Yesterday while Erik was busy typing up this great summary of National Parks to check out during winter, I was more than likely uploading my very own photos from America’s most well-known park – Yellowstone. I’m no National park geek, but having done several over the last two weeks it is pushing me to want to see them all. Yes, I’m finally beginning to understand the beauty and wonder Erik has so often mentioned in his park promoting. Anyhow, I won’t go largely into detail here on my day parading around the park snapping photo after photo of falls, wildlife, geysers and frozen snowy plant life. For the most part I found visiting Yellowstone at this time of year chilly, but incredibly awe-inspiring.
During the summer I’m told about 97% of Yellowstone’s annual visitors flood the park making major attractions like Old Faithful extremely difficult to view. On the flipside, I hadn’t one problem clearly seeing the geyser push 3,000 to 4,000 gallons of water from the Earth’s core into the air. I stood there waiting with numb finger tips and the wind ripping through my jacket joined by about 30 other people (nothing in comparison to the 25,000 who may show up during summer) who shivered and wished for the show to begin so we could all retreat back into our warm vehicles. Once Old Faithful had done it’s thing I took off and started heading back into Jackson wishing I had more time to see all the geysers and all the park had to offer. The park rangers noted too much interest is invested in Old Faithful and that Yellowstone has much, much more to offer visitors who place loads of time into their stay. Loads of time is exactly what I did not have, sadly. In addition to lack of time, we found several roads were a bit too icy for our vehicle (unequipped with snow tires) to travel down safely or during late night hours with all sorts of wildlife all over the place. In brief, Yellowstone is an awesome choice for winter if you can stand the cold temps, but after looking at Erik’s piece, I’d have to say some of the other parks could very well give Yellowstone and her Old Faithful a run for their money.