Mammoth Hot Springs – which is actually adjacent to Fort Yellowstone and is visible from the community. The main geological interest is a huge mountain/wall of sulfur and other mineral deposits that have flowed down the vertical faces of the cliffs, from the flattened top where the pools are. This place is spectacular – just look at the photos.
Later in the day I decide to take a small side road - Blacktail Plateau Road (too fancy a word for an 8’ wide gravel, pocked path) off to the left in hopes of getting even further into the wild park. I had seen some of these paths, which are marked with signage, on my Google Earth research. You can get a pretty good idea of what an area looks like via the photos people post on G.E.. I thought this was a good move but soon realized that the road was quite rough and, being a one-lane path with no turn-offs and cars off in the distance behind us we are here on this path until it finally joins a paved road. That’s fine. We simply drive very slowly and get a good idea of what real natural wilderness looks like. And there are some spectacular views because the path goes up to, and follows a long ridgeline. Eventually we come to a stop (because all the cars in front of us do) and discover another black bear foraging, unconcerned, in the brush. We spend a lot of time watching him before we finish out the path.
When we return to the Madison Campground late in the evening a ranger is notifying each site that a grizzly is pacing the parameter of the campground and we should all be aware, and should make sure our food is locked in the provided steel boxes or the car. There are rangers at the parameter discouraging the bear from entering and soon we hear a helicopter, which I assume, is aiding in turning the bear away. The park personnel have already warned us that if a bear comes into the campground and accesses any food that has been left out they’ll have to put the animal down because he otherwise will continue to come to where people are to get food. I’m not sure if they’d really destroy the animal but is seems plausible and I’d hate to be responsible for that tragedy. So we secure our food very well.
Since it’s our last night in Madison we go out by the rivers edge after dinner (hot dogs supreme) to hang out. This really is a special place. River is flowing at a good pace but is not deep enough to be a threat. I wade out into the water far enough to confirm it is frigid. Avery notices a tributary that comes off the main body, and it has bubbles rising. He surmises that they are resulting from the same source that supplies the geysers and posits that the water must be warmer. My boy’s a genius. I tepidly step into that pool and it’s like bath water. I hang out in the warm water for a while as the sun goes down and finally we head back to camp. We’ll have an early rise tomorrow so we can make it to Spokane by nightfall.
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