Day 5: Back in Time – First Day in Yellowstone
Today is actually Day 12 on my trip, and I have been thinking about how I can relate the days that have past already on this journey. Each day seems to get better and better. This morning was glorious. This is actually one of two times that I have really to sit and rest. I’m kind of tired but I’m feeling like typing as opposed to writing, although I have learned to love writing especially with the proper equipment.
This trip I brought a little leather bound journal that my other half bought for me on a another short trip we had recently to the Portland Art Museum. The note book is called a “Roma Lussa” and says it was made in Florence Italy, another one of my favorite places.
And then! Just before our trip I found these wonderful “Varsity” disposable fountain pens at the local art store. I loved to use them in college and finding one before the trip was just grand.
Weird isn’t it, when using a type of pen gives one so much pleasure? The pen and the quality of the paper in the notebook has been just a joy to write with and on. The feel of the nib across the paper feels good to my fingers, the sound of the scratching on the paper is music to my ears.
As you can probably tell from the photo my handwriting “has character”, and writing in a moving vehicle probably couldn’t have hurt it much. This is one of the rare parts of the book where I wrote on both sides of the pages. Depending on the journal type I tend to leave back pages for drawings, special notes, or lists.
I’m trying to think when I started writing travel journals. I suppose my first was on a trip to Italy when I was about 9 years old. That journal is lost to the ages (my mother) but that would be a different story. Although, I have written daily journals of one fashion or another in my life, the only type of journal I have written with any form of consistency have been travel journals.
A Fifteen Year Old Journal Found
So, we are camping in the middle of Yellowstone National Park, we get to our campsite, as remove our tent from one of two large plastic green and white containers that keep our camping supplies in, I spied a notebook with a multicolored cover. I told my other half, “Wow… I think that is an old travel journal.” He picked it up inquisitively looked at the out side of it; he turned then handed the small book to me. As I opened the first few pages I see the date something-something-93. The entries of the journal were from the time my other half and I just met, and how I felt around the time when we first got to know one another fifteen years ago.
During one of the evenings at the park, I took the notebook out and read a couple pages to him. It was a little difficult to read (my penmanship might have improved over the years), and it was also a little scary because who knows what would be written in there! I read to him the few pages by flashlight in front of our warm campfire, and happily, he was smiling when I got done reading them. I closed the little book; I’m sure there are plenty more stories and trips described within its little pages, but those stories will wait to be read another day; I gently placed the little book back into the large plastic green container.
But this is a story of the trip, and day one of our time in Yellowstone…
Bozeman to Yellowstone:
By the time we hit Bozeman it had become obvious that we had been in quite a rush to get through to Yellowstone. It is typical of our road trips that we try to drive through what-is-close to get to what-is-far. It was at this time that I reminded myself that once we got into the park, the rush was over. It is much too easy to keep the “rush mind” in place. I don’t know about you, but for me rush mind on a vacation is pretty bad. On a road trip I would worry that by the end of a vacation, all that would be remembered it a blur and a lot of car time. As we left Bozeman was a good time for a vacation-reality-check; the goal of the vacation was to see some sites and relax, not to rush from place to place.
I can’t say much about Bozeman because we were still “getting going” to Yellowstone. The one thing I can say about it is that we found the cheapest gasoline on our trip so far: $3.99 a gallon. I can say this about the trip through Idaho… it was certainly high on my list of “favorite” parts of the trip.
Just before getting in the park we also saw a sign, which in my own geeky way I felt refreshed by…
The area around Yellowstone, although not inside Yellowstone is part of the greater “Yellowstone” ecosystem. While Yellowstone’s 3467 square miles was put aside as a the first National Park in 1872, the surrounding land was not. Through much politicking, I’m sure, and compromises with land owners, the land was purchased and set aside. This particular area, the area that surrounds the closest section of US-89 to the park, has been bought up by agreements between the State of Montana, and other organizations (including the Nature Conservancy) to “save” the land in perpetuity. This area, called the Winter Range, is a great section of meadowland that the herds of various animals use during the winter. Quite a cool thing… plus I have an interest in the Nature Conservancy; it was cool to see their participation here.
Entering from the North:
Entering Yellowstone from the North Entrance is the traditional and most popular route, made obvious by the throngs of people at the Mammoth Hot Springs visitor center. It was at this time I started to notice different types of tourists, and why the warnings seem soo…. well… I’ll save that story for another day.
