A 'Close Call' With The Fury of Nature

The first time I attempted to visit Yellowstone was during the infamous summer of 1988, when fire consumed over 300,000 acres of the park and surrounding National Forests. A friend and I were vacationing with family and friends in nearby Starr Valley, Wyoming, and after discussing the various things we might do we decided to make the drive up to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. The air everywhere in the west seemed to be heavy with that ‘campfire’ smell and smoke tinged the sky, even as far as Salt Lake City. The air seemed to thicken as we neared Jackson Hole and the sun became darker, even though the day was edging towards noon. When we arrived at Jackson Hole, which at the time was a much smaller and sleepier town than it is today, the atmosphere and attitudes seemed subdued, even for Jackson. We stopped in at a local National Forest Ranger Station to see if they knew what the situation was inside the National Park.

The ranger at the station, which is on the way out of town on the highway leading to Teton and Yellowstone, warned us quite frankly to not go to Yellowstone. He was very persuasive and we chose to follow his advice, curtailing our trip and spending some time in Jackson Hole instead, which, while admittedly boring for a single twenty something, was very charming and interesting. So ended my first ‘trip’ to Yellowstone.

In retrospect, I can’t help but feel that I missed out on a piece of history. To see the fires for myself would have been something I could have told my kids and grand kids etc., and probably would have made for a good tale for this blog. It was Labor Day weekend, and on September 5th, Labor Day, we headed home without having seen Wonderland. If we had gone into the park, we had on our first agenda going to see Old Faithful, that stalwart and famous old geyser that is the top priority for most first time visitors to Yellowstone, and for good reason. Its regular eruptions have entertained visitors to the Park since the first white men entered and explored the area, and most likely Native American’s for countless generations before that, though we have no records of that.

Two days later, on September 7th, a firestorm came marching over the low hills near the Upper Geyser Basin, and the nation came near to losing one of it’s most iconic lodges, the Old Faithful Inn. The people still present at Old Faithful, mostly firefighters, faced 200 foot flames and 80 mph winds that threatened the lives of all who remained in the Old Faithful area. It was only blind luck that preserved the lives of those people as well as the lodge and other buildings. At the last minute, winds shifted and the fire moved away from the Upper Geyser Basin, sparing their lives.

It would have been interesting to been able to say I'd been there but days before.

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone helps me understand the most basic part of myself. The natural side that yearns for the tranquility of the wilderness, the good feel of unspoiled forest and wildlife. It helps me understand my place in the world and what my true priorities are. It gives me a respite from the world I live in day today, the world we all have chosen to make for ourselves, which sometimes seems so sterile in comparison.

Most people believe the struggle to preserve Yellowstone occurred a long time ago and was won. Unfortunately that isn't true. The fight to preserve our sacred wilderness continues and will continue as long as there are people. The demands of society and of population have put pressure on Yellowstone that it has never had to contend with before. Yellowstone is still and always will be at risk. Even now there are people asking the federal government to open surrounding national forest land to development. Yellowstone is not just the boundaries of the national park, it is much greater than that, and it needs the entire surrounding national forest land to survive as an ecosystem. If it is to be preserved then we must all care about it, love it and want to protect it.

If I am right about Yellowstone’s ability to take us out of ourselves, to move us and to inspire passion in us, if Yellowstone can inspire that spiritual side of us that sometimes gets lost in our daily lives so filled with technology and progress, then the fight to preserve Yellowstone takes on a much more important role than just protecting some animals and forestland. It becomes a conflict for the best part of ourselves, a war for our spiritual selves, a battle for our very souls.

We can win it, if we choose to. I fear the consequences should we lose.

Yellowstone National Park - A Place of Wonder

We would all do well if we were to heed that lesson. From the largest animal to the smallest, Yellowstone lives that lesson every day. It is the fundamental nature of the world to embrace itself and live every moment of life to its fullest. An elk does what it does because it must. It eats, it sleeps, it runs and it reproduces the next generation of elk because that is what evolution has bred it to do. Just as the predator, wolves, cougars and others kill to eat, sleep and breed because they must do so also. It is the balance they have been created to maintain. They cannot survive otherwise.

