 For more than a year, we had succeeded in not acquiring any stowaways while boondocking. Then one night near Salt Lake City, Utah, while Bob was up late playing a computer game, he saw a little mouse run across our kitchen counter. Bob quickly got up to follow the rodent and observed it underneath our TV televator eating tortilla chips that had dropped there, out of reach. Not wanting to be pestered by the nuisance, or encourage it to invite friends, Bob moved things off the counter to where (hopefully) the mouse couldn’t get to them and set a trap. We were getting ready to leave the country for nearly two weeks and didn’t want to return to a mess of destruction. The next morning, we awoke to a dead fieldmouse. The greedy little thing had died trying to get to a big piece of cheese. Snake alert The next day, Bob returned from a laundromat trip and told me I needed to see the truck. “Oh no!” I thought. “What now?” Bob pointed to my sandals, wanting me to put them on to go look at the truck, but something caught my eye. “Why is there a snake in here?” I asked. Knowing that Bob is a prankster, I thought he had intentionally put the small tan snake there to trick me. He hadn’t. He grabbed a towel to try to capture the creature to throw outside, but it slithered into the mechanism that allows us to stow our RV stairs for travel and disappeared out of sight. We lifted the stairs into the trailer, hoping that would knock the snake loose. No such luck. So, we put the stairs back down, and Bob grabbed a flashlight. From my vantage point outside the rig, I could see a tiny part of the snake’s body, but there appeared to be no easy way to knock it loose. Bob got a brilliant idea to fetch a lighter. With it, he literally lit a fire right under the snake, and it eagerly left its perch. Bob was able to throw the snake out of the trailer, but it landed on our top step. That was still too close for comfort. Finally, it dropped from the stairs and slithered toward our tires. I didn’t want it anywhere near our living quarters. Bob handed me our fly swatter, and I used that to move the snake farther away from our home. Then Bob came out, scooped up the ready-to-strike (but not rattling) reptile, and flung it over the ridge next to our trailer. Free at last. Safety nets Despite those unpleasant encounters, we had a lovely time at our stop in Utah. Every morning and evening, paragliders and hang gliders graced us with alluring views as they flew into the wind over a ridge. We set up our chairs and watched in amazement while relishing the temperate air and the panorama of the Rocky Mountains and Utah Lake.  Fellow RVers Joe and Andrea joined us, and we all agreed we lead an extraordinary life full of incredible experiences, even if some are less desirable than others.
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 Spanning 2.2 million acres, Yellowstone National Park is the second largest national park in the contiguous United States after Death Valley, which covers 3.4 million acres. Like Death Valley, Yellowstone transgresses state boundaries, stretching from Montana to Wyoming to Idaho. Yellowstone is also the oldest national park, having opened in 1872, according to the National Park Service. That likely explains its popularity, which kept us from visiting for many years. Yellowstone attracts more than 4 million guests annually. When we found ourselves in striking distance of the park after Labor Day and peak tourist season, we decided to take advantage of the proximity, urged on by our wonderful hosts Mike and Barbara in Bozeman, Montana. Like us, you may be wondering, “Is Yellowstone worth visiting?” Find out about our experience to decide for yourself. Wildlife Having recently toured Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where bison surrounded us as we crept along Scenic Loop Drive, we weren’t too sure about venturing into Yellowstone. We did see bison there, but from a much greater distance. We were even closer to the animals on a drive through Ted Turner’s ranch in Bozeman. Despite that, the animals were nice to see. And for many people, Yellowstone is their only experience with bison and other wildlife. We also observed some elk partaking of their evening meal in the Madison River, and we spotted a lone elk midday in the middle of a meadow. We appreciated those sightings, as we hadn’t seen elk or deer at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  We saw no other wildlife at Yellowstone except for swans, geese, and birds. That doesn’t mean other mammals aren’t there. They definitely are, as are fish and reptiles. Many guests have spotted bears, wolves, pronghorns, coyotes, and moose there. Vastness That leads to my second point. Covering millions of acres, Yellowstone is enormous. There’s no way to see it all in one day. Even going two days, like we did, you may not get through it all. There’s a lot to take in. By not hitting every area, you may miss some opportunities to view certain wildlife, as we can attest to. The time of day of your visit can make a difference too. Along with that enormity comes something we found quite unique and fascinating. Yellowstone features a great variety of landscapes:
Everywhere we turned offered something different to look at, making the park an amazing place to explore. Geysers Speaking of geysers, they’re the draw for most of Yellowstone’s guests, who’ve heard stories about Old Faithful, which erupts as a natural fountain regularly throughout the day. When we arrived at the geyser’s location, we had to wait an hour to witness the wonder for ourselves, but we didn’t mind. That gave us time to watch a couple of educational videos and peruse the displays and gift shop in the visitor center there.  Despite its renowned allure, Old Faithful is only one of about 500 geysers at Yellowstone, according to the National Park Service. Because the park is a supervolcano, it’s home to other hydrothermal features as well, including hot springs, mudpots, and fumaroles — or openings that let sulfurous gases escape. As we drove through the park, plumes of steam caught our eyes and captured our attention, presenting unfamiliar sights. Although we’ve walked through an active volcano crater in Hawaii, the steam escaping it paled in comparison to the scenes we beheld at Yellowstone.  Conclusion After watching Old Faithful and observing bison far in the distance on our first visit to Yellowstone, we left with a meh feeling about recommending the park. Old Faithful was impressive, but our experience with bison at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and on the Alaska Highway made this park feel ho-hum. Since we were camped in the area for a few days, we decided to make another trip to investigate more and give Yellowstone a fair shot. On our second expedition, we navigated the awe-inspiring Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, worked our way up a mountain pass, and then turned around and drove through meadows and mud volcanoes to see Lake Village and expansive Yellowstone Lake. That drive changed our minds about the park. The diverse topography, incredible views, herds of bison, and more convinced us that Yellowstone is indeed worth visiting — especially for those who will never make it to other sights we’ve seen. Just be sure you allow more than one day to explore the natural beauty.
