RANDOM THOUGHTS ON TRAVELING THROUGH YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

WHAT I REMEMBER AND WHAT NOT TO FORGET

• The park is a miracle. It is huge with 2.2 millions acres of things to marvel at---it just doesn’t stop. While I thought the geothermal wonders were just that, our four grandkids mostly wanted to see the wild life. As five-year-old Kai said after an hour hike through Mammoth Hot Springs: “Guys, we came to enjoy the wild life, not hike.”   
• Most folks rarely venture off the beaten path into the backcountry. We didn’t with the exception of a hike into Trout Lake outside of Silver Gate to fish and Pleasant Valley for our Chuck Wagon dinner. Why? Because we had four kids and there are lots of bears and also not-so-friendly Bison. And we forgot our bear spray.

Enough of this hiking

•      The crowds of tourists were just like us except from all over the world. All were amazed, generous with their tips, time and joy. The whole experience is contagious. That said, Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin is packed and the line-up for the eruption at Old Faithful can be a bit tedious. If you want more space, head to the Yellowstone Lake area.
•      I love Park Rangers. These folks are calm, well trained, knowledgeable to a fault and funny.  When they ask you to move back from the wild life---move. When they ask you to drive on past a Bear Jam, do so and find a place to park and walk back to the viewing site. When their presentation seems a bit long, just leave the group: no hard feelings here.
•       Motorhomes. I do not like them because their presence is so intrusive. So, I’ve said it. The slow, narrow and winding roads are simply not made for these things that usually pull a car. Anything bigger than those rented Cruise America RVs are just too much.
•      Do not miss the Lamar Valley and the Hayden Valley. We went through Hayden Valley three or four times and each tine saw something different. These two valleys were where we saw the most wild life. We love entering the park at the Northeast Gate out of Cooke City and Silver Gate. You drop into the expanse of the park with vast valleys, lumbering mountains and fewer cars. As for routes, take any of them and repeat anything you like and just pull off and hike around. The kids picked out spots that sounded like fun, and they always were. We loved Great Fountain Geyser, a much more intimate experience than Old Faithful.
•      Beartooth Pass. I mentioned it before, but if you go through Red Lodge to Cooke City, MT, on Highway 212 you will NOT be disappointed. Also, the line at the entrance gate is usually pretty darn short.
•      Picnic. We found lovely and sometimes secluded picnic spots along tributaries of the big Yellowstone River where the kids could wade and we could just hang out. Our favorite was the Nez Perce Ford. You need hang out time.

Off of the Yellowstone River at Nez Perce Ford

•       Xanterra. This is the park concessionaire for the lodges, hotels and most of the restaurants. They just signed a 20-year contract with the National Park Service at Yellowstone. Again, the staff was always helpful whether as servers, desk clerks, or cleaning personnel. Rooms at each lodge we stayed at (Mammoth Hot Spring Hotel, Canyon’s Dunraven Lodge and Lake Hotel’s Sandpiper Annex) were all comfortable, clean, roomy and most updated. We never saw a “tip” jar or a cranky employee, and we had four kids with us. We left things in rooms twice, and when we returned, they were labeled and waiting for us at the front desk. It is hard to imagine such a well-run operation especially considering most of the park and      these facilities are only open for the summer season.

Something for everyone at Lake Lodge Cafeteria

•       Restaurants. While you should probably have a big dinner at Lake Hotel or Old Faithful Inn dining room, we found the Lake Lodge Cafeteria and the “Grills” at Mammoth and Canyon much more manageable for a family.
•      The Chuck Wagon dinner at Roosevelt Lodge was not only great food (unlimited which was perfect for our almost 14-year-old grandson), but also just plain fun. Make reservations and enjoy!
•         There is rarely if ever Wi-Fi in the Park. A blessing in many respects. Cell coverage is available at all lodge/visitor areas and coverage goes in and out.

THINGS NOT TO FORGET

   1) Binoculars. We had one expensive pair and two REI ones for kids. All were good. We also had a telephoto lens on one camera. Cellphone cameras make it fun for everyone.

Binocular and telephoto lens

• 2) A small backpack. Yes, we forgot ours.
  3)   First aid kit with the basics including Band-Aids and larger dressings, Neosporin, Benadryl, antiseptic wipes, aspirin or Tylenol, something for bug bites
  4)   Sunscreen, insect repellant and Chap stick
  5)   Water bottles for each person. There are water refill stations at most General Stores and hotels. Due to the altitude and sometimes heat, you need LOTS of water.
  6)   Picnic essentials, a small cooler and food. The General Store selection is very limited, so pack what you can.
  7)   Warm jackets. Each kiddo had a down jacket and they wore them every day. I like wearing something with big pockets instead of carrying a backpack. Good thing since we forgot our small day pack. And small packable rain jackets could come in handy.
  8)   Hiking boots. Again, we wore ours everyday. Even the paths can be slippery.
  9)   Maps and general information books. I printed this all out on line before we left, but what we used the most was the map we got at the park entrance. Ask for extras since they fall apart after a few days of use.
  10)                 A sense of adventure along with a sense of humor. And everyone and everything packed in the car that you came with.

