Yellowstone Adventure
My mind is filled with the images that I tried to capture on film on my trip to Yellowstone so I decided to share them with you. The tour I took was through the Sierra Club who contracted with Yellowstone Forever, the educational and philanthropic extension of Yellowstone National Park. The scenery was nothing like I’ve seen before.
For a little history of the park, several expeditions took place in this area in the1860-70’s but Ferdinand Hayden Geological Expedition in 1871 provided the details that helped declare Yellowstone as a National Park. Hayden led this group of scientists, photographers, artists such as Thomas Moran, and other support staff to provide documentation of the area with all its geothermal resources. Check out Thomas Moran’s artwork of Yellowstone:
To learn more about early expeditions in the area, I suggest reading “The Discovery of Yellowstone Park” by National Pitt Langford. It’s the journal that national Langford kept from his expedition in 1870.
Never having seen Yellowstone, when my friend asked if I would be interested in joining the Sierra Club tour, I leaped at the opportunity. She has been captivated by Yellowstone and has visited many times, only during winter, to participate in educational opportunities so when she recommended this trip, what else could I say but sign me up.
This trip included 6 days of x-country skiing in several sections of the park, while staying at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and Old Faithful Snow Lodge. Our itinerary was filled with skiing in various sections of the park and for most people on our tour, many were hoping to see a wolf along with a long list of wildlife while skiing. Our list was long at what we saw but the wolf did not make it on the list but his print did, which was pretty exciting. The only wildlife I caught on film was bison and a coyote. We also saw a pigmy owl, a red crossbill, and a golden eagle, thanks to the keen eyes of our guides and fellow tour members.
We spent a day at Lamar Valley, which is a popular area for wildlife sightings. Our tour also took us to many “hot spots” with geysers, hot springs, and mud pots. Along rivers were also a popular route for skiing which also included skiing to Fairy Falls. There is no other place on earth that you can experience the number of geothermal areas that you can here, right in our western states. Old Faithful did not disappoint but if you get off the beaten path, at least in winter, you will see so many more of these marvelous features without the crowds.
The main roads are closed in the park so we traveled via snow coach to the various areas we skied and between the lodges. That, in itself, was quite a fun experience and the only way to get around inside the park. There were also snowmobile tours available.
We had amazing guides, Kyle Wonders from Yosemite Forever and Kath Giel from Sierra Club who couldn’t have done a better job. They even worked with the weather gods and provided fresh powder while there. The topics they covered were immense, from the geological formations including many of the geothermal sites, animal tracking, bird, animal, and plant identifications, and providing thought provoking discussions that always added to the wealth of information shared.
Here is just an interesting fact. When I travel to Europe, I tend to choose places with UNESCO Heritage Sites, including cultural and natural. Italy, Germany, France, and Spain have many more of these sites than the US, but the US has more UNESCO natural sites than any European country, with many in the western states. Here is a partial list:
Grand Canyon National Park
Mesa Verde National Park
Yellowstone National Park<
Redwood National and State Parks
Olympic National Park
Yosemite National Park
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
We are truly fortunate to have so many natural resources in our small corner of the world. I include the Truckee River as one of those. Take advantage of what we have and explore. As the TPT website says, “Be Bold. Be Adventurous.”
~ Written by Mary Beth Roselli
