YELLOWSTONE PARK ADVENTURES

AN EARLY TRIP TO YELLOWSTONE PARK WITH MY PARENTS

MY BROTHER AND A FRIEND ON OUR TRIP

As a child I was fortunate to go on many camping trips around the U.S. with my parents and two brothers and occasional friends.  For many years we had the simple, basic pop-up campers.  My parents weren’t wealthy, but they loved to travel, even if it was for only a week or two a year.  One of my favorite places that we visited was Yellowstone Park.  I loved everything about it—the campsites, the bears, hiking and exploring the enormous park, making new friends, and of course Old Faithful, the famous geyser. 

A FIRE CLOSE TO OLD FAITHFUL

Nearly twenty years after we were married, my husband and I planned a fun family trip to Yellowstone with our own pop-up camper. The only thing that we didn’t count on was having a challenge we’d never experienced before—major fires that were ravaging the park.  It was 1988 and I’m sure that we didn’t comprehend how severe and widespread those fires were.  Our vacation was planned and even more anticipated because we had our friend Nick visiting from England; we were eager to show him an area of the U.S. that was unique and different from what he might have experienced in England.  We decided to go ahead with our trip, even though the news about Yellowstone was unsettling.  The area was experiencing a drought and it wasn’t long before fires started, some by lightning and others by humans.  In all, seven major fires did almost all of the damage. 

There were more than 25,000 fire fighters from states across the U.S. that tried to control the fires.  I remember our driving through the park and seeing fires all around us; it was an unbelievably scary and sad sight.  We were diverted hundreds of miles out of our way just to get back to our campsite.  At one point a buffalo suddenly appeared in front of our orange van.  It felt like we were in a movie that had an uncertain ending.  At that point I truly felt that our safety was in jeopardy and I just wanted to head home. I was sure that we had made a foolish and hasty decision to go ahead with our plans to visit Yellowstone. 

On September 8, 1988 the park was closed for the first time in history.  It was late fall before the fires finally ended.  The cold and wet weather were a huge relief.  Nearly 800,000 acres had been affected and millions of trees destroyed.  Amazingly, most large animals survived and no fire fighters were killed inside the park.  And after the fires ended, plants and trees were re-established.  It was frightening at the time to see the fires spreading so rapidly among the tree tops and jumping from one area to another.  I had never seen anything remotely like it.  When we finally returned home I remember reading about the fires in the latest edition of National Geographic; it seemed surreal.

I would love to return to Yellowstone again one day.  It’s a magnificent park abounding in natural beauty. It has a long history and I’m glad that I’ve been a small part of it.