A Day In the Life of a Tourist
Living outdoors, not having a schedule and focusing on being present in the moment has made me disoriented to time. Last night I was thinking it was my last night in the Tetons, so I packed up much of the campsite. In the middle of the night I woke up and realized that I had another night.
Surprise! I had a whole day of unplanned adventure, so I decided to be a tourist in Yellowstone as my campsite is only about 30 miles from Yellowstone’s south entrance. Per usual I started my day early and headed out at 6:45. It is a better time to view animals and see less humans.
Yellowstone is enormous and it has it all. It is 3,472 square miles! Gorgeous mountain views, bubbling brooks (literally some are bubbling hot!), impressive geysers, powerful waterfalls, diverse wildlife, massive prairies, colorful wildflowers, rambling rivers, “mammoth” hot springs.
As a tourist in the park, I waited, waited and waited some more: waited for traffic, waited for parking, waited for restrooms and waited for coffee. I drove, hiked, drove, joined way too many people at the iconic tourist sites, hiked and drove some more. It felt good to get out to stretch my legs while taking hikes along the way.
Old faithful was one of my first stops and thankfully it was early enough in the morning that finding a parking spot was easy and the crowds were sparse. I am happy to report that I did not see any tourists try to feel how hot the boiling water was or try to pet a buffalo. Old faithful proved to be faithful. I did hear a cacophony of languages.
Another stop was Firehole falls. The falls was beautiful and a special treat was driving past a osprey nest at eye level.
At the Artist Paint Pot, the landscape looked like it was from a different planet.
On the drive I saw breath taking valleys and snow spotted mountains, prairies where the grass danced with the wind, and towering pines and new growth after a forest fire. However, often there was not a good spot to capture the grandeur of the view
While driving up the Dunraven pass, I had to keep repeating the words of musical artist, Carrie Newcomer, “You can do this hard thing,” as I faced another fear: driving along a mountain pass often without guard rails at over 8,800 feet. I was white knuckling it much of the way and kept my eyes focused on the road. I finally stopped to take in the view.
After 10 hours of driving, site seeing and hiking, I was exhausted, too exhausted to think about cooking dinner. So, I treated myself to dinner overlooking Yellowstone Lake. I arrived back at the campsite 12 hours after I left. I am a tired tourist!
This trip was yesterday, but I had minimal access to cellphone service and no wi-fi. I am on my way to shower at an Air B&B in Missoula and to pick up Tina :)
