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Our family just visited Yellowstone a couple of weeks ago. What surprised me apart from the geysers and hot springs which I never grow tired of, is the variety

Our family just visited Yellowstone a couple of weeks ago. What surprised me apart from the geysers and hot springs which I never grow tired of, is the variety of the landscape from stunning water falls, to mountain peaks, and lush valleys full of wildlife. We saw plenty of bison, and even a grizzly and her two cubs from a safe distance in Hayden Valley. But all is not well in Yellowstone. The park is being overrun by tourists. At the main sites, it feels more like Yellowstone City than Park. There are literally people jams on the boardwalks. There is a fair bit of trash at most of the hot springs sites, not out of neglect (we saw plenty of park volunteers cleaning up after the tourists, and we even chatted with one to talk about his techniques — he uses a fishing pole), but simply because of the sheer number of people visiting the park. There are tourists getting airlifted all day out of Old Faithful Village (we must have seen five helicopters land and take off) because, with that many people, there are bound to be medical emergencies. Morning Glory pool is not what it once was because tourists feel the need to throw coins and whatnot in the pool [1]. Last year someone crashed a quadcopter in Grand Prismatic which is still at the bottom of the pool [2]. There is now a ban on quadcopters in the park. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_Glory_Pool https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_Glory_Pool [2] http://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/tourist-crashes-drone-popular-yellowstone-hot-spring-possibly-damaging/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/tourist-crashes-dro...

fabrice_d 11y ago
We went there 2 years ago, and the best time we had was by taking hikes. If you want to experience Yellowstone, don't stay on the road. We've been lucky enough to even spot a wolf in the distance checking on a lone bison, and to be just on time for a geyser after an hour of walking. Most people only stay in the park for a couple of days so they rush to all the touristy spots in their cars. Big mistake... Lodging in Yellowstone is cheap by scarce, so you need to book very early.
- ghaff 11y ago
  This is pretty much the norm for any of the busy national parks. 90% of visitors never leave the roads and a few adjacent attractions and 90% of the rest don't get more than a 1/2 mile from the road. Even in places like Yosemite, you can pretty quickly get away from almost everyone surprisingly quickly.
jumby 11y ago
This year has set records across the region for park visitation, so it's especially busy[1]. However, that does not excuse some of the behavior you describe (trash, drones, etc). I am glad people are visiting our parks ( they are ours!) [1] http://m.jhnewsandguide.com/jackson_hole_daily/local/yellowstone-visitors-numbers-are-up-sharply/article_d3e47841-065c-50de-9e3b-278550f8b825.html?mode=jqm http://m.jhnewsandguide.com/jackson_hole_daily/local/yellows...
dboreham 11y ago
I feel I need to balance this post somewhat: I live 1h north of The Park (as the folks here refer to Yellowstone) and we visit frequently, and have been visiting frequently for 15 years. We're first in line to be vaporized then the eruption comes. Honestly I don't recognize your description above. Yes in the high summer the park will be busy, but we were there three weeks ago and I wouldn't say it was so busy that our visit was affected. I've been to The Louvre and The Vatican Museum and those are at least two orders of magnitude more busy! Visitor numbers are up in recent years (supposedly a reaction to the recession since fewer people could afford airline-based vacations outside the US, in combination with increasing affluence in parts of Asia leading to more visitors from that part of the world), but since the various road improvements made after Tom Brokhaw's appeal, in my experience it feels less busy than 10 years ago. Lastly, visit in Winter. You'll hardly see anyone! For the HN crowd, remember there's almost no cell service in the park so bring your sat phone to keep up with Nagios alerts...
- ghaff 11y ago
  >For the HN crowd, remember there's almost no cell service in the park so bring your sat phone to keep up with Nagios alerts... Heh. I've just spent 2 out of the past 3 weeks in Rainier and adjacent national forests. Yep. No cell phone reception for essentially the whole time. Probably will be going to Yellowstone this coming winter; I was there a decade+ ago.
TeMPOraL 11y ago
> Morning Glory pool is not what it once was because tourists feel the need to throw coins and whatnot in the pool I wonder if one day, when the pool erupts, it'll turn all those coins into shot and massacre everything around it.
merpnderp 11y ago
I visited it several years ago and it was the most crowded place I'd ever been. The main sites had crowds of people. It was 20 people deep to see old faithful. The few bathrooms had lines nearing a hundred yards long. The few hiking trails we went down before giving up on the place had trash everyone, freshly carved graffiti on trees, and punk kids running around trying to spook the wild life. I've had more fun mowing the yard.
eitally 11y ago
My family spent 6 nights in the Tetons and 6 nights in Yellowstone in the second half of May this year and I think it's only fair to temper your opinion based on when you visited. Except in July & August, neither park is remotely full, and because the in-park lodging is limited, it never really gets too awful. It just seems bad because there are so many bus tours these days, so when 80 people descend on a site all at once, it makes a big impact. That's rough on all the roadside boardwalk areas, but these bus tours almost never do any real hiking, so the vast majority of the park is still clear. My personal opinion is that the mudpots/fumaroles/geysers you see from the boardwalks are just novelties -- the beauty of the park lies in the wilderness (we, in particular, love the Lamar Valley in the northwestern corner. Wolves are commonly viewed, the hiking is astoundingly good and varied, and you can go hours without seeing another soul.).

