Yellowstone, America’s — and the world’s — first national park, was created by Congress in 1872 in order to protect its geothermal areas and geysers. At 3,472 square miles, it’s bigger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined, spanning across Wyoming, Montana, and a tiny part of Idaho. On a good day, driving south to north takes over two hours: bison crossing the road cause mile-long backups. Yellowstone is vast, and a minimum of three days are needed to really get a feel for it and explore its many attractions.

National parks have been in the news lately. With dire cuts to staff, unfinished maintenance projects, and no let-up in the volume of visitors, we didn’t know what to expect on a June visit. Locked bathrooms? Unstaffed entry gates? The ranger station just outside the park in West Yellowstone was open, so we went in to get a map. Was I imagining it, or did the ranger’s eyes twinkle when I asked about hiking to Imperial Geyser? Pulling out maps for Grand Prismatic Overlook and Old Faithful Day Hikes, he said, “Everyone goes to Fairy Falls, but they rarely walk beyond it. Keep on the same trail. It leads to Imperial Geyser, one of my favorites.”

The next morning, we walked through open meadows and young forest to the 200-foot falls. Compared to Snoqualmie Falls in Washington’s Cascade Mountains, it was underwhelming. But continuing through a damp area to Imperial Geyser, four buffalo with shaggy winter coats stared at us lazily as we walked past them about 40 feet away. Now, that’s a Yellowstone moment!

Just a bit beyond “bison meadow,” we reached Imperial Geyser. A small pool of the purest turquoise shimmered while a cacophony of birds twittered. Bubbling water sent bursts of steam towards and beyond us. Yellowstone hosts upwards of 30,000 visitors every single summer day, yet we were the only souls at this geyser. We lingered for a long time before retracing our steps, then stopped at Grand Prismatic Overlook on the way out.

Grand Prismatic is the third largest hot spring in the world, and the biggest one in the United States. Its multi-colored rims contain fragile living organisms – thermophilic microbes – which foot traffic would damage. So, boardwalks lead the crowds to a viewing platform, putting the hot spring at eye level. Our twinkly-eyed ranger suggested viewing it from the overlook, and boy, was that a good idea! The site was busy, but we got a panoramic view from above.

I’d visited the park a long time ago, and never forgot the mud pots, fields where the earth bubbles up like chocolate pudding on a stove. Only, the stove is the earth’s surface, and the smell is of rotten eggs. I also remembered that bears, both grizzly and brown, are abundant, and hikers are advised to carry bear spray at all times. Although serious incidents with bad outcomes are rare, it’s not uncommon to encounter bears while hiking, so we practiced spraying low and wide, just in case.

For the next two days, we’d booked guides through Yellowstone Wildlife Profiles, one of many outfits specializing in wildlife sightings. Shauna Baron, our guide, met us at 5:00 am sharp, and soon her powerful Vortex Razor scope was scanning a meadow 3 miles away, searching for wolves. A local wolf-watcher had walky-talkied a sighting, but none of the guides who trained their scopes could spot the wolf. “It was probably just a rock,” they concluded, obviously disappointed. Shauna’s scope did reveal a mama grizzly with two pups, a small brown bear climbing up a tree, and a papa osprey dropping a fish off for its young. Over the next seven hours, we drove to a half-dozen sites and spotted hundreds of bison with their newborn babies, with bright red fur. We learned that predators can’t see red or green, so hiding red newborns in green grass protects them from wolves and bears. Brilliant.

The Lamar Valley was also full of pronghorns, my new favorite animal. Females band together in nursery herds to raise their babies and protect them from coyotes and other predators. Pronghorns look like small deer, but aren’t related, and can outrun wolves, reaching speeds of 60 mph. This being June, lots of animals had just given birth. We watched a coyote and her playful pups, elk, mountain goats, and more. And no scope was needed when a fox trotted along the road right beside us.

With its unique geology, abundant and varied wildlife, and awe-inspiring hydrothermal features, Yellowstone is a nature-lover’s paradise. We never got to the mud pots on this visit. Oh well. I’ll just have to go back.

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Meanderings is an award-winning travel column by Mercer Island resident Mindy Stern. For more essays, or to comment, visit www.mindysternauthor.com.

Boy band of bison. Photo by Mindy Stern

Elk buck. Photo by Mindy Stern

Prismatic Geyser. Photo by Mindy Stern