Yellowstone Park: Stop anywhere, anytime

[Ray Eklund]

Lucky for Yellowstone Park that the 'new camera card' did not store all three weeks of our photographs. Evidence was wiped out.

Yellowstone Park. Tourists, a polite name, when a deer, elk, buffalo or just seeing other vehicles stopped on the two lane road...

PARK in the Road, double park, pull in at an angle blocking traffic and scurry off with a camera or kids in tow to see... what they imagine is something, as everyone is diving into the edge of the road with four foot to 900 foot drop offs.

We took some very interesting photos of our trip, only to discover today... none were on this overpriced SunDisk we purchased as a second... in the event the our 20 year old Nikon disk went... bad. I did not realize I installed the 'new card'.

The sight of a non human created chaos and mayhem... for the animals and drivers trying to avoid the mass of humanity. No birds were spotted in the frenzy of camera lens longer than most tow vehicles being pulled out of the trunks.

My mistake. The Camera Disk held the evidence. Nancy took the photographs of numerous clogged traffic jams. As I was avoiding RV Buses, trailers, mini cars and human kind.

Anyone have a similar experience? This was mid June ten days ago.

One car stopped IN the Lane, parked and husband, wife with a young girl in tow went scurrying across the road to see... whatever, as we saw nothing.

Be very careful while towing through Yellowstone. We were driving from Teton National Park to Gardner, Montana around Yellowstone Lake as a short cut from Wyoming into Montana. Never... again. We have been to Yellowstone when it was just a baby volcanic caldera... I AM that old, you know.

I recall, geologically of course, of rhinos in central Nebraska being smothered and covered with Yellowstone volcanic ash and now a State Park or something... waiting for it receive another twenty feet or more of Yellowstone Real Estate dropping from the atmosphere, again.

Yellowstone... WILL repeat it systematic 'blowing its top' again. It is alrady long overdue for another BIG ONE. For $35 entry at the Park's Gate... give it a spin. Could be a day you will be preserved for millions of years into the future. Take a camera along... just in case.

We have the Senior Pass... so get off cheap. We like living in dangerous environments. Yellowstone is one. Swimming among Sharks in the Pacific could be equally attractive for the daring.

Several accidents with Park Police, few pullouts in areas with Bison eating grass and a deer wandering around in some trees is great excitement for some... but common sense was left at home.

All this for the cost of several dozen doughnuts and apple fritters... We cannot wait to get the camera disk loaded and live the life on the edge to drive EVERY road in Yellowstone.. Yahhhh Hoooo. I say.

[Tim A.]

Being a regular visitor to Yellowstone Park for many years (we fly fish in the area every September), "buffalo" jams are the rule, not the exception. We have concluded that the animals are much smarter than many of the park visitors and particularly those people driving in front of us. We are always very correct in our behavior .

Tim

[Coloradobus]

Having worked in yellowstone for 15 years, 10 of it driving a tour bus, i saw many stunts by people that took your breath.

[PKI]

Our last time through, we had a truck towing a trailer swerve from the parking verge head on into our lane and it just about finished our trip for us. Guess he had to setup for that morning picture. The rest of our experiences were just frustrating in that they slowed us down.

We did have a bison chase his image in the trailer, so they are not as smart as you suggest. The elk are. They just lay there and watch the tourist doing dumb things. The moose just trample them and the bear just ...... well you get the picture. The wild animal notices don't get much notice. Pat

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by PKI

. . .
The wild animal notices don't get much notice. Pat

Note the primary "wild animal" in all the scenes . . .







Happy trails,

[OTRA15]

PS --

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Note the primary "wild animal" in all the scenes . . .
. . .

FYA -- "Moron and Putz" scene from "Grumpy Old Men:" https://youtu.be/_18LZZ-bcqY

[21Airstream]

What’s new? Saw this the first time I visited back in the early ‘90’s.

[n2916s]

Rangered there for 10 summers. Visitor behavior has gotten totally out of hand and this year they are only staffed at about 50% so minimal supervision.

People that are totally rational and self-sufficient in their home town completely lose their minds in the Park. Critter jams are basically harmless but annoying. What drove me crazy was folks wandering up to Grizzly Bears (often with kids in tow), people walking off the boardwalk into thermal areas, people throwing garbage out the window of their car.

Now at Everglades. Much smaller crowds.

[21Airstream]

I remember seeing one female tourist leave the road and run up to a baby moose. Unbelievable how naive some people are about wildlife.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Saw the same thing end of September last year. It's not just Yellowstone. Anyplace there are animals out and about, expect stupid behavior.

Bob

[kpfate]

In my honest opinion...and yes, opinions are like butt-holes, we all have one and sometimes shouldn't show it but; I have lived in Wyoming for 40 plus years. Yellowstone & Jackson need to become their own country & state because they do not reflect the people and culture of our state. I haven't been to Yellowstone since 1993, yes a long time, because we felt like foreigners there. I dislike going to Jackson at any given time of year because traffic is literally like driving I-25 in Colorado during rush hour. It is beautiful in this part of our state, but there are far better places to visit that are just as, if not better than Yellowstone.

[GatorDave]

Bought the DVD of Yellowstone & Glacier when we were there in 2018. Best way to see the scenery. Tour busses spoiled it for us. Spent the rest of the 4 months in BLM & FS areas fly casting. Without the mass of idiots.