You might also like Is the Crazy Horse Memorial worth visiting?  Nestled in the badlands of Western North Dakota stands Medora, a town of fewer than 200 that seemingly exists to provide food, lodging, supplies, and entertainment to the nearly 600,000 annual visitors to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. In reality, the old Western-themed city dates back to 1883, when it served as a military installation. That same year, Theodore Roosevelt made his first visit to Medora to hunt bison, according to National Parks Traveler. For many years after that, he hunted and ranched there, reports the Theodore Roosevelt Center. Despite that, the area surrounding Medora didn’t become a national park until 1947, 28 years after Roosevelt died. Today, the expansive, 70,000-plus-acre park dedicated to conservation and preservation in honor of the 26th president of the United States is one of the biggest attractions to North Dakota. While boondocking in the western part of the state, we made a point to visit the park and quickly discovered why Roosevelt fell in love with the area. Here are four amazing things to see at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. 1. Beautiful badlands  The badlands of North Dakota are rock formations that made navigating that part of the state difficult, especially for horses and wagons. Tan, striped, jagged rocks jut up from the ground, creating an attractive, diverse landscape. Similar to the rock formations in South Dakota’s Badlands National Park, the badlands in North Dakota consist of rock and mineral deposits in varied layers so that no two formations are identical. Today, Interstate 94 passes through the park, offering incredible views of these landforms. But the best views can be found on Scenic Loop Drive through the park. 2. Bountiful bison  We’ve seen bison at Badlands National Park that seemingly posed for pictures. We’ve also seen them on the Alaska Highway. But we’ve never been as near to bison as we were at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Arriving at the park at the end of a workday, we happened upon three different herds of the intimidating beasts. Male, female, young, and old bison foraged on either side of the road, crossed in front of us, and even stood in or walked down the middle of the road — giving us a close-up look at their girth, fur, facial structure, and hairy legs.  I probably could have rolled down my window, reached out, and petted a bison if I tried, but I quickly gained a healthy respect for the creatures, and for my security inside Gulliver. While waiting for one of the herds to make room for vehicles to pass by, we watched a man and a woman on a motorcycle slowly move through bison that stood taller than their bike.  3. Wonderful wild horses  Theodore Roosevelt National Park is also home to a number of wild horses. Believed to be descendants of horses from early settlers and ranchers in the area, according to National Park Field Guide, wild horses have been seen in the vicinity since the early 1900s. As we started up Scenic Loop Drive, we spotted some grazing atop a bluff, looking majestic on their perch. Then on our way out of the park, we noticed some cars off to the side of the road and people with cameras to their faces pointed down a ravine. Bob pulled over, and I hopped out just in time to snap some photos of the horses before they ran up and out of the ravine and away from onlookers. 4. Playful prairie dogs  Prairie dogs are fun to watch, despite the damage they do when making holes for their underground villages. While driving through Theodore Roosevelt National Park, we saw a field marked by myriad holes and knew right away it was the work of prairie dogs. Yet we didn’t see any of the playful rodents there.
A little farther down the road, we came across another prairie dog field and caught some of the creatures standing at attention. Bob rolled down his window for a better view. We immediately heard squeaks, chirps, and barks escape the critters’ throats as they communicated with one another. After watching for a while, we moved on. We could have easily spent more time at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, but the sun was setting. We didn’t want to encounter a bison on the road in the dark, so we headed out, grateful we had made the trip. You might also like 4 best-kept secrets of Missoula, Montana. |
AuthorThis is the travel blog of full-time RVers Bob and Lana Gates and our truck, Gulliver, and fifth wheel, Tagalong. Categories
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