Yellowstone National Park

Wyoming. What do you know about it? I feel as though it is a state that is often overlooked by us Easterners; so I'll share a few facts. Wyoming:

• Is the tenth largest state in terms of area, but it is the least populous.
• Was the first state to grant suffrage to women.
• Levies no corporate or individual income tax.
• Has two national parks - Yellowstone and Grand Tetons.
• Has an elevation difference of more than 10,000 feet.
• Is awesome.

Only on day two of the trip and growing tired of the tight quarters, we entered this beautiful state on I-90. Although this was my third time on this stretch of road, it was no less fascinating. After exiting the interstate, we took US-14 through the Bighorn mountain range. The Bighorns are a random extension of the Rockies, just hanging out in the middle of the desert. It's quite a fun drive. The photo to the left was from a pull-off at one of the passes in the range.

Although Wyoming is beautiful, there is little to entertain yourself with other than the national parks in the northwest corner of the state (unless you are into rodeos). Devil's Tower is located in the northeast part of the state and was somewhat on our way. Unfortunately, we didn't stop due to time constraints.

On the way to Yellowstone from the east, you first enter Shoshone National Forest, where the foothills really begin to take shape. It was during dusk we drove through this area, and saw two moose, an elk and a buffalo before entering the national park (if you click on the links, it will take you to our photos).

Yellowstone National Park (Day 1)
We entered the park around 9:00 p.m. only to be told the entire park was booked for camping. I was amazed considering the temperature in the 40s at this point, but our decision to call ahead saved us, and we proceeded to the Bay Bridge campground. When checking in, the nice lady who said, "No Twinkies under the pillow - there are bears here," also informed us someone had seen a mother grizzly and two cubs near the campground! Perhaps it was the now famous bear - we were okay with not seeing her.

Day 2
We set out early the next morning to acquire a permit to do some backcountry hiking and camping. On the way to do so, we saw a black bear in a clearing, but did not capture any photos of it given our anxiety to get on the trail. Ranger Dillon helped us with the permit and we were off!

The campsite was only about a mile in from the road. We had wanted it to be farther in but were steered away from it because of the water level of a usually-passable river. Before even reaching our campsite we saw a fresh bear track in the mud (link is to photo). Again, fortunately, we never encountered a bear at a close distance.

We hiked to the impassable river and explored for a few hours. One of my companions refused to deem the river as impassable and crossed it on a slippery log just for fun. After awhile we returned to the campsite and cooked dinner. The campsite, coincidentally named Ice Lake, was cold and windy. When writing in our journals that evening, it began to snow! We were ill-prepared on this summer vacation to encounter snow (at least not at 7,000 feet). It got as low as 28 degrees that night.

Sitting in the tent, warm in the sleeping bags, we decided not to walk this trail the following day. It just didn't make sense to come to Yellowstone and hike on a forest trail mostly made up of burnt trees (from the 1988 fires). We wanted to see some real Yellowstone features.

Day 3
What we decided upon was to walk around the Yellowstone Canyon. When approaching the trailhead with our daypacks a lady walked our way and said, "You guys look pretty typical, can I take a picture of you?" We looked at her confused as she snapped a photo and then ran away.

The hike was phenomenal. We hiked around 8 miles or so. The waterfall lookouts were teeming with tourists in their jeans, tennis shoes, tucked-in t-shirts and fanny packs, hiking their half-mile or so to get to a good photo opportunity. With our 3-liter water bladders, backpacks, synthetic pants and goofy hats, we pretended we were doing more work to get to those lookouts. But in truth, the best part of the trail was when we got into the backcountry and were able to explore Yellowstone's natural sulfur springs with no company.

The third night went much the same as the second, although we were much more tired and satisfied from the hike. Plus, it only got down to 33 degrees that night.

Day 4
The next morning we drove to Mammoth Hot Springs on our way out of the park from the northwest entrance. Although we tried, we never made it to the Upper Geyser Basin, where Old Faithful and Morning Glory Pool are located. We got caught in a traffic jam and didn't want to be stuck past dark. However, because we never made it to the Grand Tetons, I (according to my rules) have to make it back this way before the end of the summer. Thus, I should be able to reach that corner of the park and get some good photos.

Entire Yellowstone Photo Album

Next post: Montana and Glacier National Park