Yellowstone Day 1

We have two very capable guides, Erin and Nathaniel, who know more about the natural world than I can fathom. Nathaniel guides all over the world with National Geographic, but lives here in that sweet town of Livingston and Erin is his partner. They are smart and sweet and competent, and therefore I am relaxed.

We are traveling in style in a luxury van with three lovely sisters from Upstate New York and Nathaniel. The other 6 guests are with Erin. Gorgeous vistas abound, the Park is not overly crowded, and the weather is hot, but lovely. All of us were expecting cooler temps, so we were over dressed.

We saw Pronghorn – an ancient species confused with antelopes, and Pika, a rabbit like animal that is rarely spotted (Erin had never seen one).

We stopped for lunch at a picnic area and struck up a conversation with a German couple that own a Mercedes Unimog that they are camping in. It has 400k miles on it and they shipped it from Hamburg to Halifax, Nova Scotia and then travelled through the US. Brad was impressed.

On to Mammoth Springs to see the most outrageous landscapes. Scalding water, 15 miles underground, comes up through limestone, bringing up limestone dust which covers large areas, making a moonscape.

Boardwalks are the only place you can walk, and there are miles of them. Every area looks different, and it’s surreal. The initial settlers and visitors must have felt like they discovered a distant planet. The water was boiling, the sun was very strong, and there is not a drop of moisture in the high altitude thin air. It beat us up.

We hobbled down to the main Yellowstone Visitor Center and sucked up some air conditioning and made our way to our hotel. After a shower and a rest we could appreciate the rushing river right below us and the elk on the opposite shore.

We had a sweet dinner at a local spot (trout for me, bison for Brad) and came back to watch the moon over the river before heading to bed.

The day felt long. We didn’t really do very much walking, but there was a lot of sensory overload, unexpected heat and high altitudes. How people survived without enough water or supplies, I will never know. It is an awesome place, but a punishing place. I think I expected a more Hansel and Gretel like environment.

We left the windows open to hear the river and hopefully some elk braying tonight, but our screen wasn’t properly fitted, and 72 small bugs have been murdered by me so far. They are attracted to the light of the IPad as I write. Windows closed, AC on, and we will miss the call of the Elks. The natural world is nice, but I’m a modern girl.

Good night from the bug fest. More tomorrow.