Why leave Wyoming to the almost end ? I was never anxious to visit because Yellowstone seemed like such a tourist mecca, I just didn’t want to go there. Finally in 2021, at the height of the COVID delta surge, I went with Natural Habitat tours on a one week adventure in the middle of September. It was glorious! Weather was lovely (no snow but forecast for the next week), crowds were manageable, and the itinerary kept us off the beaten path. Everyone needs to go to Yellowstone once in their life. The wildlife was unimaginable, wolves (the Butte Junction pack with 6 or 7 pups in tow), large herds of bison, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, moose, and elk (in rut and bugling like crazy).
I can start with bison. What did the mother buffalo say to her young boy as he headed off to the first day of school? “Bye, Son.” Oh my, a little 3rd grade Wyoming humor. The bison herd in Yellowstone is thriving. They are huge animals. One reads about tourists being gored by charging bisons, most probably because they got too close. We had plenty of close up views of bison, but we never got out of our van when we were in close proximity to the animals. In any event the primary emphasis of our trip, guided by two superb naturalists, was to see and learn about the wolves. Toward that end we spent more time than most tourists do in the Lamar Valley. Our motel in Cooke City, Montana was ideally located for our early morning and late evening sojourns into the Lamar Valley. We spotted most of the wildlife that Yellowstone is known for, including a grizzly bear, in addition to wolves, bison, pronghorns, and everything in between, including two sandhill cranes on the river who happened to be passing through on the way south for the winter. After three full days observing wolves and exploring the Lamar Valley we set off on the traditional route one takes through Yellowstone, driving from Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful, where we spent a night at a park lodge (a welcome change after Motel Six in Cooke City) and then continued south out of the park and on to Grand Teton National Park. One of the others on the trip managed to get a picture of the wolf pack’s encounter with a grizzly and this picture is her attempt to preserve that moment through a sighting scope. The photographer and her sister were from Hawaii and I never met anyone so committed to wolves. She loved the trip.
The second part of our visit to Yellowstone involved primarily the famed geological sites such as the geysers, including Old Faithful, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Mammoth Hot Springs, and Yellowstone Lake. Of course our visit to Mammoth Hot Springs included a visit with the “tame” elk that wander through the grounds of the hotel and administrative buildings. The elk are not tame and should not be approached, but they are brazen denizens of the area. I was surprised at how interesting the hot springs with their varied coloration were. The geysers, while interesting, were not as intriguing as the colorations of the hot springs. Old Faithful did perform on cue and that was a blessing because there were hundreds of folks crowded around to observe. We spent the night at the Old Faithful Lodge on the grounds near a collection of geysers, including the namesake. The area has been developed with numerous tourist amenities such as restaurants and gift shops, not really my cup of tea. I was much more taken with the Lake Hotel on Yellowstone Lake inside the park. The area is less developed and while the hotel is more refined and not in the traditional western national park lodge style, it appears to me be an elegant place to stay. https://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/lodgings/cabin/lake-yellowstone-hotel-cabins/ This hotel features a string quartet and a grand piano in the hotel lobby to welcome visitors. It is not a typical national park hotel. Yellowstone Lake as evidenced in the photo below is one beautiful spot.
From Yellowstone our tour proceeded due south to Grand Teton National Park and then on to Jackson Hole for our final night and early morning departure. https://www.nathab.com/us-national-parks-tours/yellowstone-safari/ I had chosen Natural Habitat because we had previously traveled with them to the Galapagos. It was nice for my first major post-pandemic, nonsolo road trip, vacation to travel with an organized group that followed CDC rules and required proof of vaccination of all participants. I felt relatively safe. Grand Teton National Park turned out to be much more grand than I imagined it to be. Probably if I had planned this trip myself I would have just gone to Yellowstone and missed Grand Teton. Of course I would have also missed Jackson Hole which would have been no great loss because it is a touristy town like Bar Harbor or Banff or any other town immediately adjacent to a national park in the USA or Canada. The best I can offer about Jackson Hole was the very non-Wyoming sign in the hotel lobby.
It was in Grand Teton that we really saw and heard the elk bugling. We did not get as close to them as at the Mammoth Springs Hotel, but the excitement of the early morning view of the elk in rut and the sound of their bugle was a never to be forgotten experience. The scenery in Grand Teton was spectacular and the Lodge where we stayed was a great classic park accommodation with views of the mountains and a fine dining room and bar. Grand Teton is a five star destination in my book. Even the butter at dinner retained the wildlife theme, and I hated to spread it on my delicious bread. And then there was the ride in the raft down the Snake River, a completely relaxing trip for me, captured in the picture above at the top of this page as the butter is pictured below.
Interestingly Yellowstone became a national park because of the thermal features, not as a wildlife haven. Ulysses S. Grant was the president who signed the park into law. Eventually the cavalry had to be sent in to establish a military fort to try to keep the poachers and other vandals at bay. Another historical factoid worth noting is that Wyoming is known as the Equality State because it was the first state to grant women the vote, the right to serve on juries, and to hold public office. Historical factoids are interesting, but being on the ground in Wyoming, exploring the hidden places, seeing the wildlife, that is what the state is about as the pictures below taken at Grand Teton prove beyond any doubt.
Memories - A Second Chance at Happiness 