Yellowstone: Day One
- Phil Smith
- Aug 12
- 4 min read
We had our preconceived ideas about what to expect in Yellowstone, what we wanted to see and what we thought we were going to see. Those who have been there know what an indescribable marvel it is. For those who have yet to go, this account is by no means a comprehensive guide, because we barely scratched the surface of what is there.
But we did hit the highlights. We saw most of the things we expected to see, and were surprised and delighted by the unexpected. We stayed in the facilities and ate the food. We traveled the entire Grand Loop Road system within the park, and then some.
There is so much to say about what we did and saw and experienced that we are breaking this into a description of each day we spent there.
We entered the park through the west entrance, where the town of West Yellowstone has sprung up with many motels to house visitors who can't get rooms in the park or don't want to pay for them, which makes sense for those on a strict budget.
After driving about 5 miles into the park, you cross the state line from Montana into Wyoming. There is a VERY small sign to mark that transition.
We eventually made our way to Canyon Village, where we stayed the entire time we were in the park. We will not do that when we go back; we will stay in multiple locations to make it easier to see each section of the park. Canyon Village is centrally located, which we thought would be a good thing. However, it meant that we had to drive a lot to other parts of the park to get to the tours we were doing. And driving in Yellowstone makes you subject to the whims of the bison. More on that later.
We had a nice room in Canyon, especially compared to what we had in Glacier. There is a large concession area a quarter mile away with several food options, a small general store, a post office and visitor's center, which had an excellent display about the Yellowstone supervolcano.
We had to leave later that evening to drive to the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, from which our sunset tour was leaving. Only problem was that a very large bison had taken up a resting place about 20 feet from where we parked the Road Warrior. He was such a frequent visitor to that spot that the local park staff had named Carl.
People are advised to stay at least 25 yards away from bison, for good reason. Those who have seen that viral video of the poor elderly man tossed in the air by a bison in Yellowstone understand. But we had to leave, so Phil moved in such a way that kept cars between him and the bison so that the beast never saw him until he was at the door of the car. Mission Accomplished!
It is about a 35 minute drive from Canyon Village to Lake Yellowstone Hotel, which was slowed only a little by bison-jams -- people stopping to take photos of bison along the road.
We arrived at the grand old hotel on the lake in time to have a quick bite to eat and sit in the beautiful Sun Room overlooking the lake. About 20 minutes before we had to leave, a string quartet set up right behind us and began playing! It was really nice and provided some great accompaniment to the grand vistas before us.
The Sunset Tour was top-notch. It was in one of Yellowstone's old Yellow Buses, which are counterparts to Glacier's Red Buses, built at about the same mid-1930's timeframe by the same company.
We drove along the lake's northern shore toward a lookout butte that provided amazing views of the setting sun over the lake with mountains everywhere you looked. It was clear enough that we could see the tops of the Grand Tetons, more than 75 miles away.
We got some amazing photos and then headed back to the Hotel. It was dark on the drive back to Canyon so we were going a bit slower than the posted 45 mph speed limit due to concerns about the animals walking the road.
Good thing we did! We came around a bend to see a large bull bison crossing the road right in front of us. What a magnificent animal! And it would have completely totaled the Road Warrior had we hit it.
After we stopped for the bison, the person behind us turned out to not be so patient. They passed us, sped up, and were almost immediately pulled over by a waiting Park Ranger. Talk about instant karma!
We made it back to Canyon Village safe and sound and soon went to sleep. It had been a long day, and the next day was going to be just as long.
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