Wednesday June 7th 2017

Today was the wrap up day for my Yellowstone experience. I didn’t go into the park today, but spent some time in the village of West Yellowstone. It is the center for most of the tourism into the park. There are hotels, bread and breakfasts and campgrounds throughout the town. All of the major tour operators seem to be based in here as well. A MacDonald has even opened in town. You have to look hard to find it since it is a wood sided building that blends in well and it is pretty small.

Mountains and sky above my RV home. This view out my front window is memorable.

Overall I’ve enjoyed my visit to Yellowstone National Park. It wasn’t in my original plans for this summer, but when I saw how close to my route north the park was I added the stop in West Yellowstone into my plans. During the eight nights I’ve spent in West Yellowstone I spent five days in the park. Each day I drove between one and two hundred miles to see the areas along most of the main roads. The only route I didn’t explore was the road south toward the Grand Tetons. Touring that area will come another time.

The park’s geology exceeded my expectations. I did not know there were as many diverse geysers, hot springs, vents and such in the park. I though going in that all of the geothermal activity was around Old Faithful. It surprised me to see geysers and vents on the other side of the park forty or miles as the crow flies. I liked walking around the Norris Basin better than the area around Old Faithful. I will admit that Old Faithful is impressive. I would like to have seen another one of the bigger geysers going off, but the timing never worked out.

The mountains, rivers and canyons were beyond my expectations. While I knew the park was in the mountains I didn’t consider all of the elevation changes that you encounter driving around the park. Visiting at this time of year with the snow caps still visible and the rivers near flood stage with the runoff contributed to the beauty of the park. The Yellowstone River canyon was another surprise.

I expected to see lots of bison and I did. Perhaps the only surprising aspect of the bison is the number of different areas that they roam through. I was not surprised by their use of the roads as their own. I had that experience in North Dakota a number of years ago. It was nice to see the bison calves. They add an element of cuteness to the otherwise ugly beasts.

The Mule Deer were a surprise. I had heard of the animal, but had never considered what their habitat was like. Once I knew what to look for, I saw several. I also saw more ordinary deer and a couple of pairs of Prong Horns. Unfortunately, I never saw any Elk. I wasn’t in the right place at the right time. The warm weather may have pushed them to higher altitudes.

I saw several Black Bears, but no Grizzles. Once again I wasn’t in the right place at the right time. I met several people that had seen Bears the previous day or earlier the same day if they are to be believed. The Wolves also went undetected, but this is not as surprising. The Wolves are usually only seen near night fall and I’m back at my RV home by then.

The animals I haven’t seen provide a reason to return another time. Late spring was a good time to visit. The snow had melted enough that most everything was open, but it wasn’t the heat of the summer yet. I’d like to time my next visit to be in September before it gets too cold.