May 12-19, 2021
Yellowstone National Park quickly became my favorite to visit after my first trip there in 2019. It took me some time to realize it wasn’t only because of the unbelievable scenery and natural wonders, but the excitement of seeing the abundant wildlife. After my first trip in 2019, I stopped again with my mom in the summer of 2020 on an epic cross country road trip, then again with a friend while we were both still furloughed because of the pandemic. My first solo trip was in May of 2021. It wasn’t a spur of the moment trip, but came about because I realized that no one else had requested a certain week off from work and I swooped in and then planned where to go, there was no where else I wanted to go, but back to the nation’s first national park.
Planning started in January. I was able to book the lodges inside of the park. The first two nights I would stay in the Mammoth Hotel, then four nights in the Old Faithful area, then the final night back in Mammoth before flying out of Bozeman. Everything was booked and ready to go, but then in March 2021 I got an email that had me scrambling, the room types I booked were no longer available, you see, I had booked into the “cabins WITHOUT bathrooms.” At the lodges in Yellowstone there are rustic cabins that do not have bathrooms so you use a communal comfort station, like you would find at a campground, but due to COVID-19 restrictions the lodges decided against opening those bathrooms so the room type wasn’t available. I had to stalk the lodging website to try and find alternative rooms and since it was only a month and half before my trip I was in a bit of a panic. I rebooked my first 2 nights in Gardiner (just 15 min north of Mammoth), I called and spoke to an awesome employee who was able to secure me 3 nights in the Old Faithful area that matched my dates, booked a night in Jackson (this was when I detoured and spent extra time in Grand Teton National Park), and my final night was booked at the Mammoth Hotel in a cabin WITH a bathroom. After that slight hiccup, I was ready to go!
The day of my trip arrived. I flew to Bozeman which is only a little over an hour and a half from Mammoth Hot Springs and the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park. I stopped at a grocery store to get snacks and food to sustain me for my trip and then headed for my hotel. I originally thought that I would venture into the park after I checked in and got settled, but after the day of travel I was exhausted and decided to hang out and relax the first night. Now, I could make all of these last minute changes and not feel bad because I travelled alone for this trip. In all honesty I would never suggest traveling to Yellowstone alone. The National Parks Service recommends that you hike in Yellowstone with a group of 3 or more for safety reasons, obviously you have to contend with the elements, but you also have to be wary of wildlife in the park. In my planning I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hike all the trails that I might want to explore and would stick to the established boardwalks and highly trafficked areas so I could view the wildlife from afar.
After checking in to my hotel in Gardiner I enjoyed my first night just getting ready for my day in the park. I knew I’d head into the park early, because of course I would! Early to rise and late to sleep whenever I’m in the National Parks. Early the next morning I woke up and prepared to enter the park, the first stop was the Roosevelt Arch just outside Yellowstone’s Northwest Entrance Station. And wouldn’t you know it, a deer was in the middle of the road directly under the arch, this sighting wouldn’t be the most exciting wildlife encounter of the day though!
As I made my way into the National Park I stopped briefly at the Mammoth Hot Springs area, I didn’t really have much in mind for what I was going to do, but I thought I’d get out and take a look around. I had to stay very close to my rental though because as I looked towards the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel there was a herd of bison running towards me (I mean, they were running towards a field, but it felt like they were running towards me specifically!). It was too early at that time for any of the park’s visitors centers or stores to be open, so I did what any one logical would do, and started to drive to Lamar Valley, because, wildlife!
This early in the year, May, the park is still coming awake for the spring. This also meant tons of baby bison! They were adorable, little rust colored mini babies that definitely stood out in a crowd. Naturally I took my time viewing different herds and watching the calves interacting with the adult bison. I spent some time setting up my wildlife viewing scope for the first time and got to see grizzly bears very high on a mountainside on the way to Lamar Valley. I also got some pretty good shots of black bears on my first day into the park (I did stay elevated on a Boardwalk and there were many people for me to place in between me and the bears – obviously I’m kidding, that’s why I carry bear spray).
My second day was also spent with a lot of wildlife viewing since I was still in the northern section of the park. When crossing a bridge I noticed there were many cars pulled to the sides in pullouts and there were also two National Park Service vehicles pulled over and rangers were out speaking with visitors at the pull out – who wouldn’t stop with such a temptation? There was a black bear down near the waters edge of the river. Visitors were on the bridge/roadway looking down to the river to see the bear and watch as it foraged. While we were all looking at this bear, here comes another herd of bison. This encounter was a little more stressful as the Park Rangers stopped additional traffic due to the volume of the herd and their speed as they stampeded towards the bridge. The rangers had all of the visitors gather together and we moved as one to get out of the range of the quickly moving bison. I’m not sure how scientific it is, but perhaps it was a move made from experience, but the rangers said it was better if we were in a larger group so the bison wouldn’t feel threatened and would pass us by – I’m not why why a large group is less intimidating than a person alone, but I was a sheep and I followed suit!
