Thanks. I was last in the world's first national park in 1967. There were hordes of tourists even then, and being conscious of the environment wasn't yet on the horizon for most of them. I got the most from my visit there by taking a very early morning hike to a high area overlooking the basin where Old Faithful is located. With the majority of tourists still asleep I kind of felt like the first human to ever see this phenomenon.
Back in '67 you would have hated visiting the valley at Yosemite National Park. Lots of cars. Lots of people. My one burning memory of that place was walking by a camper truck and seeing some family watching TV. I am happy that the park service is banning vehicles in the valley now. I live in Oregon, in the Portland area. I witnessed the power of a volcano when Mt. St. Helens had several eruption in 1980. Mt. Hood, a dormant volcano, 70 air miles from Portland could erupt some day. Not far from Hood is an area called the Three Sisters, three volcanic peaks in Central Oregon. Geologists have detected a bulge growing there that could be a harbinger of an eruption. Thanks for the story. I enjoyed it. Jim A. > From: jerome <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 13:00:49 -0400 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: (OT) Back from my travels (Yellowstone) > Resent-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Resent-Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 13:02:12 -0400 > > Jim, > >> What didn't you like about Yellowstone? > > You sure you wanna know? I should warn you that the word "long winded" wasn't > invented until I got email access some years ago. > > Anyhow... You know... I've been asking myself the same question about > Yellowstone for about 3 weeks now. Haven't quite come up with a definitive > answer. But as my initial statement suggested, I wouldn't say I "disliked" it; > rather, I was disappointed. I expected more. I expected bells, whistles, > music, > and dancing bears with grass skirts and hula hoops. But instead I got stupid > tourists and burned down forests. > > I think it was all the hype. See, my world is very different. Growing up in > (the rougher parts of) Brooklyn, NY, things like national parks and wildlife > refuges never quite made it onto my radar until I took up photography about 2 > years ago. Prior to that, I thought a "state park" meant that the government > helped pay for the fences, handball walls and basketball rims that I played > on. > In fact, prior to this trip I had never heard of ANY of the other national > parks that I visited (Badlands, Glacier, Ranier, etc)... But somehow, I still > knew the name Yellowstone (oh, and Yosemite... but I wasn't sure where either > one was located). I guess because it's the oldest and most celebrated of them > all, somehow it seaped into my brain over time. With that in mind, I thought > it > would be the grandest, most beautiful place I'd visit on my trip. > > It wasn't. In fact, it was far from it. > > The fires if 1988 (?) left seemingly 80% of the park totally scorched, with > only dead wood and otherwise empty fields left to adorn the hillsides > [sidenote: the more I learned about the fire, the more I could appreciate > it... > but still...]. The ice covered mountains and grand vistas that awed me in > Montana and Washington, and also at the Grand Tetons, were gone. The rain > forests of Olympic and the northwestern corner of Ranier didn't exist here > either. The dozens of waterfalls that I had photographed at the previous 3 > Parks on this trip were either missing or dried up. In my eyes, it just seemed > kinda... plain. > > And then there were the people. Oh my gosh, the people. Even in late September > this place was a carnival, and I think that may be what got to me the most. I > could not IMAGINE visiting this place in midsummer. Like a walk-off homerun by > the visiting team, the drones of tourist and the atmosphere that they created > totally killed my buzz. My tranquility was stolen. My pace was quickened. I > suddenly felt rushed. And my nerves agitated. I no longer felt like a *part* > of > nature, instead I became an observer of it like everyone else. Usually, I'm > not > that sensitive to such things but I guess you get used to things quickly. In > the parks prior to this, I would be in camp locales of 100+ sites... but would > often be one of maybe 4 or 5 groups in the entire area! Ten at most (the > beauty > of traveling in fall, I suppose). With "crowds" that small, you get a fair > share of interaction (more intimate at that), but yet enough personal space to > provide a sense of oneness with your surroundings. To make a quick (albeit > cliche) sentence of a long soliloque, I had never felt so one with nature in > my > life... until I got to Yellowstone. > > At Yellowstone I felt like I was back at Coney Island. > > Admittedly, however, the place is likely 100x more astounding in the midst of > Spring or Summer. > > The only solace was that leaving the roads on any trail for just 1/4 of a mile > usually meant leaving behind 95% of the other visitors, which was nice. But > even with that, the hikes that I took there did not seem much different than > those taken here on the east coast over the past 12 months or so. > > So with that said, what's the draw of Yellowstone? I came up with 3 things: > 1. wildlife > 2. thermos > 3. and the geysers. > > The wildlife was indeed 10 times more abundant and varied than any other place > I'd visited. But aside from personal encounters that I experienced (like the > Bison I mentioned), even that was turned into a circus. Mostly by the > photographers though. Shooting these animals was moreso a whos who and whos- > lens-is-longer kind of thing than anything else, with lots of photogs spending > more time looking to see whos looking at THEM than taking photos. I actually > had a guy say proudly and emphatically, "look at my lens!"... how ridiculous > is > that? It was ridiculous and (given my pet peeve concerning such equipment > junkies) quite sad. On several occasions, I found myself wanting to set up as > well and capture seemed to be very worthwhile photos (it was mating season for > the Elk... great stuff)... but couldn't bring myself to join the circus of > clowns with long lenses, lines of tripods criss-crossed at the legs. This may > sound absurd to some (i.e., letting that stop me from getting the shot and/or > enjoying)... and I understand that. But all I can say is, ya had to be there. > Besides that, the 4 weeks of solitude before that likely made me quite > antisocial. > > And even the wildlife on the trails and more remote areas... it was funny to > watch dozens of people line up to see some coyotes or wolves in the distance > that were invisible to the naked eye, and looked like dancing specs of dirt > even through binoculars. They sat there for hours watching them play. > Meanwhile, at two other parks I had to do my best not to get eaten by these > same coyotes and wolves given that they were so dorn close (one night keeping > me in my tent against my will because the howling just seemed a *little* too > close for comfort). > > In hindsight I say to myself that I should not have let so many external > factors "steal my joy" during my trip at Yellowstone. But in all honestly, It > all happened so quick that I didn't know what happened. I just knew I wasn't > happy. And it wasn't until I get to the next locale (Tetons) that I started to > peice together the reasons why. > > As for #2 and #3... I thought these were quite interesting indeed (thermos and > geysers). Learning about these phenomena was worthwhile for sure... but enough > to hold my interest for all the 3 or 4 days I was there? nope. Once I saw one > geyser, I felt no need to run around the park to see the other 10 or 20. And > likewise for the thermos. Once I saw one or two... it was like okay... good > enough... I get the point. Water spurting out the sky. (insert sarcastic Woo > hoo). > > Aside from that I should also say that the weather while I was there also did > not agree with my photographic efforts AT ALL: Blazing sun. No clouds. And > Incredible Haze, not to mention the most harsh shadows ever encountered by > film. Now if I was a worthwhile photog, I still would have been able to make > this a worthwhile experience despite those conditions (Heck it's > Yellowstone, "there's ALWAYS something to shoot"). But I'm not. So I didn't. > Instead I tucked my camera away and just enjoyed what I could from a more > personal standpoint until it was time to go. > > Hope that answers your queestion. > > Summary: Yellowstone reminded me of the music business. For every artist > that "makes it" in the commercial mainstream (Yellowstone) there are countless > doznes (Ranier, St. Helens, Badlands, countless state parks) that are even > more > talented (have more to offer), but just haven't gained the mainstream > recognition. And if they never do, well perhaps that makes it even better. > Because then I get to keep and treasure it all for myself. Well... sorta. >
