MY YELLOWSTONE

Magnificent, glorious, stupendous. I swear I’ve been overusing these adjectives when trying to describe Yellowstone to family and friends.  I’ve tried to think of new adjectives - grand, amazing, stupendous – but eventually even those new adjectives somehow lose their descriptive power when used over and over. 

I’ve taken to using a thesaurus to find new words but sometimes those words just don’t have the same original power.  For example, under ‘magnificent’ are words such as superb and wonderful. A really great dinner is superb and a really considerate man is wonderful (and rare). But these words just don’t describe my Yellowstone which is so very many things I am having so much trouble coming up with a succinct way to describe all of what I feel about the Park. 

Maybe it would be easier if I start with something very concrete. How about topography?  OK. Let’s see, Yellowstone is mountainous and green, flat and grassy, carved with rivers and streams that flow over high and impressive waterfalls, some of which flow into the largest natural lake above 7,000 feet in the United States. Its valleys look like something out of a movie set. It also has violently erupting geysers and rainbow-colored thermal areas. Ugh. How do you come up with a succinct way of saying all that? 

So maybe I could come summarize the animals. Everyone knows about the iconic Yellowstone bears and elk and moose and wolf and bison. There are quite a large number of other animals as well. I saw a badger on my way back on Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. I’ve seen beaver ponds so there must be beaver. I've seen all kinds of little critters like pika and marmot. Yellowstone’s website says Yellowstone has the largest concentration of mammals the lower 48 states, with 67 different mammals. How do you succinctly describe such a biological treasure? I guess I could describe it as having great diversity in its animal population. 

Birds also seem to be in abundance. Black-billed magpies hang out right outside my window at Mammoth. Cow birds like to follow the bison around because they stir up the insects as the plod through Yellowstone’s meadows.  But in looking through a definitive guide to Yellowstone birds, it appears there are only nine full-time residents of Yellowstone, including tiny birds like the chickadee and nuthatch to the larger and pesky raven, to the much larger and magnificent (there’s that word again) Canadian Goose.  And, of course, there are Bald Eagles like the one I saw just a few days ago hiking along Lava Creek.  I guess even though there are only nine full-time aves in the Park, they represent a good variety among birdlife and are joined by other migrating species during the summer. 

Maybe it is easier to describe the fishing in Yellowstone. Turns out Yellowstone has 13 native species and several introduced species. It has become a world-class fly fishing destination because of its seven trout species, including three native trout. That’s a lot of good eating. You won’t be eating the cutthroat, though, because anglers are required to gently release the cutthroat, a native endangered by the bigger, stronger lake trout, back into the water. You can fish any one of Yellowstone’s 10 rivers or its four major lakes, including Yellowstone Lake, the largest fresh-water lake above 7,000 in the lower 48.  If you get tired of that you could try fishing in one of Yellowstone’s gazillion creeks. Fishing in Yellowstone….well…….it has great diversity. 

Perhaps it would be easier to describe the visitors. Generally, the 3.9 million visitors are from all over the world. They are from England, France, Holland, Japan, Germany, Australia, Spain, Ireland, Mexico, Switzerland and Canada. I’ve heard German, French, Asian languages, Dutch, Spanish, all kinds of English accents, including Kiwi and Aussie.  I’ve seen families from all over the world come to see our bison and bear. I am told that some of these tourists have a difficult time grasping the concept of ‘wild life’, trying to set their toddlers upon a elk’s back or calling the Rangers to let them know ‘one of your bison has broken through its fence.’ On the other hand, I’ve met determined Yellowstone goers, including the young woman I met at Old Faithful who is a geyser chaser – dedicating her life to observing the geysers so closely, she is an unofficial member of the Park staff and provides the Rangers warnings of impending geyser eruptions. There are also ‘returners’ which seems like an understatement for people like my fellow employee Barb who has returned to work seasonally at Yellowstone for 17 years. There are probably as many reasons people come to the Park as there are people in the Park.

 

My conclusion? It is impossible to come up with a succinct picture of my Yellowstone National Park. Even the words ‘National Treasure’ don’t quite grasp its scope. I encourage you to come to Yellowstone to find your own adjectives. If you want hiking, Yellowstone has over 1,100 MILES of trail. You want white water? It’s here! You want wildlife that you can observe from your car? Yup – over in Lamar Valley. You interested in geology like geysers? Yellowstone has the largest concentration of thermal features in the world. You want knock your socks off views from your luxurious hotel room? Try Lake Lodge. Whatever you want – Yellowstone has it. I even saw a bottle of Glenfiddich in the Mammoth Hot Springs bar. Come to Yellowstone. You don’t have to stay for five months like I am but I swear no matter how long you stay, whether it is two days or two weeks, you will want to come back for more.