Yellowstone: America's Treasure

We have been off the grid in Yellowstone National Park for the past four days. It was more than memorable. Yellowstone is large, over two million acres. It sits on a volcanic base, is home to half of the world's geysers, some 500 in all, and to the largest concentration of mammals in the lower 48 states. One could travel the Park for a month or a year and still not discover all of its wonders. It would seem impossible to capture much in four days- unless, of course, one were guided by Rod and Pam Rempt. Rod and Pam are friends of many years who retired to Big Sky, about two hours drive from Yellowstone, 15 years ago. They are avid hikers, love the outdoors, and have spent much time in Yellowstone in all seasons. They know the Park in a way that few people do, and they are marvelous guides to its many dimensions.

Rod, a retired Navy Admiral, set out a four day itinerary whose comprehensiveness took me back to my Navy days. It was designed to get us to the best viewing spots early and late in the day, when the animals were out and moving. And see the full range of Yellowstone's animals is just what we did. We saw plains full of grazing bison, looking much like they that had two hundred years ago.Many females had recently given birth and their bison babies, called red dogs, tagged along looking still a bit lost in the world.

We also saw many elk , just coming down to the valleys after the winter.

It seemed that in many of Yellowstone's lovely mountain valleys, the bison and the elk were to be found to be plentiful and healthy. It was the beginning of Spring so these animals were coming to the valleys for the new grass. Of course we also wanted to see two other of the Park's most sought after sightings, grizzlies and wolves. Both of these animals are more difficult to find and even more difficult to observe for long because they tend to stay closer to the tree lines and keep moving. We were fortunate to have two premier grizzly sightings, one with a mother and cub, and a wolf sighting where the male and female stayed in sight in the meadow for more than 15 minutes. We didn't get much in the way of pictures with theses sightings because they tended to be farther away, visible with our binoculars and also with the Rempt's scope, particularly good with our wolves sighting, as they were across a meadow.

The animals of Yellowstone are epic and the vistas that accompany them are no less extraordinary. The Yellowstone River, originating from Lake Yellowstone provides two stunning waterfalls.

Yellowstone is also an active volcano, and the central part of the Park has many geysers, the most well known being Old Faithful, which sends up fifty foot geysers of water and steam every ninety minutes or so. The entire area has an other worldly look.

All of this and more is Yellowstone National Park. We had been there before but our last four days have shown us the Park in a way we will never forget. Yellowstone is a national treasure. It is celebrating its 150th Anniversary this year. We must do all we can to preserve this unique resource.