Yellowstone National Park

Players:  Jenny, Jake & Jackson
Date of Visit:  Most recently, June 2007 although I lived there for three months in 2005
Website:  www.nps.gov/yell

Location:  Wyoming
Entrance Fee:  $25/car, good for 7 days at both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park

Type of trip:  Several nights camping as part of Western US Road Trip
Park Passport Stamps Available:  24 (!!)

In the documentary The National Parks:  America’s Best Idea by Ken Burns, one of the featured speakers talks about how every family has one National Park that feels like “their” national park; for me, Yellowstone is “my” Park.  Yellowstone was a park I visited with my family as a child; my father before me had visited with his parents as well.  Yellowstone is directly responsible for the existence of my son (whose name Jackson Cody recalls the two Wyoming towns closest to the Park); I have lived within the boundaries of the Park and hiked hundreds of miles in the backcountry.  I’ve seen the Park in the snow and in the heat, crowded in midsummer and nearly empty in early May; the Park has seen me joyous and sad, sick with fever and more alive than I’ve ever felt. I’m not a religious person, but if ever I’ve felt the presence of a higher power, it was here.  I came to Yellowstone at a crossroads in my life, and found it sublimely healing.

But enough of the existentialism! 

Top Ten (Ok, 17...)Things to Do in Yellowstone National Park

As outlined in a previous post, I spent the summer of 2005 working for the park concessionaire in Yellowstone National Park.  It wasn't glamorous work, but I did get the opportunity to live in Yellowstone for an entire summer and I spent alot of my free time exploring and hiking.  I created this Top Seventeen list for a friend who was going to Yellowstone the following summer.

• Walk around the Old Faithful Geyser Basin.  You can pick up a guide leaflet by the trail for 50 cents (or return it when you’re done and you can use it for free).  Stop by the Old Faithful Visitor Center before you start walking to note the times of the major eruptions in the area.  Old Faithful erupts about every 90 min; if you can time it right, try to catch either Castle Geyser or Riverside Geyser too.

Castle Geyser

• For a unique perspective, hike up to Observation Point to watch Old Faithful erupt.  The trail goes off the boardwalk behind the Old Faithful Lodge.  It’s about a ½-mile hike and kind of steep, but well worth it.
• Walk around the Hot Springs at Mammoth.  Same thing with the guide leaflet.  Rangers at Mammoth lead guided walks of the terraces too that are pretty interesting.
• Check out the Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone.  If you feel like getting out of your car, check out the Uncle Tom’s Trail on the South Rim of the Canyon.  It’s a whole bunch of stairs down to the base of the falls – hard on your lungs coming up but well worth it.
• Take a few minutes to go in the Old Faithful Inn.  It is the original National Park lodge and it’s stunning.  They do historical tours of the inn which are really cool.

Interior of Old Faithful Inn

Parks Visited as a Child, Part 2

Continuing in this post, I'm going to outline the National Park Service Units I have only visited as a child with my family.  I hope to re-visit most of these sites some day as my memories of many of them are quite hazy.

Glacier National Park
Players:  Jenny, Steve, Carole & Jenny's sisters
Date of visit:  Summer 1994?
Website:  www.nps.gov/glac
Location:  Montana
Entrance Fee:  $25 per car
Type of Trip:  Daytrip as part of Western US Epic Road Trip
Park Passport Stamps Available:  9
Review:  One of the "crown jewels" of the National Park system, Glacier National Park has attracted lots of attention in recent years because of the rapid shrinking of its namesake glaciers.  The thing I remember most about Glacier was driving over Going-to-the-Sun Road, a 50 mile road that is a feat of engineering through some of the most stunning alpine passes to be found on the American continent.  I distinctly remember sitting in the backseat of the car on the passenger side and being able to look out my window straight down the side of the mountain....I didn't like that so much!  I'm glad my dad is a good driver :)  But I do remember the scenery on the drive.  And I think we stopped at a chalet somewhere in the park, and it was snowing lightly -- a novel thing for the middle of summer for an Iowa girl.  Glacier is on my list of parks to go back and hike ASAP.
 
Great Sand Dunes National Park
Players:  Jenny, Jenny's cousin & Jenny's grandma
Date of Visit:  Summer 1996?
Website:  www.nps.gov/grsa
Location:  Colorado
Entrance Fee:  $3 per adult
Type of Trip:  Daytrip while passing through Colorado on way to New Mexico
Park Passport Stamps Available: 1
Review:  Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve has the tallest sand dunes in North America.  It is truly a unique experience to climb up sand dunes and slide down them right here in the United States.  We stopped at this park on a trip to the Southwest with my grandma.  My cousin and I had a great time here.  It was really hot and I remember how hot the sand was on my feet.  And it is much harder to climb up a sand dune than it appears!  I look forward to taking Jackson here someday.