Movin' Right Along: Cranky Monday


Bison on the road to Fishing Bridge

Monday, Aug. 13, 2018

We had another quiet night at Three Mile Campground, with the sound of the river behind us during the night. And we even got going by 9:30, which counts as early for us these days. But after driving for an hour to the Fishing Bridge intersection, and another hour or more around the lower loop of Yellowstone’s Grand Loop, we realized we might not be able to accomplish our goal for the day, which was simple-- to visit the Midway Geyser Basin. On our previous visit, driving through the Firehole Canyon Drive was one of the highlights of our trip-- and we’d already seen yesterday that the route is now marked “No RVs.” We had, however, managed to get into a crowded parking lot for the Midway Basin.

This morning, as with yesterday afternoon, the cars were in a line out to the main road, and parked on the shoulder of the road on both sides for about a quarter-mile in either direction. It was obvious that we would never get into the parking lot, and even if we did, we would not find a space to fit our RV. Unfortunately, our strength these days is not yet up to walking a half-mile or more just to the parking lot, plus a long loop through the basin. So we sadly drove past it.

We’d already passed Biscuit Basin (although in fairness, we MIGHT have had a chance to wedge ourselves in) and even Old Faithful and the lower geyser basin, in hopes of getting into Midway. Now we had to decide what to do-- backtrack and hope to get into those places, or move on elsewhere. We’d already driven more than 3 hours by that time, only to be turned back by the mobs. At that point, I was feeling decidedly “unwelcome” in the park-- between the lack of significant parking for RVs in the first place, and the numerous “No RV” signs on many of the sweetest one-way alternative routes, I kind of lost my patience and my fondness for Yellowstone. I expected crowds, but this was something almost upsetting, as well as inconvenient.


Firehole River

Given that it was lunch time, we found a pullout along the Firehole River and had something to eat. I felt a bit soothed by being right next to the river, and Cassie loved it. She sniffed not just the ground, but the air, pounced on bugs, and rolled in the grass. The river was very soothing also, and fish were jumping out of the water. It was delightful. The only downside was the traffic noise-- it was as if we were sitting beside a highway. The vehicles simply did not STOP, it was constant all during lunch. We decided that we’d just had enough, and, giving up the idea of any more sightseeing in the park, headed toward Madison Junction so we could leave via the West Gate. We’d never driven down that road, and at least it would be something new.

I have to say that it’s been 7 years since we last visited Yellowstone, and I’ve been hearing about the increasing crowds in the National Parks for a number of years. I anticipate that there will have to be more changes in crowd management in the future, and not all of them will be encouraging to visitors. We passed a bit of road work next to Fishing Bridge, and the access on the North Rim road was difficult because of road work (it looked like they were expanding the parking lot at Uncle Tom’s View, or whatever it’s called.) They also seem to be building new lakeside access to Yellowstone Lake on the road to the East Gate. But I will not be at all surprised if someday, instead of seeing “campground full” signs at the gates, the park will post “Park Full” signs, and stop admitting more cars after a certain point.


Cassie enjoying the river

Another difficulty is the fact that the park is really not even open for much of the year. The campgrounds, for example, with the exception of Mammoth, don’t open until May and June (at a staggered schedule). So even though we are more than willing to come at a different time of year, our choices are limited. We came last time in early September... we will have to push it later next time. In addition, we’d already been talking about towing our Jeep behind us, and it’s obvious that this is now a necessity in YNP, if we expect to see all the attractions. Some of the best ones are no longer accessible to anyone in an RV (or, for that matter, in a tour bus--those too are prohibited from the same roads.) It’s already impossible to get a reserved campsite unless you plan pretty much a year in advance, so all in all, I predict it will be harder and harder to enjoy the park, and certainly harder to stay in it, in the coming years.

So that was my morose state of mind as we drove out of the park at around 2:00 pm. The road to the West Gate is really pretty, running right along the Madison River. We stopped once along the way when we saw a group of people standing and looking at something across the river. It turned out to be a very large bird-- someone said they thought it was a golden eagle. I left my good camera in the car when we got out, though, and missed getting its photo. Other than that, it was an uneventful trip out the gate and arrived at the little town of West Yellowstone, Montana.


Painted Fish

The main excuse for this town seems to be a location for RV parks, motels, and accompanying souvenir shops and the like for tourists heading for the park. In fact, if someone is staying outside the park, they’d be better off in this town than in Cody on the east side, or even in the NFS campground we were in, right outside the East Gate. The trip into the park is notably shorter from West Yellowstone. However, there were only a few attractions, and they did not attract us!

So we continued for about 15 more minutes, passing the Welcome to Idaho sign in the process, until we came to Henry Lake State Park, and that is where we are spending the night. The park is expensive by our current standards ($33.62 for the night, where our average nightly cost has been $17.58 for the 12 nights of our vacation thus far.) But we wanted access to the showers, the dumpsite, and the electric hookup. AND we are thrilled that we once again have good cell service and can reach the internet. Otherwise-- we would have boondocked again in the national forest which is right near by. Maybe tomorrow night we’ll do that again... I like paying nothing for a campsite in the forest!