Check: one Papa and four grandkids

You can find just about everything you need at:

www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com

Yellowstone to Grand Teton

Mammoth Hot Springs, Photo by Maya

You Say Geothermal, We Say Geysers

Friday was the day of geysers and Old Faithful Inn and the incredible Norris Basin chock full of spewing geysers, pastel colored mud pots bubbling and spurting and generally giving the grandkids a run for their money. There are over 10,000 geothermal features and 300 active geysers in Yellowstone, and we watched Old Faithful erupt twice along with about a thousand other tourists.

 

Old Faithful

Great Fountain Geyser and Jazz

The park is so full of surprises and our stop at Great Fountain Geyser was one of them. This huge mud pot geyser spewed water and steam with regular eruptions right in front of us. Kai had on his headphones and was listening to Kid Jazz as all of this was going on. “Isn’t Uncle Mark a jazz guy?” he asked when explaining how the music went with the eruptions. He’s five.

Dumb and Dumber

And those weren’t our grandkids or their grandparents.

OK, the geologic wonders and wildlife sightings (female elk and bison---five Grizzly bears) were just part of the Wonderland of the park. Yet, the big laugh of Friday was at Gibbon Falls trail. The pathway was lined with a rock wall along the cliff with the churning river and falls below, when Maya pointed out two teenage (or college age) boys who had jumped over the rock wall and acting like just plain idiots. Much to the embarrassment of Jackson, Nana walked up to the wall and shouted at them: “Hey, Dumb and Dumber, get over this wall right now. I am getting a Ranger and you will be out of this park!” Amazingly, they hopped back over the wall and sulked away. As Jackson said, how embarrassing to have a grandma yell at you. Maya and Audrey did Nana/Dumb/Dumber reenactments all afternoon.

Mammoth Hot Springs

What is amazing about the park is the diversity. (Seriously, I just wrote that sentence.) We passed over the Continental Divide and everything changed. Fire scorched forests now dense with new growth, massive granite boulder fields, meandering rivers and creeks.

It is estimated that there are about 24% more visitors to the park this year, and we believe it especially in the Upper Geyser Basin around Old Faithful.

We headed to Madison then Norris Basin and onto Mammoth Hot Springs. While I recall this as being crowded in the past,  our entrance at Mammoth was smooth. (Maybe it was the seven miles of unpaved road now under construction.) We had two rooms in the original Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, sans private bathrooms (there are sinks in each room and shower/bathrooms across the hall). I would recommend this spot to anyone especially folks with kids.

(I will do a full roundup of lodges and hotels at the end of the trip.)

Chuck wagons rolling to dinner, Photo by Maya

Cowboy Dinner

Saturday’s Roosevelt Chuck Wagon dinner was our final planned event in Yellowstone. Rain was drizzling as we got into the car for an hour drive to Roosevelt Corrals, but as we piled into Wagon #4, the sun came out and the long process of dusk began. We chugged along behind Zach and Zeb (huge Belgium horses) with our guide, Alex, giving a commentary. Dinner: Sixteen ounce steaks and all the trimmings plus cowboy coffee and peach cobbler. Two veggie burgers were preordered for our veggies, and shock of shock, Kai ate his!!!

Hayden Valley and How Many Grizzly Can You Count?

On Sunday, we did a few diversions, but those brought us face to face with a gigantic Bison on the road to Madison then Grizzly bears.  Allen Point: Two big bears staking out an elk killed by a wolf on Saturday. Scarface, the oldest bear in Yellowstone, was calling this kill his own with another Grizzly in waiting with the wolf just sitting around for what might be dessert. (I’m going with the Scarface story because an old timer and bear watcher told me. No documentation required.)

Another Grizzly sauntering along the road made three Grizzly and one wolf in one morning!

 

Clockwise: wolf (white), Grizzly, Bison, Scarface over the carcass. Photo by Maya

Photographer Sighting

A highlight for me was running into Fred Plughoft at the Fishing Bridge General Store where he was signing books. Fred and David Morris were the best couple of photographers any writer could work with. Check out his books. Gorgeous.

Grand Teton Finale

 

GRand Teton here we come!

We crossed over into Grand Teton National Park, checked out Jackson Lake Lodge, caught a garter snake, walked to Lunch Box Hill and gazed at the range. We sat on the log where Jerry took my “author” photo in 2007.

 

Audrey, Jackson, Kai, Nana and Maya at Lunch Tree Hill.

Somewhere out there in the park behind us, Michael asked Karen to be his wife.

There would be no Nana & Papa Camp without our wonderful children, and the spouses they fell in love with and the four treasures they created.

So thank you Melissa, Sanjay, Michael and Karen. We love you all!

Where the Wild Things Are

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words

Maya framing a shot

We have experienced wild life including everything on the Yellowstone check list except a wolf. Tonight at dusk, we pulled over after our amazing Chuck Wagon dinner, and there was a moose in the distance...that was after seeing another Black Bear cub.

