You said it Teddy!

"The beauty and charm of the wilderness are his for the asking, for the edges of the wilderness lie close beside the beaten roads of the present travel." -Theodore Roosevelt

Greetings from Yellowstone!

Our 26th President had a great influence on the creation of many of our National Parks, and certainly had a great appreciation of nature’s beauty. After seeing what we did today, I don't think he could have said it any better.

We departed Cody, WY around 8:00 AM this morning and headed west towards Yellowstone. On the way, we drove through Buffalo Bill State Park; a lonely but scenic drive through rocky territory next to a lake. After driving by many houses perched on the side of the mountains we began to wonder what it would be like to live in such a unique location. It’s amazing scenery, yes, but the fact that you’re away from nearly everything would definitely be a challenge. Comical to us was the occasional site of: among all the wide open space, a cluster of 3-4 houses right next to each other. I’m picturing the first guy to move there: “Ah what a great place!” Then the neighbor moves in and… “Hey what th-!”

Our first overlook point at Yellowstone.

We reached the entrance of Yellowstone mid-morning, paid our $25 park entry fee and were off. To my surprise, there were no general questions from the ranger… “Where are you planning to go?” “Have you been to Yellowstone before?” Nope, just a simple “Hi welcome to Yellowstone! Here you go!” After taking our information bulletin and map of the park we were off. The park information was mainly full of what I’d call “don’t do __________, or you’ll die” tidbits. Don’t feed a bear, don’t step on bubbling volcanic geyser ground, and if you see an animal make any “unnatural movements,” you’re too close. 

HOT SPRINGS!

Our first views of the park were of course very scenic. However, we couldn't help but notice most of the trees looked… dead? charred? diseased? Whatever it was, we saw lots of sticks with no leaves. Regardless, the lay of the land was a blast to drive (I had the first stint of the day). As we moved further into the park, the land definitely began to green up. Our first stop was at one of the many hot springs locations. Around hot springs the park usually has a slightly elevated walk where you can walk out and over the springs and take some pretty cool steam photos and hear the bubbling hot water come up from under the ground. The smell of sulfur can be unbearable at times depending on where you’re standing. At one point half of the crew walked right over a steam trap and were coughing for the next half-hour!

After the hot springs, we got to see some of the more rolling plains areas of Yellowstone. You know, “where the buffalo roam”? I had wanted to see some Buffalo since back in South Dakota and we STILL hadn’t seen any. Finally we came across a small heard off in the distance and got a chance for some great photos before heading to the water falls.

Oh give me a home...

I can’t emphasize this enough, but the park is MASSIVE. It probably sounds really short in writing when reading “we then drove to…”, but short drives can still take quite a while, but the scenery makes it worth it. Doing some quick research, Chris realized the Lower Falls were bigger (and likely better) than the Upper Falls, so we took the hiking trail down to see it. We could see the Upper Falls from a distance and stopped to take some photos. The trail was steep and just went back and forth down the mountain until you reached the lookout point. When we reached the lookout point it was breathtaking. Last year we had visited Niagara Falls, but this was just something in its own class. What really makes the trail is that you can’t see the falls until you reach the bottom. Looking out over the falls you can see the “Yellow Stone” off in the distance.

View from the bottom of the trail near the falls. See the yellow stone?

A view looking over the falls.

After several photos and gazing down into the canyon we hiked back up towards Xena. We quickly learned our lungs weren’t used to the altitude, and were exhausted by the time we got to the top and needed some water and nourishment. In Jami’s words, “I need a cookie, STAT!” Well, after a quick cookie we drove up to the falls lookout point where we could see back to the top of the falls from a distance. It really gave us a perspective of just how big it all is. We took a chance for a photo-op, then went back to the van and made lunch before heading towards Old Faithful.

View of the falls from the opposite side of the mountain.

We arrived at the location of Old Faithful mid-afternoon. It was easy to tell this was the #1 visited attraction in the park. The road leading up to it turned from a 2-lane into a 4-lane and a clover leaf interchange. Old Faithful has its own visitor’s center, a hotel, and numerous lodges. The geyser has a well-established tourist setup with benches and a large sidewalk all around it. This came in handy because we had to wait awhile before it erupted. There was some wagering going on in the van whether or not Old Faithful was predictable to the minute, or if it was somewhat unpredictable. Truth is, it can vary widely and we got lucky because we only had to wait about 20 mins. before it erupted.

Old Faithful...un-erupted.

Seeing Old Faithful in all its glory, we headed south towards Grand Teton National Park.