A few things I did right on my second trip to Yellowstone.
- Saw the lower and upper falls.
- It's only 50 steps to get to the view in the photo once you are in the parking area and at the top of the view. The falls are taller than Niagara. I also saw Moose Falls which is small, but beautiful.
- Saw a grizzly...eating flowers. Really, she was. The radio collar on the neck tells me the rangers know where this bear is. I think it was Bonita.
- Enjoyed the different temperatures and the Grand Teton Park as well.
For me, it was the adventure of a lifetime.
But I must admit, the first time I went in 2022, it was nice, but it didn't work out well. I had very little information because the trip started when I heard myself telling someone I was going to go to Yellowstone, and I had no idea those words were about to leave my mouth. Then, I heard about someone else having an adventure and I decided I should try to make my goal of going to Yellowstone come true. A short time later...about the time it took to text a friend and ask if she wanted to go with me, I was thinking seriously about the trip. I looked up flights and soon was booking airline tickets.
The first visit was more of a chance to dip my toes into the river (which is legal and safe at the location where I stopped.) I planned to get reservations for a hotel and a rental car and let my whims guide me.
That didn't exactly work out as expected.
The park had flooding and I wasn't sure what to do. I had been planning to go in through the North Entrance—which was closed.
I travelled around the upper edge of the park after driving that direction on a whim...and went in through the West Entrance for a few hours. I was fortunate that I found my hotel again, and that the allergies which went mountain-high at the dinosaur museum (in Bozeman) waned soon after I left, that the hail didn't damage the vehicle, and that I wasn't involved in the horrific dust storm... I could go on...
It was one of those vacations that I was thankful didn't involve paramedics. I kid you not. The number of near misses made it a vacation I don't expect to forget.
Yet the hot springs fascinated me, and I wanted to go back, even though a foot in a shoe had been found in the park a few days after I left.
The second visit was much more of a vacation and less of a survival experience.
Hot springs. Animals. Waterfalls. Photo opportunities at almost every turn, and not the kind that end up on the Tourons of Yellowstone posts.
Yellowstone isn't a theme park. It's perhaps the best of nature, and it can be the worst of it. And it is hard to remember common sense when a grizzly is in front of you. Or when you're seeing a landscape beyond anything you've ever seen before.
So glad I took a second look and was able to experience Yellowstone.
But I must admit, the first time I went in 2022, it was nice, but it didn't work out well. I had very little information because the trip started when I heard myself telling someone I was going to go to Yellowstone, and I had no idea those words were about to leave my mouth. Then, I heard about someone else having an adventure and I decided I should try to make my goal of going to Yellowstone come true. A short time later...about the time it took to text a friend and ask if she wanted to go with me, I was thinking seriously about the trip. I looked up flights and soon was booking airline tickets.
The first visit was more of a chance to dip my toes into the river (which is legal and safe at the location where I stopped.) I planned to get reservations for a hotel and a rental car and let my whims guide me.
That didn't exactly work out as expected.
The park had flooding and I wasn't sure what to do. I had been planning to go in through the North Entrance—which was closed.
I travelled around the upper edge of the park after driving that direction on a whim...and went in through the West Entrance for a few hours. I was fortunate that I found my hotel again, and that the allergies which went mountain-high at the dinosaur museum (in Bozeman) waned soon after I left, that the hail didn't damage the vehicle, and that I wasn't involved in the horrific dust storm... I could go on...
It was one of those vacations that I was thankful didn't involve paramedics. I kid you not. The number of near misses made it a vacation I don't expect to forget.
Yet the hot springs fascinated me, and I wanted to go back, even though a foot in a shoe had been found in the park a few days after I left.
The second visit was much more of a vacation and less of a survival experience.
Hot springs. Animals. Waterfalls. Photo opportunities at almost every turn, and not the kind that end up on the Tourons of Yellowstone posts.
Yellowstone isn't a theme park. It's perhaps the best of nature, and it can be the worst of it. And it is hard to remember common sense when a grizzly is in front of you. Or when you're seeing a landscape beyond anything you've ever seen before.
So glad I took a second look and was able to experience Yellowstone.
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Part of the antler arches in Jackson, Wyoming and Moose Falls in Yellowstone.
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