I usually don’t go to National Parks except maybe if I have something specific to do at one, or if I happen to be driving by anyway. I’ve spent a couple months in Yosemite (The Ditch) climbing, went up the Grand Teton a couple times, slept illegally in Arches, went to Rocky Mountain National a few times to climb the Diamond, Canyonlands, whatever, but I’ve never had the true National Park experience. Last summer I sought to do the more traditional National Park thing.
Wife, two kids, pickup with topper, family size tent, cooking stuff, cooler. Trade the pickup for a station wagon and we might well have stepped out of the 60s.
First on our list was Devils Tower, a modest first day’s drive from Denver. By driving non stop we were able to get a campsite just inside the entrance to what is actually a “Monument” not a “Park”. The campground was not as I’d remembered. Campsites were close together and there were many camper trailers and RVs. Noisy generators. My wife was overjoyed with the running water in the restrooms.
Thirty years ago I’d spent a week in May cranking up the finger cracks on the west side of the Tower. This time we drove up to the visitors center, watched the rangers raise the flag, and left. No one was interested in doing more. Devils Tower, been there, done that, didn’t buy a T-shirt.
From Devils tower we drove out to the Bighorns and slept in National Forest south of Buffalo Pass somewhere. We had the campground to ourselves except for an elderly couple with a small kid that drove up late in the afternoon.
The bighorns were all I could ask for in public land. Remote, beautiful, no people, not many rules or regulations. If I’d of been by myself I wouldn’t even have stayed in a campground.
The west side of Buffalo Pass was Ten Sleep Canyon, a place I’d never seen before. It was long and with a steep wall on both sides. I am at the point where I don’t measure natural features by how they stack up compared to others, a canyon doesn’t have to be “steepest” or “deepest” or even best. I just thought Ten Sleep was real pretty and we were very happy to see it, probably one of the nicer natural features I’ve seen in this life.
The drive across central Wyoming from Ten Sleep to Dubois was fairly flat and treeless. Oh, and long.
When we pulled into Yellowstone we were too late for a spot at a campground, and being a National Park there is no “dispersed” camping. Dispersed camping is what used to be called just camping. You find a likely place, pull off the road, set up a tent, try not to burn down the woods or make a mess and camp. Those kinds of things are allowed in fewer and fewer places these days.
A young kid at the info desk at Teton Park knew just where to send me when I explained what we were after. A private campground outside the park we’d passed on the way in.
We got the second to last tent spot at the private campground. Wifi, showers, and laundry for thirty bucks. Almost the entire campground was for trailers and RVs. The position wasn’t ideal. We were at the very rear of the campground across the pasture from a smallish river that was up against a north facing wooded hill. The creek was lush and with tons of bushes, great bear corridor.
The next morning we got up early and went on into Yellowstone and got a camp spot. Yellowstone seemed very well planned. The traffic on the roads moved right along with many places to pull over. The camp spots had a lot more room from one to the next despite being, well, a campground. Each spot had a fire pit, picnic table, bear proof food storage, and a tent spot. I read all the rules at the entrance and there were no onerous ones. They’ve had a lot of practice and seem to have not tried to make rules people wouldn’t follow anyway.
For the rest of the morning we drove to Old Faithful, looked at some hot springs, jumped in the Firehole River, and walked down to the overlook for Yellowstone falls, the classic loop road. Not much in the park seems new, but everything seems well cared for and kept up. Signage is not too large or bright, just enough to let you know what’s up. No new looking concrete or painted reflecting turn lanes and bike paths.
The photo on the right is of the crowds at Old Faithful. There is some sort of large hotel at Old Faithful and also massive parking. We, along with a few hundred other people waited for quite a while for some water to come out of the ground. I guess now I can say I’ve been there, seen that.
We enjoyed some sort of hot springs further up the road a lot more. We could walk around on the paths and look much more closely at things.
All considered Yellowstone was well done. It’s an automobile experience, almost what I’d call an urban experience, but that’s ok. That’s America, and that’s how the park was designed. The roads are pleasant with speeds fast enough to get places but slow enough that one can look around and see things.
Unlike many public lands, the roads were hard surface, but mostly without ditches. The fact that the roads are closed during the snow season means there is much less concern with run off or frost heaves. Being on the road felt less removed from the forests we passed through.
A problem that the Park Service is very aware of is diversity. As in there is none. When the Park Service looks at their visitor demographics they see a sea of white.
Where the Park Service sees white I see a different color, green, like money. There just weren’t many other people driving fifteen year old vehicles or sleeping in tents. Long vacations seem to have gone the way of defined pension plans for the working class.
There is currently a movement afoot to sell off all our public lands except parks and monuments. Look at the fine print on Paul Ryan’s budget. Selling off public lands is how he balances the budget. If people don’t even visit National Parks how important is some bunch of trees out in the middle of fly over country. And they have a point, to take ownership of our public lands people need to be able to go to them and enjoy them.
National Parks need to be accessible and enjoyed by all our nations people. People of diverse races, backgrounds, and incomes.