After this harrowing encounter with the bison I drove to Norris Geyser Basin to view the thermal features. The next day was spent in the Old Faithful area and then onto Lake Yellowstone, Hayden Valley, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and the features on that side of the park loop road. That evening I circled back to Old Faithful and decided that, because I had ample time, I was going to get dinner from the lodge and then sit out on the benches in from of the parks iconic geyser and enjoy my meal. This was one of the first times I had a conversation with another visitor in the park. Aside from my check in experiences and brief conversations with park staff, I hadn’t had a conversation with another person in 3 days at that point. I met a lovely person who was traveling from California to Minnesota to visit her sister and had never been to Yellowstone and figured since she was going to be driving nearby she needed to stop to see Old Faithful. We spoke about our experiences in the park and I told her some of my favorite spots she might be able to stop on her way through the park. Then it was sunset and Old Faithful made its presence known and I got some of my favorite sunset photos!
The next day it was time for my foray into Grand Teton National Park – (See my post Greeting Spring in Grand Teton that I actually wrote just after my experience there in 2021)
I spent a wonderful 24ish hours in Grand Teton and then made my way back through Yellowstone to head to my final night in the park at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel back in the northern section of the park. On the way I stopped through Hayden Valley and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone again, just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. After checking into the hotel, and making sure to take a brief nap, I rallied for the final night and drove back to Lamar Valley in hopes of seeing wolf activity.
Once I got to the Slough Creek Campground area I saw a significant number of vehicles parked and noticed many-a wildlife viewing scope and tripods set up. I asked the other visitors where they were aimed and ensured they were looking at a pack of wolves and then we waited. I set up near another family and solo traveler and we got to chatting. Mostly it was mindless small talk, talks of our respective adventures, and what wildlife we’d seen in the park so far. Then the wolves got moving and we watched as four younger wolves attempted to bring down an elk, they were unsuccessful, but it felt like we were watching our very own Planet Earth documentary, I just needed narration by David Attenborough. Throughout the experience I had my scope set up and encouraged the other visitors to take a look at the action because this was my first time with a scope and I was excited! It was always incredible to me when other visitors allowed me to look through their scopes so I was sure to see the wildlife which I so love. That’s one of my favorite things about park visitors, for the most part, we are there to experience what we love and one of my favorite things, and perhaps I’m being too bold to speak for all park enthusiasts, but I love sharing my favorite things with someone else, even if its just a stranger in a National Park.
After my exciting night and the sun started to set, I made my way back to the hotel because honestly I couldn’t see anything anyway. The next morning was my last in the park, and you better believe I was at Slough Creek prior to sunrise to try to capture one last viewing opportunity for those wolves! I got to see the park (which included seeing the pups near the den). Just before leaving the park to head back to the airport I decided to briefly drive into Lamar Valley from Slough Creek and I’m so glad that I did! Just as I turned a corner I saw other vehicles stopped and a wolf was very close to the roadway. The wolf was close enough that even without a viewing scope I was able to snap some cool shots. Then it was time to depart and wait to come back the next year.
I never have a bad trip to Yellowstone, but there were certainly some things I would do differently than I did on this trip. Hindsight is 20/20 and that couldn’t be truer in this case. Firstly, as a solo tripper in Yellowstone, I embarked on a few hikes that I most certainly shouldn’t have. On some of them I felt uncomfortable and jumpy thinking a grizzly was absolutely going to charge me (please keep in mind the only grizzly I saw on this trip was high on a mountain, but it still could have been a problem). Secondly, since I had seen many of the popular features and didn’t feel comfortable hiking unless I was on a boardwalk or very populated area, I ended up taking a lot of naps in my car in the middle of the day….I had no one to talk to, barring the two evenings I interacted with other visitors, so there ended up being a lot of downtime and a bit of boredom, which feels blasphemous to say, but it is what it is. Finally, even though there were some hiccups with the planning process and even with the visit, I was excited to be able to come back soon and very sad to be leaving what might very well be my favorite place on this earth (at least of the places I’ve visited in my 30ish years on this planet).
Daring, Dangerous, and Defining 