How Not to Hike in Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is the first established national park in the United States. In 1872, over 2.2 million acres of wilderness was been set aside for bison, elk, grizzly bears, wolves and tourists to roam and explore. Hot springs, geysers and salt flats are abundant.

On a driving trip around the western side of the United States, my husband and I decided to explore Yellowstone National Park. Our visit to Yellowstone National Park is one I will remember for a very long time. We drove into the park on a beautiful, but late, summer day. We had traveled most of the day and were tired by the time we arrived. We decided to check into our cabin and just relax. Our cabins was a bit rustic but nice. The water was a little cold and the beds a little hard, but we managed to get a good nights rest.

We woke the next morning ready and eager to do some exploring. Yellowstone National Park is a huge park with an abundance of roadway to drive and explore. Not athletic or serious hikers, we thought we could see a great deal of Yellowstone by driving from place to place. It did not take too long to realize that was not going to work; at least not for the good stuff.

We drove around and saw the bison and the salt flats. We saw the waterfalls, the hot springs and the famous geyser, Old Faithful; and that is when it started. Old Faithful was so intriguing to me that I decided I wanted to go and find some more geysers.

We drove until we saw a sign announcing a geyser. Parking our car, we read the name of the geyser on the sign...but nothing else. We headed down the path. After walking about a quarter of a mile, I began to notice signs along the path warning of wild animals. I then began to notice there was a considerable amount of animal "droppings" on the path. That could only mean one thing; I am sharing a space. I am sharing a space with a wild animal. I am sharing this space with and animal that is probably much larger and faster than I am. I began to walk down the path toward the geyser. I am somewhat a city girl; I am not a hiker.

This trail, which turned out to be nearly two miles long and up and down hills seemed to take forever to navigate. I imagine though, my sitting in a tree for nearly 15 minutes because, I swear, I heard something coming, could have added travel time to my hike.

Hot, buggy and truly scary, my hike seemed to go on forever; when suddenly, we rounded the corner and saw a nice platform build over a geyser basin. We made it! I was enthralled. I had made the hike, and was ready to see the geyser up close and personal. I thought it was cool we were alone.

Walking out on the platform, we saw a sign that told us about the geyser. Just like the one up by the car...the one we did not read. Waiting for the geyser to do its thing, we read the sign in its entirety. Now, I do not remember the name of this geyser, if I did I would surely share it with you. All I can remember is the last line of information on the sign: "This geyser erupts once every 5 years. The last recorded eruption was (approximately 1 year ago)."

Every story should have a moral. The moral here: Read the entire sign!