We Camped, We Hiked, We Ate, We Enjoyed
What a wonderful time of year for camping in Yellowstone Park. Blue skies, lush green meadows, numerous bison herds, elk and bison calves, wildflowers, rushing rivers, long days of sunshine, frosty mornings, erupting geysers. . .and the list goes on. This short video of our camping trip celebrates spring as we enjoyed it this past week in Yellowstone National Park.
Camping along the Gibbon River
First-come, first-serve Norris Campground became our home. Having left Bozeman at 6:00 a.m., we arrived early enough to have our pick of a few walk-in campsites along the Gibbon River meadow. One site, bathed in morning sunshine and somewhat separated from neighboring sites, made for an easy choice. (Though, we did drive through the other campsite “loops” just in case.)
Setting up our 6-person tent with vestibule, which we do only once or twice a year, always presents a challenge. Where is the front door? Which way is up? How do we thread the poles for the fly? We read the instructions and usually still get to repeat some part of the operation more than once. Once up, though, we enjoy this tent. Indoor/outdoor carpet, cots with our new air mattresses, room to stand up, room for chairs, and room to move around. You can easily understand why Paul is smiling.
Morning visitors
A small group of bison bulls sauntered through our campground the last morning while we were taking down the tent and packing up. Fortunately they seemed quite content with the grass and the sunshine and not at all interested in us or in anything we were doing. These bison kind of took over the campsite for a while before moving on to better grazing.
Note: visitors are advised to stay 25 yards from bison (about the length of two school buses put end to end). Though this bison is close, we did keep our distance from him. We took our tent down and moved it to an unoccupied neighboring campsite to pack it up.
Buffalo or bison?
I grew up singing Home, Home on the Range. You might remember the first line, “Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam. . .” Needless to say, many of us seem a bit confused. Are they buffalo or are they bison? Here’s the response straight from a Park Ranger: both names are okay. To be correct scientifically, say bison. Go here to learn more.
Everything tastes better outdoors
Vegetable stir-fry with broccoli, asparagus, greens and sweet potato and my Camping Version Miso Soup with Soba Noodles tasted great and totally satisfied us. I made some Rhubarb, Apple ‘n Ginger Crisp the day before we left. What a wonderful treat to find in our ice chest. And we enjoyed Farro & Vegetable Salad w/ Lemon Cilantro Vinaigrette for our lunch two days in a row—I could eat it three or four days in a row and not get tired of it.
A picture’s worth a thousand words
Enough words. Now sit back and enjoy the rest of the story in pictures.