48stateroadtrip.com » yellowstone

FYI, Camper: This Is What a Bear Looks Like

bkdunn — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:48:15 +0000

You’re in J-353, Loop J. Just follow the main road until you get to Loop J, then turn left. Here are the bathrooms (circles map), you can go to the site right now, check-out is at noon. We have bears in Yellowstone, so there are a number of rules (circles bullet-pointed rules), so don’t leave any food out, any toiletries, trash, soap, otherwise the bears will come and if they become a problem, they may have to be killed (circles picture of bear).

I just wonder whether she circled the bear because she didn’t think I knew what one looked like, or if it was just for emphasis. Either way, it was dramatic.

bkd

Yellowstone vs. the Tourist Horde (Day 44)

bkdunn — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:17:43 +0000

Even surrounded by hordes, I think geysers are pretty cool. I’d like to see them without the hordes one day — maybe they’d be even cooler. Ah. Well.

Chromatic Pool with some steamers in the background.

Nature’s take on the dreamsicle.

Two senior citizens walk up the sunny-day boardwalk toward their doom.

Morning Glory Pool — by midday, the colors fade to brownish-gray.

Some steam and a cloud that I liked.

Eleven minutes late.

I like the colors. If I’m in the area again, I’d stop by and check out the Upper Geyser Basin again. Probably wouldn’t need to overnight it or anything, unless someone unearths some sort of incredible hike in the area, though. There are, just, too many people all trying to look at the same things here. IMHO. Always IMHO.

Oh, and the Yellowstone animal tally:

Two elk (one buck, one doe).
Three chipmunks.
No bears.
Infinite bison.

bkd

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and Nearby Attractions (Day 43)

bkdunn — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:30:25 +0000

Without a whole lot of time to explore the park, I decided I’d hit the Canyon area Friday, then the geysers on Saturday. As such, Friday:

There’s this stairway down to Lower (Yellowstone?) Falls that’s called Uncle Tom’s Trail. There are a lot of stairs there and a lot of overweight people who should maybe more-fully consider the trip back up the stairs before starting the trip down. Oh well. Also: rainbows.

Lower Falls.

Same waterfall, but this time with a “Grand Canyon” view. The canyon has interesting colors in it (not pictured).

See? Interesting colors.

Hayden Valley — sort of how you’d romantically envision all of Wyoming looking. I think it mostly doesn’t look like this, but maybe the government can fix that for us. Write your congressman (or congresswoman!).

Yellowstone is crowded.
I guess the good and bad thing about the place is that the most important sites are very accessible.
Actually, that seems mostly bad, since it’s hard to lose the sense that you’re not alone. Very hard.
Every photo ends up feeling trite since, well, anywhere you stand to take one there are five other people trying to do the same thing.
And then the trails don’t seem to take you anywhere you really need to go.
Plus, you have to buy intra-park regional trail guides ($0.50 each, but still — these are usually included on park maps).
But these trail guides really only talk about the often-paved little nature trails that run alongside the various parking lots.
In fact, some of the “trails” they include aren’t trails, they’re just parking lots.
And then if you ever do get onto a trail, the stuff in the guide doesn’t match up with the names of things on the signs at the trailhead.
Meh.

bkd