Travel Camp

On a hike. 

Ahhhh, Yellowstone. What an enchanting place. When we entered the park early Monday morning, it felt as if we were driving into some sort of special, unique bubble of nature, wildlife, and unusual landscapes. We held our breath as we entered the park and within moments, joined the traffic of excited buffalo-viewers and picture-snapping tourists and soon after, saw our first bison grazing peacefully by the roadside! We decided to immediately turn north to try and snag a campsite in the non-reservable Mammoth campground and then return to the sites. We did stop and take photos at various viewpoints along the way and managed to make it to Mammoth just in time to take one of the last remaining campsites. After setting up, we took off to explore the park, heading back towards the way we came. We started at the Norris geyser and then ate our lunch at a picnic area nearby. While eating, we were warned of a giant grizzly bear heading rapidly towards us. Alarmed, we threw everything into the van and awaited his presence. No bear was seen, and so I ventured out to see if I could find anything and was soon joined by Max, Jose, and Gabe. We found tracks, skat, fur, but no bear, although the tall, rickety shore pines made us question our safety as strong winds blew through them.

After bear-tracking we departed and headed towards another part of the park where we went on a beautiful hike chosen by Gabe. We decided the hike was a good opportunity to split the group up into pairs so they could learn some more personal facts about each other. We have a very specific group dynamic this year – half of the group (three out of six) know each other well and came to travel camp together. While their pre-existing friendships have added to the overall group dynamic, we recognize the importance of challenging social comfort zones and hiking through the beautiful Yellowstone forest provided a perfect opportunity. They were required to learn at least three new facts about each other while also noticing unusual things about the environment around us, such as animal tracks, regrowth, and other idiosyncrasies unique to Yellowstone. It was a successful social experiment; we all learned new things about each other that helped to solidify the growing friendships within our group.

The hike was beautiful, uphill but not too difficult. The viewpoint at the top encompassed Lake Yellowstone and the surrounding area. We were spellbound. After the hike, we continued slowly towards Old Faithful. We had made plans to meet up later with a veteran Westwinder Aidan Beers aka “Zephyr” (who is also Pippin's older brother) who is currently working on wolf conservation around Yellowstone. But as we made our way towards Old Faithful, we realized we were extremely far from Mammoth, which was our meeting spot with Aidan. Instead, we stayed at Old Faithful and ended up making dinner in the parking lot on our stove. The geyser during sunset was phenomenal; we were all transfixed on the explosion of steaming water. The earth works in such unusual ways!
We were disappointed we couldn't meet up with Zephyr -- there was no way we would have made it back in time – but driving through Yellowstone at night was a surprising treat. It finally felt as if we had the park to ourselves. Although we couldn't see the buffalo sleeping in the meadows, our senses were wide awake (at least of those who weren't sleeping), and we were taking in the park through new eyes as it bathed in stark, golden moonlight. It just amazed us how unique Yellowstone's ecosystem is. Every time we passed thermal steaming ground, we couldn't take our eyes away. The presence of the animals is stunning – we definitely got the jitters. Then there are those mountains, those canyons, those waterfalls, the fields...

It really amazed us how unperturbed the animals were despite the intense human presence. In a way this makes us a little sad - it has come to the point where a day full of photo-snapping, SUV-driving sight-hungry tourists are expected. The peacefulness of the animals also really ignited an appreciation – we found ourselves feeling so grateful that the animals were letting us drive thru their home and encroach upon their livelihoods.
The scenery was just amazing. Even though Yellowstone is a tourist attraction (which many of us found to be disturbing), it remained clear how wild it was. We were very clearly in country that wasn't ours, didn't actually belong to us. The relationships between the animals and the wild landscape felt strong; there was a clear symbiotic understanding and the whole time, I found myself wondering what it would have been like to be a human participating in such a synergetic atmosphere. What would it have been like to live, hunt, fish, exist in such an incredible place? The resources are abundant but it takes such an extensive comprehension.
It was hard to leave Yellowstone. We were so taken with the park that when we drove past the gates and into the brown hills of Montana, we were all feeling like we didn't spend nearly enough time in beautiful Yellowstone. Regardless of our sadness, there was a revived excitement in the car – more road ahead! It was as if Yellowstone was the crux of our trip; we needed to see such grandiose beauty to 1. really get a grasp of how special this trip is and 2. get even more pumped for the second half!


More on Missoula, Glacier National Park, Spokane, Seattle on Westwind ahead!!!
-Platy

At Yellowstone