For several years, we have done a bio-blitz into Yellowstone. Wake up at home – get out the door early – in the park by 9am – 10 hours of walking and driving to find all the animals we can see – dinner in Gardiner – home to our own beds by 10 or 11pm. When Yellowstone is on your greater backyard, it seems like doing a blast is the least you can do. I’m not certain how many we have done, but I really enjoy them.
This year was particularly nice. At the entry gate, the Ranger reminded me that I could either pay the daily rate or pay a bit more and get the lifetime pass. I opted for the lifetime pass, and now, for the rest of my days, I don’t need to pay to enter any US Fee area.
The park was pretty crowded, but we have a few hacks that make our time there feel more special. We headed straight for Old Faithful, to see if we could maintain our record of parking close and walking up just in time to see the geyser blow- and we did a decent job of it.
We had to wait about 7 minutes- perhaps our longest wait in a good long time, but we were able to find a nice spot with no one ‘in the way’ while we viewed the eruption, then went into the Old Faithful Lodge to grab a sandwich and move on. The line for the sit-down restaurant was a good 40 people deep and the line had not moved by the time we came out with our thick Hoagies and headed outside to sit on the patio and watch the birds and tourists. Why anyone feels to the need to eat a sit down meal in Yellowstone is beyond me. To each their own, I suppose.
We spent time in the Hayden and Lamar Valleys and soaked our feet in the Yellowstone at LeHardy Rapids. The Wildflowers were in full bloom, but the Harlequin Ducks that reliably haunt the rapids were long gone. Seeing young Sandhill Cranes, bull Bison, a Black Bear, untold thousands of flowers and a few dozen species of birds was a real treat.
Watching a mother and calf Elk call to each other and eventually find each other, and then seeing the calf nurse was very special as we left the park near the imposing stone entry gate the world’s first National Park was great, too.
We finished the day with a Baked Potato Bowl from a food truck in Gardiner and a drive home through a spectacular lightening storm. Home by 11:00pm, and in bed shortly thereafter.
As a final note on the day, the new road from Mammoth to Gardiner is so much fun! Twisty, turny, smooth and new- I miss the drive along the river, but coming down that road was fun.
Nature, every day. 
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