Of all species, only the human animal deliberately goes outside those boundaries. We have built our world to exclude the natural and in doing so we are in danger of losing a part of ourselves. That part is a vital essence and its absence in our lives may destroy us in the end. If we can't see ourselves as a part of this world, then we are doomed. We will break down our world into pieces and systematically kill it until we have eventually killed ourselves. Yellowstone is able to remind us that we are a vital part of nature, and that we cannot survive without the natural world.

Do we reject our world or embrace it? Love our world, preserve it, or kill it and therefore kill ourselves? Does Yellowstone inspire great passion in me because of who I am? Or does it help define me as a human being, bring forward in me those passions, the best of myself, the most spiritual side of my being? I choose to believe the latter.

Yellowstone For Me

The fact is, I felt it to be such a special place, when I thought of proposing to her, I couldn't think of anywhere in the world that would be more special to do so than Yellowstone. She fell in love with Yellowstone just like I have and it is a passion we both share to this day. This particular picture was taken seconds after I asked her to be my wife on the lip of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Eventually we had to leave, as all visitors do unless you are in the ranks of a few privileged souls who get to call Yellowstone their full time home. I envy those people; rangers, researchers and guides. Sights like this are every day occurrences for them. Visualize if you will that this is your office, and you see this every day. Picture the kind of outlook it gives you, the insights you might have if this becomes your every day experience. I imagine it gives you a unique perspective on the world.

Yellowstone reminds us of life and it's constant renewal. How the world works, that nature has her ways and we would do well to listen to her wisdom. Nature itself should be our greatest teacher. Life is everywhere. Yellowstone also reminds us that life is a circle. All things that live must eventually perish. This is natural and right. Those who live for a time must enjoy it, and then make room for the next generation.

In my travels throughout Yellowstone I've learned a lot about myself. The most important lesson is to enjoy each moment as it occurs, because it will never come again.

Yellowstone - A Wonderous Place

I have a great respect for nature and always have. Animals and plant life, insects; all are critical to making the wilderness work. Mankind seems to have a way of screwing up the balance just by being there. It's only when we stop, take time and truly see what it is that surrounds us that we can become one with it and understand our own role in its survival.

From the first time I set foot in Yellowstone I knew it was a different place, special...sacred. A soulful place, a spiritual land. I could feel it renewing my spirit. I felt it had a soul of its own that nurtured me. I’ve never felt anything like it anywhere else.

I don't know if there is a good way to explain it to someone who's never experienced it. The only thing I can think of is to take a spiritual experience you've had; either in church, or maybe your baby being born, or the first time you fall in love. Combine that feeling with a sense of coming home after being gone for a very long time. That is what Yellowstone is like to me.

Like any wonderful thing in this world, it doesn’t truly become all it can be for you unless you share it with someone else. I've shared Yellowstone with many people throughout the years; all have come away different, changed. Some have come away from it with the same sense of passion that I have. One of those people is my wife.

Yellowstone - Adventures in America's Sacred Wilderness

Yellowstone - Adventures in America's Sacred Wilderness is dedicated to the ideals of preserving our precious wildlife and our last remaining wild spaces. Understanding of these places is our best defense of them. With that in mind I highly recommend not only visiting these places but also participating in organizations that defend and preserve them, such as the Yellowstone Association and Defenders of Wildlife.

All of Yellowstone and all those who enjoy it owe a debt of gratitude to these and other worthy organizations that work to further education and knowledge of Yellowstone, wildlife and our remaining pockets of wilderness.

I'd like to thank the Defenders of Wildlife (DoW) for helping to educate the public on the controversial subject of wolves and their role in our intact ecosystems. DoW works tirelessly to preserve and defend the world's remaining wild wolves and countless other species. I urge everyone to help them in this cause.

I would like to use this space also to thank my wife, without whom my enjoyment of Yellowstone’s wonders would be incomplete.

Only Yellowstone can take vistas like this one and make them seem commonplace. I’ve been to Yellowstone many times; I have never ceased to be awed by the beauty, majesty and grandeur of its landscape.

Ever since I first came to Yellowstone, I've had a great passion for it. When I am in Yellowstone I feel a great contentment and an enthusiasm for it that is hard to explain to someone who doesn’t know it like I do.

I could never adequately explain why I felt the way I did about Yellowstone. One mid September day I was photographing an elk bull bugling, when a fellow visitor asked me how long I’d been there and when I was going home.

It suddenly struck me that I was home. I’ve never felt more at home, never felt more at peace and spiritually aware then when I was hiking around Yellowstone.