I know it is the second week of June and school holidays have just started, but - really? The busy period is not supposed to start for another month according to the local Jackson Hole newspaper which is where we are currently residing.(Jackson Hole is a town of approx. 9500 people south of Yellowstone. What other town of this size do you know that has a constant stream of traffic and traffic jams in the late afternoon even during mid-week?)
There are 12 campsites in Yellowstone with 1759 reservable sites and over 430 first-come, first-served sites. We got the last available site at the largest campsite and there was nothing for the next night. I was told that it was like this all last summer too. Not only do people stay at the campsites and two lodges inside the park, but also they make day trips in from surrounding towns. There were people and cars every where, and I do mean every where. Apparently, the thing to do is to drive around and around looking at the animals and scenery. There must be 200 or 300 kms of roads through the park, which are all sealed except for one section which is under repair due to major land slides and so you have to wait to be escorted through the road works behind a lead vehicle after waiting for about 30 minutes. There are lots of pull overs and car parking areas along side the roads but when a animal is spotted, cars pile up and people literally run with cameras.
It is not the 'wilderness' experience you might expect in a national park. There are not a lot of walking tracks and some of them are closed anyway, due to grizzly bears being in the area. Yellowstone is truly beautiful and there is lots of wildlife to be scene, but the people do spoil it somewhat. My next post will a more positive one about the nice aspects of Yellowstone.
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