Arrival at Yellowstone

NOTE: This is the 4^th of a multi-part series chronicling my family's two week vacation in the summer of 2010.

For links to the entire series, click here.

We dropped down off the Beartooth Highway, enjoying the beautiful scenery as we approached the northeast entrance of Yellowstone. We were arriving a little later than I'd planned because our route demanded we drive slower and stop often to enjoy the sights. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon, local time.

Our plan was to camp at the Tower Falls Campground, the first one we'd reach coming in from the northeast. At the entrance to the park stood a large sign posting the vacancy status of all the campgrounds in Yellowstone. Most were already full, but the one I was concerned about still showed to be open. The ranger at the gate traded us a map of the park, some informational literature, and advice not to approach wildlife we'd encounter in exchange for the $25 entry fee.

That $25 covered a vehicle pass for Yellowstone and neighboring Grand Teton National Park to the south for seven days. The map showed some major attractions in the park, locations of developed areas in the park that included stores and services, and mileages between those areas. We were only about 30 miles from the Tower Area where we planned to camp. We were anxious to get there, set up camp, and start exploring.

Included in the literature we received at the gate were special packets for our girls. Specially designed to spark kids' interest in the park, these included a checklist and description of all the wildlife visitors may encounter inside the boundaries of Yellowstone. My youngest daughter read through the list: black bears, grizzly bears, wolves, coyotes, elk, mule deer, bison, and more. Finally she declared, "We're not going to see any of these!" At almost that exact instant, we spotted a buffalo grazing not 50 feet from the side of the road.

We stopped on the side of the road and took pictures as the bison continued to fill his belly with the lush, green grass. Setting up camp would have to wait because we felt the need to photograph this beast in case we saw no more. He seemed not to notice we were anywhere in the vicinity. My daughter demanded a pen so she could check off the American Bison on her list.

At that time, having just entered the park, we didn't realize just how common buffalo are in Yellowstone. Continuing on to the Tower Area we spotted several more. But now we were focused on getting to the campground.

Thirty miles in Yellowstone takes quite a bit longer to traverse than the same distance in most other places. Stopping to see the sights and navigating the twisting turns in often heavy traffic make it difficult to even average the 35-45 mph speed limits throughout the park. So what I thought would take about thirty minutes, took more than an hour. When we finally arrived at Tower Falls Campground, the sign at the entrance said "Full."

We had no idea where the next campground was that had vacancy, so we decided to proceed south to the next closest campground. The map showed the Canyon Area was only 19 miles south of Tower Junction so we headed south. That 19 miles was again, a much longer drive than it appeared on the map.

The drive skirts the western face of Mount Washburn with steep slopes on one side and sheer cliff on the other. The climb provides spectacular views that easily draw drivers' and passengers' eyes from the narrow road and hairpin turns. It's a slow go through here and traffic is extremely heavy. Not quite as spectacular as the Beartooth Highway, but still among the most beautiful drives I've ever experienced.

We arrived at Canyon Village to find the campground there full too. By now it was after 4:00 and I was beginning to think we just might not find a campsite this night. We went to the lodge at the village and inquired about a room or cabin for the night. No luck. When I asked how to find out if there were accommodations available anywhere in the park, I was pointed to the information office of Xanterra, the concessionaire contractor for the park. The company operates the lodges and several campsites throughout the park and its representative gave me a toll free number to call to check availability and make reservations.

I called the number and endured what seemed an interminable span of time on hold. As the minutes ticked by and the daylight hours waned, I was getting more and more nervous that we'd be forced to drive no telling how far to find a place to stay. The operator finally answered and informed me her company had nothing available in the park that night, but also that she had no way of checking the campgrounds operated by the National Park Service. The NPS doesn't take reservations for their campsites in the park so it's first come-first served to camp in these.

As always, my increasing nervousness did nothing to remedy our seeming dilemma. But God had His hand on our shoulder and was working to place us where He wanted us to stay that night. Finally, at the nearby ranger station I received good news. The southernmost campground in the park, Lewis Lake, still had available sites. The young ranger said it never reached capacity because people passed it by entering the park from the south. Our now indispensable map showed we still had about 45 meandering miles before we'd arrive at the only campground in the park with camping spots still available.

Though the young ranger said we had nothing to worry about, the crowded roads indicated there just might be others who had encountered the same difficulty we had. So we pushed on, passing by the wondrous views along the Yellowstone River and Yellowstone Lake without stopping for the numerous photo opportunities. We passed by the Lake Area and Bridge Bay without stopping or slowing down, now trying to beat the oncoming darkness to our prospective camp site.

But just past West Thumb, as we made the turn south toward Grant Village, we did stop. Cars were stopped on both sides of the highway, their drivers and passengers had abandoned their vehicles wherever they had found a place to park them. The crowd was lined up on the west side of the highway with cameras, binoculars, and other optical devices. As we eased south through the temporary parking lot, we saw what all these gawkers were glimpsing. Not 50 yards off the highway, lying among young 4-6 foot evergreens, was what we considered a huge elk.

His antlers still shrouded in velvet, the young bull (we later learned he was in no way huge for an elk) lounged unimpressed by the throng laymen photographers so excited by his presence. Of hundreds gathered on the side of the road, the bull seemed to be thinking, "What? You've never seen an elk before?"

Though we had yet to find a camp site, we were quite content with our first day in Yellowstone. We didn't know then, but there were still photos to be taken and sights to see this day. We climbed back in the Blazer and headed south once again, now only a few miles from Lewis Lake.

As the entrance to Lewis Lake Campground came into view, we slowed to read the sign. We knew God was looking out for us when we saw the "Open" sign and turned in. The ranger station here was closed, but just before entering the camp site loops we found a do-it-yourself register and pay station. The instructions there told us to find a spot and come back to pay and register.

Loop A was for walk-in camping only, no RV's. Since we were tent camping we turned down the drive. We found most of those sites full as we drove the entire loop, but the #1 and #2 spots we'd passed by were vacant. Investigating these sites, we discovered the #1 site was reserved for hikers or bicyclists. So we chose camp site 2A.

We set our tents up on the pad provided and I went back to the registration station, filled out the form, and paid $24 for two nights' accommodations. It was now about 6:00 pm local time, with plenty of daylight left. We needed a few supplies and Grand Teton National Park was only a few miles to the south. We piled into the Blazer and pointed it's nose toward the bottom of the globe.

Our trusty map showed the Colter Bay area had a store and lay only about 30 miles away. The drive through the southernmost part of Yellowstone and the northernmost part of Grand Teton National Park isn't nearly as scenic as what we'd already seen that day. Mostly thick evergreen forests that make it difficult to see past the shoulder of the highway. But less than 10 miles into Grand Teton, the road broke out of the forest to emerge alongside Jackson Lake. The scene of this beautiful lake with its clear, blue water nearly takes your breath away as you gaze across it to the mountains that give the park its name. Only an omnipotent, omniscient God could have designed something so beautiful.

After shooting a few pictures, we made our way on down to Colter Bay, bought a little more camp food and turned back north to settle in for the night. On the way down we'd passed by another waterfall on the west side of the road. We stopped here take more pictures. The fall was about a half mile upriver from the highway, but I spotted a trail running in that direction. While my family took pictures, I jogged up to scout this trail and found it an easy walk with an excellent close up view of the cascading water.

We arrived back in time to make supper, and my wife and I still had time for a twilight stroll along the water's edge. Though things hadn't worked out as planned, and became a bit stressful when we were forced to adjust, God had worked everything out according to His will and our needs were met. Our first fine day in Yellowstone had drawn to a close.