fabrice_d 11y ago

We went there 2 years ago, and the best time we had was by taking hikes. If you want to experience Yellowstone, don't stay on the road. We've been lucky enough to even spot a wolf in the distance checking on a lone bison, and to be just on time for a geyser after an hour of walking. Most people only stay in the park for a couple of days so they rush to all the touristy spots in their cars. Big mistake... Lodging in Yellowstone is cheap by scarce, so you need to book very early.

ghaff 11y ago
This is pretty much the norm for any of the busy national parks. 90% of visitors never leave the roads and a few adjacent attractions and 90% of the rest don't get more than a 1/2 mile from the road. Even in places like Yosemite, you can pretty quickly get away from almost everyone surprisingly quickly.

jumby 11y ago

This year has set records across the region for park visitation, so it's especially busy[1]. However, that does not excuse some of the behavior you describe (trash, drones, etc). I am glad people are visiting our parks ( they are ours!) [1] http://m.jhnewsandguide.com/jackson_hole_daily/local/yellowstone-visitors-numbers-are-up-sharply/article_d3e47841-065c-50de-9e3b-278550f8b825.html?mode=jqm http://m.jhnewsandguide.com/jackson_hole_daily/local/yellows...

dboreham 11y ago

I feel I need to balance this post somewhat: I live 1h north of The Park (as the folks here refer to Yellowstone) and we visit frequently, and have been visiting frequently for 15 years. We're first in line to be vaporized then the eruption comes. Honestly I don't recognize your description above. Yes in the high summer the park will be busy, but we were there three weeks ago and I wouldn't say it was so busy that our visit was affected. I've been to The Louvre and The Vatican Museum and those are at least two orders of magnitude more busy! Visitor numbers are up in recent years (supposedly a reaction to the recession since fewer people could afford airline-based vacations outside the US, in combination with increasing affluence in parts of Asia leading to more visitors from that part of the world), but since the various road improvements made after Tom Brokhaw's appeal, in my experience it feels less busy than 10 years ago. Lastly, visit in Winter. You'll hardly see anyone! For the HN crowd, remember there's almost no cell service in the park so bring your sat phone to keep up with Nagios alerts...

ghaff 11y ago
>For the HN crowd, remember there's almost no cell service in the park so bring your sat phone to keep up with Nagios alerts... Heh. I've just spent 2 out of the past 3 weeks in Rainier and adjacent national forests. Yep. No cell phone reception for essentially the whole time. Probably will be going to Yellowstone this coming winter; I was there a decade+ ago.

TeMPOraL 11y ago

> Morning Glory pool is not what it once was because tourists feel the need to throw coins and whatnot in the pool I wonder if one day, when the pool erupts, it'll turn all those coins into shot and massacre everything around it.

merpnderp 11y ago

I visited it several years ago and it was the most crowded place I'd ever been. The main sites had crowds of people. It was 20 people deep to see old faithful. The few bathrooms had lines nearing a hundred yards long. The few hiking trails we went down before giving up on the place had trash everyone, freshly carved graffiti on trees, and punk kids running around trying to spook the wild life. I've had more fun mowing the yard.

eitally 11y ago

My family spent 6 nights in the Tetons and 6 nights in Yellowstone in the second half of May this year and I think it's only fair to temper your opinion based on when you visited. Except in July & August, neither park is remotely full, and because the in-park lodging is limited, it never really gets too awful. It just seems bad because there are so many bus tours these days, so when 80 people descend on a site all at once, it makes a big impact. That's rough on all the roadside boardwalk areas, but these bus tours almost never do any real hiking, so the vast majority of the park is still clear. My personal opinion is that the mudpots/fumaroles/geysers you see from the boardwalks are just novelties -- the beauty of the park lies in the wilderness (we, in particular, love the Lamar Valley in the northwestern corner. Wolves are commonly viewed, the hiking is astoundingly good and varied, and you can go hours without seeing another soul.).