Settling Into Life in Canyon Village

Our first weeks in Yellowstone have been wonderful.  James and I are settling into our new life and finding enjoyment in the simplicity of just living.

Lower Falls, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

The snow has receded in the weeks since we’ve arrived as spring makes its way to the upper elevations.  James and I have been taking walks in anticipation of the hiking trails opening so that we can condition ourselves to the altitude. The general store sells a shirt that says “Got Oxygen?” …which is very appropriate since the air is thinner here.  We have to be very careful to drink lots of water to stay hydrated and healthy.
As the snow started melting we were anxious to get to our picnic table and fire ring that were buried in the snow.  James did a great job digging them out and we enjoyed our first campfire of the season.

Campfire Trout

Other highlights of our first few weeks in the park:

Chico Hot Springs:  Our new boss took the Central District group out to Chico Hot Springs for soaking and dinner.  Chico Hot Springs is located in Paradise Valley. It is a resort that channels water from the nearby hot spring into soaking pools. One Pool is about 98 degrees, and the other is 104 degrees.  It has a hotel, formal dining room and a grill.

Chico Hot Springs Saloon & Grill

Pool at Chico Hot Springs

National Park Service Training – On May 22, 2014 we went to Mammoth Hot Springs for the National Park Service Resource Training. We heard from park experts on Bison, Wolves, Fish and Birds, as well as management issues and challenges that the NPS faces with managing Yellowstone National Park. It was very eye opening. I have a new respect for the Park Service and the amazing and passionate work that they do to help protect Yellowstone.

The park has 3.5 million visitors every year. Managing that level of human impact on the Yellowstone ecosystem is a monumental task in and of itself…add to that the challenges of performing that job with the limited resources that the NPS has and you quickly realize that the protection of this park is in danger.  There are issues with Non-native species (such as Lake Trout that are destroying the native Cut Throat Trout), and political issues from special interest groups (such as the legislation that is on the Senate floor to open all of Yellowstone’s waterways to boating/paddling and tubing) without consideration to the impacts on the ecosystem and wildlife (not to mention visitor safety). These issues and others endanger this magnificent national treasure and are challenges to the future of this amazing place. It makes me very proud to work for the Yellowstone Association, which provides so much support to the park to help educate visitors with the hopes of inspiring them to help protect and preserve Yellowstone.

We ended our park service training day with a Yellowstone Association BBQ at the Arch Park. After spending the day learning about the park and the challenges it faces, the words on the Roosevelt Arch are becoming more significant to me: “For the benefit and enjoyment of the people”.  Yellowstone is a place that should be preserved and protected for future generations.

Paradise Valley-- The Road into Yellowstone

Friday, May 2, 2014

The drive between Livingston, Montana and the North Entrance (Gardiner, MT) to Yellowstone National Park is beautiful.  It is called Paradise Valley and it basically follows the Yellowstone River into the park.

Paradise Valley

The views are absolutely amazing and the wildlife is plentiful. Before arriving in Gardiner there was Bison that was in the road. Some folks on horseback were trying to herd it out of the road and back into the park lands.

Paradise Valley --Bison in the Road -- being herded back to park lands

We followed our new friends, Dave and Sue, as we made our way to Gardiner to the Yellowstone Association headquarters and then entered the park through the legendary Roosevelt Arch. The day was clear and beautiful with a little bit of wind.

"For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People" The Roosevelt Arch

We followed the road into the park past Mammoth Hot Springs.  Thermal features are one of the things I find the most fascinating about Yellowstone.  You are just driving along and the landscape completely changes and you see steam and mud gurgling up from the earth. Even the ground is wild and alive.

Mammoth Hot Springs

We wanted adventure… and that is exactly what we got on the drive in. 

After passing Mammoth Hot Springs we began our assent to Canyon Village (elevation 7918 ft. – the highest habitable area of the park) though the winding roads that led to the Norris Geyser Basin.  This turned out to be a whole new experience in white-knuckle driving.  I had read that the drive from Mammoth to Norris was one of the easiest for folks taking an RV to the upper elevations.  I don’t even want to know what a “difficult pass” would look like. 

We are definitely flatlanders. The drive to Norris had James with a kung-fu grip on the steering wheel while I had a death-grip on the console and the armrest, as if that would somehow keep us from falling over a cliff.   I think we both began to question our sanity about undertaking this adventure…as the words “what have we done?” seemed to escape my lips on few occasions. 

But we pressed on…following Dave and Sue to Norris.  At Norris we stopped in the picnic area to take a bathroom break.  The look on our faces must have been priceless as we looked around and shook the blood back into our arms and hands. Dave and Sue assured us that the worst was over and the drive to Canyon would be fine. 

They were right.

We headed into the employee campground at Canyon Village to find our site plowed and with banks of snow that were about 4-8 ft high and began to set up camp.

We had arrived. The journey across our beautiful country was over, and now we had the privilege of calling Yellowstone National Park home for the summer. 

Our adventure is just beginning...

Buffalo Wyoming-- The Wild West

A high wind advisory on I-90 on our route from Douglas Wyoming to Sheridan Wyoming turned us around and made us look for a nearby campground to settle in for the night until the winds passed.

Well, the winter weather lingered and one night turned into four in Buffalo. We stayed at the Indian Campground and per the owners suggestion we kept a close watch on the Wyoming Dept of Transportation website for the advisories.  Every morning we would wake up with the anticipation of leaving but the wind just would not stop. For the first three days it wasn't only windy, but rainy and snowy too. Finally on the fourth day, it stopped raining and snowing.  Even though the wind advisory (which showed an extreme blow over risk for trailers) still kept us from proceeding to Montana, we had enough of a break in the weather to go explore the town of Buffalo, Wyoming.

We visited the Historic Occidental Hotel and Saloon where many legendary Wild West figures like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Calamity Jane, President Teddy Roosevelt and President Herbert Hoover stayed during their travels west.  It was a beautiful and fun place to visit.

Occidental Hotel and Saloon

We also walked around the town of Buffalo and enjoyed the beautiful (although blustery) day.

When we returned to the campground we started talking with another couple that was staying at the Indian Campground to wait out the windy weather.  It turns out that they were also on their way to Yellowstone and were actually our co-workers in the Yellowstone Association Canyon Bookstore!   Meeting Dave and Sue was truly a blessing.  We met them for dinner and they shared information with us about their experiences in Yellowstone and working for the bookstore.  They even offered to lead us into the park.  We were so grateful for their help and friendship. So after a wonderful dinner with them at Winchester's Steakhouse in Buffalo.  We went back to the campground to prepare to leave for Livingston Montana where we would meet Dave and Sue to complete our journey to Yellowstone.