Another day in Yellowstone.
They tell us it's hotter than a firecracker in the western states today... But not too bad here in America's... no... the world's first national park. It started out in the mid 40s today and eventually hit the low 80s (a "Yellowstone scorcher"!) before rain showers came over us in several waves creating a beautiful, cool evening.
We stuck to our plan and got out among the critters and attractions at a reasonable hour. We left our camp here in Grant Village about 9. We were armed for the hunt... two iPads, two smart phones, a digital camera with two lenses, a 4 plug USB charger, at 100 watt inverter for 120v power, the charger for the camera battery, a laptop with its charger (for the pics from the camera... that's how we convert many individual shots into the panoramas we love to share with you) a bag of food and drink and two bicycles. In other words, just the essentials... we were traveling light like the pioneers! (Did I mention that we crossed both the route of the Oregon Trail and the Pony Express in mid Wyoming? Looking at the expanse of high plains there, one can only ask two questions: 1. How bad was it where they were that they left to face this? and 2. How did they do it?) Not along on today's trip were Mutt and Mutt who were happy to sleep the day away in our home on wheels.
Remember the description I gave yesterday of the figure eight formed by to ring roads in the park? And how we are camped at the bottom of the 8? Today we headed counter clockwise (anti clockwise for you, Chris) to the top of the lower lobe of the 8. We reached the point at which the two lobes join, a place called Canyon Village. Why, you may ask, do they call it "Canyon" village? Because for about half of the route the road follows the Yellowstone River as it plunges through a gorge that is up to 1,200 feet deep and 4,000 feet wide from rim-to-river and rim-to-rim. SPECTACULAR! We made a day out of stopping at the various overlooks, points-o-inspiration and generally breathtaking scenes. Check out the photos here (which are typically 10% of the resolution of the originals. The originals can be found on our Flickr page at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/131457232@N02/)
En route to the canyon we saw this guy and stopped to snap a few. He was easily within ear shot so I thanked him for modeling for the picture on the nickel... I also told him he was an inspiration to American men of a certain age who share his physique including a substantial midsection and undersized hind quarters. "Thanks, Bill! You make us proud!" (The guide book says they are all called Bill... Buffalo Bill I think).
Which brings us to today's musing. I want this on record here so the scientific community can eventually ascribe to me -- SilverCliche' -- the discovery of the phenomenon I am about to describe to you. May I suggest "SilverCliche' syndrome"? On several instances between Grant Village and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone we encountered bison. Sometimes one, sometimes herds of them. In almost every case these critters brought traffic to a standstill. I mean a standstill... in both directions. People literally stop in the lane in which they were driving, emerge from their cars, walk toward these magnificent wild creatures and begin the photographic process. At one point today in the Hayden Valley we were at a dead stop for upwards of 5 minutes and there were at least 20 cars ahead of us. We couldn't see "bison dung" from our position in line which meant we were far more annoyed at the people blocking the road than we were thrilled at the wildlife encounter. In fact, this is about the time we realized bison are a nuisance species here in Yellowstone. More on that later. Eventually, a US Park Service ranger in her white pickup truck with the logo on both doors, US government license plates and emergency lights on top (not illuminated at the moment) pulled out of line and began driving slowly down the left lane of this two lane road to see what the commotion and delay was about. I suspect that from experience she knew darn well what it was about and she was actually hoping to break up the photofest and get traffic moving again. Now, here's where the SilverCliche' syndrome kicks in. At least three cars from the line followed her down the wrong side of the road in a no passing zone just as some traffic began moving in the proper direction in that lane. The simple bison-induced rubber necking delay became a traffic snarl of New Delhi proportions! Oh yes... the syndrome. I can only imagine that the people who stopped in the first place, the people who followed the ranger and the people who pressed on through this mess do not behave this way at home. One of the cars that followed the ranger was a Honda Odyssey minivan with a family from (based on their license plate) Arizona. I bet they don't follow emergency vehicles on a call in Phoenix just because they know the hospital they are heading to is near the mall and they'll get to their shopping quicker that way. They don't. But they do here. How to explain that? Well... The SC syndrome postulates that bison emit an odorless, colorless gas (in addition to the pale green decidedly non-odorless gas that science has already documented that they emit in large quantity). This gas effects human judgement and causes a sort of bison euphoria or rapture. I have no other way to describe the human misbehavior that the mere site of a bison brings on. Remember, you heard it here first.
Back to the canyon. It's spectacular. First we headed to the south rim which has some beautiful views of both the two falls and the wild River within the canyon. The end of that road is "artist's point". Need I say more? Then we backtracked and followed the north rim. Again, spectacular views including "inspiration point". I actually reached the point of inspiration at artist' point, but that was evidently a case of premature inspiration. No more about that.
When we reached the top after many stops, walks down trails, pictures, videos, listening to endless Chinese gibberish (have I told you that about 40% of the visitors we see in the park are Chinese? You thought they were only taking advantage of the US government through Internet hacking! Wrong!) we needed a break. Fortunately, Canyon Village offered that in the form of tee shirt shops and a choice of restaurants. We hit both... hard. First the shirts then an actual sit down restaurant with a real menu. I was inspired by the morning's encounters with Yellowstone's nuisance species, so I ate a bison burger to do my 1/2 pound share to address the problem. Later I learned the bison was farm raised in Kansas or somewhere leaving the problem no closer to resolution. Mrs. C' had the turkey burger. What inspired her to pick that I do not know. We haven't seen a turkey in Yellowstone (although we did see them in Colorado or Kansas or Missouri or... oh what the hell... those states have all run together at this point... we saw one, OK?). But she hadn't seen a turkey all morning. She was just in the truck with me... hey... you don't think she... naw...
After that we meandered back toward Grant Village, the dogs and our second home. We stopped briefly at a couple of sites including the sulfur cauldron and a beautiful view of rain showers across Yellowstone Lake. As for the cauldron, I decided if I wanted to be near smelly gurgling dark water I can just visit the "dump station" and empty our waste tanks. I've had about enough of that and about enough of smelly boiling mud coming out of the ground. At my current level of exposure, I'll never forget that about Yellowstone. Any more sulfur pit viewing is pure overkill.
Tomorrow? No plan yet. Maybe we will just be lazy and stay near here. Maybe we will try to find the wily elk, moose or bear (three critters we have not seen yet but wish to). We know for sure we start the trip back to Florida on Tuesday, so tomorrow is a good time to prep and catch our breath before the next 2,500 mile segment begins.
Good night, Campers!
SC
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