We came into Yellowstone, saw the arch. We got to the North Entrance visitor center about 1 PM (all the visitor centers are different and are neat to visit). I picked up a couple books to help us a long the way (both recommended):
 Yellowstone Treasures: The Traveler’s Companion to the National ParkISBN: 0970687311 |
and…
 Windows into the Earth: The Geologic Story of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National ParksISBN: 0195105974 |
After checking out the visitor center and getting acclimated, we headed toward the Madison Camp ground. They aren’t kidding when they say get reservations in early.
If you notice, if you want anything with more than a pit toilet you are out of luck. Actually the sign lies… Mammoth was full too. We encountered many people looking for a camping space. With children, you can get away with just a flush toilet near by… I don’t even want to imagine just a pit toilet for a few days camping. I had an episode as a camp counselor once that included an 8 year old and a pit toilet… it still makes me twitch.
When we asked the nice hospitality-ranger about the rumors of being able to pick up a camp site if you wait for check out, he said sure, but there is a waiting list for that. By the time we got to our camp site, which was around 3:00 PM they already had five people waiting for a site just in case someone decided to back out.
Day 1: The Sites
I think I will summarize a few things once I get a story a day out. I’m still working in my head my favorites, and of course, there are a few more days of vacation that will be competing with the list from Yellowstone. (Oh! This morning was INCREDIBLE…smiles… look for Day 12… hehheheh….)
Home away from home:
In the time after we put up our tent, something we can do in about 10 minutes tops, we saw the following sites:
Midway Geyser Basin Loop Walk
This was one of the cooler things we did. I really loved this. This was our first view of the geothermal features of the park, and I tell you what, I’m sure that even after seeing as many as I did by the time I left the park, I think this was one of my favorite if not my favorite. If I had more time I would have gone back to see this again.
The loop consists of two very memorable features: the Excelsior Geyser and the Grand Prismatic Spring. There are a few other features as well. All astounding. Seeing these features first in the park was like getting that “we have really arrived feeling” when you have reached the first milestone of your vacation, and you know it is not going to suck.
I don’t have the time, right now, to write out a description of these features, you can find them on the Internet for sure. Perhaps, I will write more in summary form later. Here are some images from the loop walk.
Excelsior Geyser is huge… It is currently a “spring” with run off. In the run off colorful bacteria live, which gives you some wonderful colors. As you learn the colors, you can actually tell which parts of a geothermal is hotter than another, and if you learn more, you can tell the temperature of the water at a specific point.
Here is a quick composite photo I made of the run off:
The pool had the deepest blues in it, the steam rising off of the pool was exciting to feel.
Truly beautiful.
Here is my most favorite photo of the day; a little dragon fly friend that got too close to the bacteria beds of the Grand Prismatic Spring.
The Grand Prismatic Spring was just something to sit in awe over, and we did. Just something to sit and look at and feel… wow…
There were some oddities in the bacteria beds, but I will leave that to a different day’s story. Time is getting short for my writing time. My other half is up from his rest. Poor baby was tired.
Old Faithful and Old Faithful Inn (not the walk)
You have to see Old Faithful… and you really should see the Old Faithful Inn. Old Faithful is cool. It really should be called… Old Sure Thing. If you are really unlucky and don’t get to see another geyser in the park go off, this beautiful girl goes off every 90 or so minutes. And she is quite a site…
This is a picture from the first time we saw Old Faithful erupt…
Fire Hole Lake Drive
We started getting tired and the day was growing long, so we decided to do the two drives that we found close by. One was Fire Hole Lake Drive.
We did this drive at a favorite time for me to take pictures; the sun was sitting just right in the sky. (These are the first time I’m seeing the pictures I took, so you kind of get to see them for the first time with me.) 
I have a few images to make into a composite photo of the Great Fountain Geyser but here is one that I tried to get in one shot:
The Great Fountain Geyser in the picture didn’t seem like it wanted to going off… and on this day the next predicted time to go off at 5 AM. We had given up on seeing one of Yellowstone’s best Geysers go off. Or did we…?
Fire Hole Canyon Drive
Fire Hole Canyon Drive was a short loop drive with views of Fire Hole Falls… nice drive for the end of a long day.
Headed home for dinner…
The first day at Yellowstone was done. We headed back to camp just about 9 PM for dinner. What an awesome day…
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