The Trip – Part 2: We make our way to Yellowstone National Park
Heading out of the Bighorn National Forest we drove through Cody, Wyoming, and into the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. This was the primary destination we had in mind when we left Madison. It was just after Labor Day and the summer crowds were rapidly dwindling. Some campground loops were already closed for the season.
We didn’t want to camp near a big attraction like Old Faithful with all of its buildings, parking lots, boardwalks and residual tourists. Some campgrounds required hard-sided campers because of the danger from grizzly bears. After driving around a bit we eventually ended up in the Madison Junction Campground. This was not only a bit more isolated from the Yellowstone traffic and, hopefully, grizzly bears, but it was also not too far from the town of West Yellowstone, Montana, where we would need to go to buy reasonably priced food and gas.
It’s important to remember that in 1973 we were not inundated with photographs and videos of every place on earth as we are today. Although we had seen pictures of things like Old Faithful and black bears roaming the roads, much of Yellowstone was still a mystery to us. And what an amazing mystery it was. I felt like Dorothy looking out at the Land of Oz (but without that pesky dog Toto).
As I’m sure you know, Yellowstone is not a small place. It’s about 3500 square miles and there are over 400 miles of roads. We had a map and a guidebook and no deadlines. So, we would select a part of the park that we wanted to explore, drive there and spend the day hiking and/or driving, usually with a picnic lunch and canteens along for sustenance. Occasionally we would go to town for supplies or just hang around the campsite and read or write postcards.
I can’t write about everything or this would be a book instead of a blog. However, I’d like to mention a few of my fond memories from Yellowstone. I hadn’t heard of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River before reaching the park. When we arrived at the first viewpoint I was amazed. Roaring waterfalls, steep walls, orange and yellow rocks, and a raging river came into view. This is definitely one of my favorite places in the park. At one stop the sun shining through the mist from the falls created a rainbow. Very nice.
When we drove to Old Faithful I was surprised to find the road turn into a freeway interchange with an exit for Old Faithful. Although it was interesting to watch, there are semicircular rows of benches filled with crowds waiting for the next eruption so it was kind of like being at a football game or a carnival. I found the other geysers and hot springs in the geyser basin to be more interesting.
It was great to see moose, elk, bears, buffalo (bison, actually), and other animals roaming around in the wild. Having grown up on a hog farm, I was used to seeing pigs roam around, but this was a little different. One day we were out hiking and came upon a bison standing on the trail eating grass. We watched him for a while and then decided that we should give him the right-of-way.
I had one minor mishap during our stay in Yellowstone. I wore contact lenses then, and while leaning over a railing one day to photograph some boiling mud, I blinked and the lens on my right eye popped out and disappeared into the steam and mud below. Later that day I got a pocketful of quarters, found a phone booth and called my optometrist. He had another pair of contacts sent to me in care of General Delivery in, I think, Jackson, Wyoming. I was able to pick up that package a week or so later when we stayed in Grand Teton National Park.
One of my nicest memories has nothing to do with the park but with the people. We returned from hiking one day to find a big trailer in the campsite next to us. We figured, of course, that it was some old folks. Since we were usually gone most days we weren’t concerned. Later, a man walked over from the trailer and said he noticed our license plates. He was originally from Wisconsin, though he had lived in Virginia and worked in Washington DC for many years. He and his wife sold their home, bought their trailer, and were going to travel around the US for two years before settling down in retirement.
If I remember correctly, their names were Homer and Ruth Walters. They invited us over for dinner and served us steak; they even had ice cream for dessert! It seemed kind of funny to be called “you kids” by them.
One day when we returned to our campsite after hiking we found a large pile of split firewood under our picnic table. The next day Homer told us that he noticed we usually had a campfire to keep warm in the evening so he got some wood from the campground wood pile and split it up for us to use. What a wonderful gift. We exchanged letters and Christmas cards with them for several years.
Soon the weather was starting to turn cold. We even had light snow overnight a couple times. Since we still wanted to have time to visit Rocky Mountain National Park before it was closed for the winter, we decided to pack up and hit the road.