[Atwebs]

Anywhere there are wild critters and dumb tourists, you take your chances! We saw one dedicated video artist park his car in the center of the road and wander off the road to get great shots of a baby bison. Not sure how his photos turned out, but the rest of the bison weren't happy and chased him back to his car where he had to leap through a window to save getting gored...we were rooting for the bison.

Another budding vidographer decided to take a selfie with a black bear and cub, chasing them through the forest. Not good enough to get close, he wanted to touch that baby bear. Mom bear disagreed with a total stranger touching her baby...she swiped at him and sent his camera flying. He wasn't hurt, camera was DOA.

And last, a teenager decided to chase a moose across a meadow and his parents were laughing and taking pictures. The moose wasn't happy at all. We noticed a ranger nearby and asked why she didn't do anything. Her comment was that she didn't want to get close to an angry moose, but she intended to arrest the teen as soon as he tired of the game. She hoped the moose didn't decide to take care of her tormenter before then.

[Ray Eklund]

We saw two bull elk laying in a marsh eating grass along side the road. There were possibly forty vehicles and a crowd snapping photos. However, these two were carrying some huge antlers and impressive sights.

The 'NARROW' 1940's roads have drop offs for water drainage and to prevent people from parking... not to assist in traffic control or safety. When the Park first opened, the vehicle's entering needed TWO SPARE tires to enter.

Horse's were exempt.

There were more Bison at Custer State Park in South Dakota's Black Hills than Yellowstone or Teton Park. Large herds at some Indian Reservations north of Yellowstone. No parked tourists. No traffic. Lots of pullouts with no one within... miles. Open country.

There were more Deer Road Kill traveling outside the Yellowstone than seen alive along the roads in the Park. Mostly fawns and does. Including cow elk or three between Idaho and Montana.

The forests in the Yellowstone are dense. Pullouts are rare and small. Double parking and blocking traffic is popular. Just parking where ever to look into the Yellowstone River canyon views were for small vehicles.

Scattered parking areas fifty feet off the highway would not be visible... even if you knew it existed. Really....

Yellowstone Park needs to update to 21st Century demand. There are too many people and no place to park and take a breath of fresh air. The environment will not be harmed. This is a VOLCANO. An active hot Caldera... it will correct any manmade construction, some day when the Hot Spot gets... a shove from an earthquake or two.

I have been to the Yellowstone when Bears outnumbered tourists. We saw no bear in the Park. Probably all at the private camp grounds south of the Park eating bacon treats.

There are NINE RV Parks and camps in the area. Maybe more. Traffic is heavy. Parking is non existent if your vehicle overheats or breaks down. You are stuck in the road. Not next to the road.

Towing an Airstream for us in this kind of tight situation is like Off the Grid Boondocking and not stressful. What is stressful are the lack of pullouts in areas 'wild life' may be found. Slow down, the next curve can be packed and stopped with humanity wandering in the road... not the wildlife.

If you have not been to Yellowstone... avoid towing your trailer if you are uncomfortable with coming around a corner, dense forest, no vision and find traffic backed up to watch a Bear defecate with tourists in chase.

[kpfate]

UnklJoe; yes....we are :0)

[Krikati]

I heard a 72-year-old was gored by a bison this week. I guess she was trying to get him to pose for a snapshot.

[dentontay]

Ray, if you have a corrupted memory card, sometimes you can recover some or all of the images using utility programs found on the manufacturer's website.

SanDisk:
https://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4985

This is why pros use cameras with two memory card slots!

Denton

[Tim A.]

As I noted above, we have spent a lot of time in the Yellowstone Park area. Despite that, we have not towed our trailer through the park except on Highway 191 between West Yellowstone and Four Corners/Bozeman. Why not? For exactly the reasons Ray mentioned. Our recommendation is to leave your trailer outside of the park (in a commercial RV park or state or BLM campground) and use your tow vehicle to see the park. Much less stressful.

Tim

[Antique Pedaler]

Originally Posted by Coloradobus

Having worked in yellowstone for 15 years, 10 of it driving a tour bus, i saw many stunts by people that took your breath.

Jim, I didn’t know you drove tour bus in YNP! Good job.

[Thalweg]

Originally Posted by kpfate

In my honest opinion...and yes, opinions are like butt-holes, we all have one and sometimes shouldn't show it but; I have lived in Wyoming for 40 plus years. Yellowstone & Jackson need to become their own country & state because they do not reflect the people and culture of our state. I haven't been to Yellowstone since 1993, yes a long time, because we felt like foreigners there. I dislike going to Jackson at any given time of year because traffic is literally like driving I-25 in Colorado during rush hour. It is beautiful in this part of our state, but there are far better places to visit that are just as, if not better than Yellowstone.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I actually don't know anyone from Wyoming that ever goes to Yellowstone unless they're working there. Except... I'll confess that I went there for a few hours about ten years ago, on Halloween day. It was the last weekend they were going to be open for the year, and it was empty. We may have seen a dozen other vehicles. It was beautiful, quiet, and peaceful. We saw tons of wildlife because there were no tourists. We get used to the normal traffic in Wyoming. If we have to sit through more than one cycle of one of the three stoplights in Buffalo, we start complaining how crazy the traffic is getting. Yellowstone and Jackson in the summer feels like driving down I-25 through downtown Denver. Way too stressful for me.