Day Trip To Yellowstone

My middle daughter and I decided that we should do a day trip blitz into Yellowstone National Park- we term this particular adventure a Bio-Blitz. We figured that, since we were not going to have to eat in any restaurants or stay in the park overnight, we could do this pretty safely. This would mean we would have to forgo the usual lunch break at the lunch counter at Canyon where we have met people from all over the world. We have had conversations with people from France, Germany, Australia, and lots of other places. It’s really nice to meet people from other cultures who also value both nature and walking in it.

The wood-fired pizza at the end of the day is always an adventure. It is made in a dive bar- but since this is Montana, my daughters can come in with me. So, that is one “part” of the adventure. The next part is that the owner of the bar seems to hire 99% Russian workers. And they really speak almost no English. So, we usually have to work with both a Russian and the one English speaking employee to order our three or four small pizzas. I think the Russians must do better with a single order- when four people order four different things, they get all confused. The last part of the adventure is eating the pizza at the small tables on the front porch and watching the people, the sky, the animals, etc. Last year, 2019, we sat outside and watched a hellacious lightning storm batter the mountain-tops in YNP. Prior years, we’ve seen bison walking the main streets of Gardiner, MT.

Anyway- we decided that even without the food stops, a Bio-Blitz would be welcome to relief to the ongoing pandemic.

Our goal for any Bio-Blitz is to wake up in our own beds, get into Yellowstone early, see as many animals as possible, still get 5 miles of walking in for the day, and be home to sleep in own beds before midnight. So far, we have always been successful. Nature every day= even if you have to make a quick road-trip!

We were up and out the door at 5am and in the park about 3 hours later. We stopped at the first pullout and walked to the river and started the day with a Water Ouzel- or American Dipper. We’ve seen one in this same spot before, so we thought we might just see one again. It worked.

By the end of the day, we had bagged 45 species (so to speak). Bison, Black Bear, Elk, Deer, Rabbits, Prairie Dogs, Antelope, and Chipmunks round out the mammals, the rest were avian. Nothing too out of the ordinary- we figured we would not be granted a Harlequin Duck sighting at LeHardy’s Rapids- and we were correct. It was way too late in the season for the males to be there, but the females had been sighted only a few days before. This is pretty much the only place we can be almost certain to get the Harlequins this far inland. Glacier has a population as well, but we like Yellowstone Someday, perhaps we will do a Glacier Bio-Blitz.

This was the 5th or 6th year in a row that we have blitzed into the park. There is something about doing this that really speaks to me- I love a road trip and I want my daughters to embrace an adventuresome spirit. And I want them to appreciate the nature that surrounds us.

Here are a few images from 2020 Bio-Blitz. The highlight of the day was seeing Old Faithful. We have been in the park so many times, we sort of know a few tricks. So, we were able to park about 100 yards from the viewing area, away from all the hundreds of tourist’s cars. We parked and walked up to the viewing area and heard people grousing that it was “late”. But once we arrived, it started right up. We found a spot with no people in the way, and waited less than 90 seconds before it was in full eruption. That’s how you do it!