Maya has been our official photographer. Using a Canon EOS digital camera with three different lens, she has captured the following:

Bachelor Bison in Lamar Valley

Bull Elk in Hayden Valley

Black Bear Cub at Petrified Tree

Baby Bison in Lamar Valley

Grizzly Eating Elk Carcass at Canyon Junction

Female Elk near Mammoth Hot Springs

Coyote in Pleasant Valley

It's Official: Yellowstone National Park

Some days you just have to eat ice cream for lunch!

We all awoke to Gene Autrey singing “Oh Give Me a Home Where the Buffalo Roam”--- Jerry’s new discovery to replace an alarm clock.

We said goodbye to Skyline Guest Ranch and headed out of Cooke City and into Yellowstone National Park, officially beginning our tour of this country’s first national park.

You say Bison: we saw thousands of those big boys (and girls) and calves and stories of gorings galore (actually four by the time we got there). There is no accounting for the stupidity of people with cameras and iPhones. At first it was the wandering herds along the Lamar and Hayden valleys then a few just wandering down the road. Wherever they were, tourists like us pulled over to get a better look.

Petrified trees: Say a 5 million year-old one that is a Redwood, yes, just like the ones in California. Lots of changes over the years.

Why is it called Yellowstone you may ask: The expanse of those valleys that just humble the soul made way for the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This is where you figure out why it’s called Yellowstone---stone canyons carved and eroded and turned into ochre-hued cliffs. The meandering Yellowstone River narrows into two of the park’s signature waterfalls. Our ¾ mile downward hike to the brink of the Lower Falls that gush and crash and make your heart stop…especially with four kids looking over the chain link and stone fence. Only Papa got queasy. Then up to the Upper Falls for more of the same but a shorter hike and fewer people.

Explain Ice Cream for Lunch: By then there was way too much to see and do to stop for a picnic, so, hence the idea of ice cream for lunch. Maya treated and we were off.

Bull Elk: Are huge. Really huge and when that baby is about 25 yards away, it looks, well, really huge. And we all saw it!

Is that a Grizzly Bear or just hundreds of people? The Rangers call this a Bear Jam. But why not, this is why to come to the park! This was our first Grizzly, and I never would have seen it if not for the kindness of someone with a spotter lens. There in the distance of Hayden Valley amidst meadows and the meandering Yellowstone River was a Grizzly. Our first.

Lake Hotel and Lake Lodge: We got our reservations at the historic Lake Hotel that had just gone through a 28.5 million dollar renovation. In addition to structural work, Xanterra in cooperation with the park service has redone the main hotel public spaces, dining room, bar, etc. and really spiffed up guestrooms to be more of a “couples” hotel. We are definitely not in the couple mode, so we got two rooms in the non-renovated Sandpiper Annex that worked out just fine. By the way, that annex will be updated next year (and there are cabins too). Let me say that the interior of the hotel has been tastefully updated, opened up and since it had been updated numerous times (including by the architect Robert Reamer, it was a challenge to decide just what era to go with. (Make sure to catch the 5:30 tour by Michelle Trapper who is writing a history of the hotel.) PS I will write more about Lake Hotel renovation when I get back to Bend.

I mention Lake Lodge because for families this is THE place to eat. The wonderful cafeteria caters to families, and they really helped with our crew. Also, I love the rustic, log main Lake Lodge that is going through some preservation work right now. The huge great hall has a couple of wood burning fireplaces and enough atmosphere to make anyone hankering for the Wild West to be happy. There are cabins available here and the lake views from both the Hotel and Lodge are spectacular.

Back to Wild Life: And I don’t necessarily mean traveling with four kids. After breakfast at the aforementioned Lake Lodge Cafeteria, we headed to our first Ranger program Mud Pot Ramble that took us through more stinky ,bubbling, mudpots than I knew were in the park. (Remember, I spent all of my time in archives and lodges when researching my books.) The 1-½ hour program was a bit too long for our crew, but Maya stuck it out because she is the official Nana & Papa Photographer and loves this stuff.

OK. Here is it the ultimate Bear Jam. Papa decided we should go back to the Hayden Valley and we hit the jackpot!!!!! The day before a wolf had killed an elk just 25 yards from the road. I don’t know, but I think it was in his contract. So, this gigantic Grizzly chased off the wolf, buried the elk and was feeding on the carcass. This made for some amazing viewing. We had two sets of binos and Maya’s lens. Once again, the kindness of another ogler with a spotter lens gave each of us a really up close and personal look at this. You think a thousand people, an NPS ambulance (just in case), traffic NPS “police” would be a zoo with hundreds of cars and motorcycles and RVs but NO! It was a blast. Everyone was having such a great experience and we were sharing it with people from all over the world. Just amazing. Yes, the national parks were indeed “America’s Best Idea”.

After all of the excitement, we chilled out along the Nez Perce Ford tributary of the Yellowstone, picnicked, waded, skipped rocks and unwound from a fabulous day.

 Oh, yes dinner: As I write this blog, the kids (all dressed up and killing time with Papa) are listening to Chamber Music in the Solarium as we await our 7:45 fancy-dinner-of-the-trip reservations. I know it will be great. How can it be anything else?

Off to Old Faithful and the Upper Geyer Basin in the morning!