RV Road Trip Day 6: Do not approach the wildlife
Up again at 5:00 am because N *really* wanted to see the grand canyon in Yellowstone. I also like canyons, our last big U.S. trip included the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon. This morning, we were more organized and so made it to Yellowstone BEFORE the rush. If you get there early, you see animals, we saw a bear, an elk and a bison.
We also saw an alarming number of people GETTING OUT OF THEIR CARS to take photos of the bear. Seriously. Then we drove a little further to see people getting out of their cars to take photos of the elk. I can’t believe more people don’t die in National Parks as a result of being stupid near wildlife. We slowed to a stop to let an Elk cross the road ahead of us and then slowly drove past and got a photo (on his phone) out of the window but we did not stop and get out of the car like idiots.
We were at the grand canyon by 8:00 am and spent a happy 4 hours looking at every single overlook. The canyon is pretty fantastic and the alarming number of boy scouts didn’t detract too much from the scene.
After the canyon, we hit two more geyser fields and saw another elk. I got better at parking the RV and we saw at least five more Cruise America vehicles. Perhaps everyone just takes them to Yellowstone.
We left Yellowstone around 4:00 pm and hit a grocery store in West Yellowstone before heading to the new campsite. Here’s what we bought:
- Milk
- Babybel cheeses
- Vegetarian chili (canned)
- Store brand boxed mac ‘n cheese (3 boxes)
- La Croix (12 pack of lime)
- Two bags of frozen peas
We still have some canned soup, Honey Nut Cheerios, apples and a few other odds and ends from the original stash we brought from home. But the fridge isn’t very large and there’s not much storage space so I suspect we’ll need to restock in another ~4 days.
We are at Red Cliff campsite in Gallatin National Forest in Montana. It has nice trees, a river and a trail head. It’s immediately off the highway and seems like a good place to stop for a night on your way to or from Bozeman, MT. It was only about an hour from Yellowstone so we got here in plenty of time to make dinner, sit outside and read (which has become an evening ritual) and now as the light fades I’m updating this post while N edits photos.
