Thoughts of a Sojourner

Sunday was my final day in Yellowstone and just like day one, day two did not disappoint. We camped Saturday evening in Corwin Springs, MT along the Yellowstone River. The peacefulness of a campfire along the bank of a river in the Yellowstone is indescribable. In reality, the only noise you hear is the occasional bugle of a bull elk. We broke camp later in the morning and began our 8-9 hour trek through East Yellowstone. The visuals of the mightiness of the wilderness of Yellowstone is not anything that is possible to properly visualize through video, pictures or even the feeble words of a blog like the one I am currently penning. Before I go any further, I would encourage anyone, especially those with kids, to make the trip out west to take in this canvas painted and sculpted by the Almighty. Many concern themselves with treating kids to Disney, the beach or various other vacation destinations (nothing wrong with these by the way, my family has enjoyed these ourselves many times), but I believe one of the greatest things we can do for our young people is to instill in them a appreciation for our natural world and the importance of conservation of these natural wonders. On our final day we visited a number of waterfalls that display to awesome power of a natural waterway without interference of manmade dams or other obstructions. The deep canyons that traverse the park seem to be bottomless they are so deep as you peer to the bottom and see the remnants of the mighty waterfalls as they plummet downward. The close encounters with the bison and elk were awesome! We had one herd that walked by our car as they lumbered down the middle of the road. The elk could be found in herds of hundreds in the valleys to individuals walking the streets of Gardiner, MT. These magnificent beast command such attention that they stop traffic as they pass by as if it is their world and we simply live in it. We also spotted black bear feasting on the wild berries as winter approaches to prepare themselves for their winter slumber. Unfortunately, we did not spot a the king of the park, the Grizzly nor did we get to see a moose. One of the most fascinating things that we experienced was walking the boardwalks around the many thermal pools that dot the landscape of the park that reminded me that we were walking over perhaps one of the biggest volcanic cauldrons in world. Our final stop was at the Yellowstone Lodge, which is an architectural marvel. The massive structure was built out of logs from the park and contains a lot of history and by the way the huckleberry ice cream served there is out of this world!! While at the lodge were able to watch Old Faithful display her power as the geyser gushed steam and gasses from the depths of the earth. As we made our way out of the park we experienced a thunderstorm, torrential rain, hail and snow (yes it snowed) as we made our way down from the high elevation. As we left Yellowstone and entered Teton National Park on our journey back to Jackson, WY, the smoke had been cleared by the evening rains and the majestic peaks of the Teton Mountains silhouetted against the setting sun was something that I supposed the greatest artist in history could not replicate. This adventure was one that I had dreamed of making since I was a kid and I am thankful that God allowed me to finally realize the dream. In closing this writing, I want to thank Shane Kirby for being a great friend and a great tour guide on this trip. We had an awesome time and I cannot wait for the next great road trip! In the days ahead I will be posting a blog weekly about various subjects that I hope will be of encouragement, provide some insight and maybe even little educational in some instances.