Day 12
14145 mileage
6:51 A.M.
8254 steps
Our Yellowstone Angel from West Thumb instructed us to not miss out on the Lamar Valley drive. We set that for our final day in the park. However, there is a slight problem. The Tower-Roosevelt Road was closed to traffic, had been all week. This means that we would have to drive 3 hours all the way out to Mammoth Springs again and then drive two more hours to be in the Valley. Then we'd have to turn around and do it all over again to get home.
Long day of driving.
It worked out well because G wanted to see the Roosevelt Arch. He had seen it in some Nat Geo documentary and didn't realize it was only five miles from where we were on our first day in the park. So we'd go out that way first.
We crossed off a few more sites we didn't stop at before, such as Midway Geyser and the Artist Paint Pots.
Lunch was at the Cowboy Lounge in the little town of Gardiner, Montana. We drove around for a bit and marveled at all the elk just laying around in the town square like they owned the place or something. There was also a sign on the road saying we've reached the 45 degree of latitude on the globe. So cool!
There was some wildlife on display throughout the Lamar Valley, renowned for its wide variety of animal lifeforms. I mean it's nickname is "The American Serengeti,' so there has to be something to see. We did see buffalo and deer everywhere. We spotted a traffic jam and slowed down to take in the black bear everyone was ogling. We missed out on the bald eagles, coyote, moose, osprey, and otters. But the reason for driving through was to experience the world. One we haven't been exposed to in our little suburb of Georgia. In the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, "Not all who wander are lost." We definitely were not lost this day exhalting in the great land of ours.
On our first day we made a stop at the Norris Geyser Overlook just to stretch our legs. We got out of the car and walk over to the railing to look at the valley below us. There was a great number of trees, but not really something we could see of interest. Therefore we bypassed the actual Norris Geyser.
Driving back to Jackson, G asked, 'Is there anything else you would like to see before we leave Yellowstone?" The last point on the map I could see was the Norris Geyser, so I suggested that. Glad we did.
On our way out on this stretch of flat land filled with wildflowers once again we see the road absolutely lined with cars, campers, and tons of people with expensive camera equipment just hanging out. There were people standing around chatting, children on the roofs of RV's playing games, and others just staring off into the distance. It reminded me of July Fourth and waiting for the fireworks show to start. Folks jostling for the best vantage point and then just waiting. This is when it occurred to me that we've seen a few bears in this field on our other days. All of these people had camped out just for on the off chance they'd catch a sighting of a bear. Wow.
So Yellowstone has been crossed off the Bucket List as well. Theodore Roosevelt and his newly formed Boone and Crockett Club in 1872 had the right idea. This does indeed need to be protected. Poachers and logging companies need to leave this 2.2 million acres alone for future generations to marvel at the beauty available to us. This? This land is sacred.
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