Yellowstone National Park – September 26, 2014

(This post is just a record/account of my trip, for those who follow my journey. Nothing gory, scary, exciting or even interesting for most of you, and takes off after the Beartooth Highway post).

After camping near Red Bluff, Montana, for two nights (a little town I’m considering applying for a job in one summer), I drove back over the Beartooth Highway and camped just outside of Yellowstone National Park. I then decided to get a camp spot IN Yellowstone, and actually pay for a night of camping. It was $15.00, and the last campground in Yellowstone with camping spots open.

The campground was near the north-east entrance of Yellowstone, in the Lamar Valley. I spent all that day and evening driving back and forth across the valley looking for wolves and grizzly bears, to no avail.

The next day a weather front moved in, and it turned cold and damp, with heavy fog and clouds settling all over the land. Driving through it, I could see nothing. Additionally, there were road works in Yellowstone which made it impossible to do either of the loops and visit the thermals without having to come back the same way. I didn’t really want to do this, as I had a budget on gasoline for the trip to The Beartooths.

With the weather and the road closures, I decided it was time to head to warmer climes. The injuries in my back and shoulder were feeling cold, and aching constantly, and I was not sleeping well. So I drove out of Yellowstone and camped near the town of West Yellowstone. West Yellowstone is not a town I’d want to get a summer job in. I didn’t like the feel of it. It was geared towards tourism, and it felt, well… false. I visited a coffee shop that only allowed you to use their internet for 30-minutes, which sucked too I didn’t get coffee there, and I did not like the energy of the town at all.