Yellowstone National Park

Animals everywhere!

The beauty of it is jawdropping. As many have said, the 50 mile drive from Cody to Yellowstone is one of the most beautiful drives in North America. It’s definitely up there.

Though much more commercialized than I had hoped, it was a beautiful time that we spent there. We met up with 2 friends (wildlife photographers) who had been there many times before. Our first night we met them at this rather remote campsite, where everyone was in bed by 9 p.m. and up at 6 a.m. The best times to see the wildlife is early morning and late evening, so we were up with them. This also worked out rather well because as soon as the sun went down, it got real cold. Average elevation around here is 5000-8000 ft. It stayed near or just below freezing at night, but Toby (and a couple of sleeping bags) kept us real warm. Mornings were freezing, but we would get up, make water for tea and hot oatmeal and head off to look for the wildlife. It sounds kind of weird, outdoors people, driving up and down roads, looking for animals. But, Wes said, you can cover way more miles this way. He has been hiking in the backcountry and not seen anything.

So, I digress. A morning of driving around brought few animals, except for the Bison (Buffalo) who graze everywhere, cross the streets and just hang out. We saw hundreds of those.

The evening session however, we saw Pronghorns (Antelope family) and Bison hanging out together (they’re friends). We saw a Coyote up close as it walked along the road, we saw Elk and Bighorn Sheep. The next morning as we were driving out, we even saw some Wolves and heard their howling. They were far enough away we had to use binoculars, but cool to see nonetheless. We have yet to see any Bears or Mountain Lions, though they are supposedly everywhere and you have to be very careful with food, can’t wash dishes anywhere really.

For those of you who have visions of a National Park with remote, untouched beauty, do not go to Yellowstone except for the backcountry. There are tourists everywhere. People will stop in the middle of the road because they see something cool, causing traffic jams. There are stores and gas stations, little villages, even the town of Mamoth has it’s own herd of Elk that hang out in the center of town. Walkways abound whenever you are going anywhere, other than the back country. However, the juxtaposition of this, with wild animals roaming is quite interesting.

Whipper was rather unhappy. Rules for dogs are quite strict. Always on a 6 foot leash, never more than 100 feet off the road. So, we were quite limited in this way.

We did see some of the tourist things as well. We checked out geysers, which is where water sprouts up from rock formations due to geothermal activity. There is a bunch that I checked out, none of which erupt with any regularity. However, Jake (along with 500 other people) checked out the Old Faithful, that erupts every 90 minutes, for the tourists pleasure. I can’t imagine what it’s like in the summer. Yellowstone is a big volcano and there is lots of thermal activity and one of only 5 places that have geysers in the world. Which, incidentally, have microbes in them that have helped with DNA mapping and HIV research.

After a couple of days though, the crowds and Whippers unhappiness led us to leave, work our way down parts of Grand Teton Park and head a bit east into the National Forest where Whipper can roam and camping is free. Just find a road, drive around and pull off and camp.

The first night we camped completely alone at the top of this hill. Just before going to bed, Whipper, luckily on a leash, started barking. We jumped in the van, unsure if it was a bear, flicked on the headlights and watched a deer cross our campsite.

Finally went hiking yesterday, Whipper was so happy. It was nice to get out of the car and stretch some muscles. Then, as we were driving, we found a dude ranch, with restaurant and view of the Grand Tetons. So, with a little birthday money, we had a wonderful night out, watched the sunset, and ate buffalo meat. Yum.. Then drove down the road to a quiet little campsite next to the river. Ah, what a perfect birthday.

Check out the photos at:

http://picasaweb.google.ca/tjkuenzli