Bison Invasion
We entered Yellowstone after a long drive from the outskirts of Gooding, Idaho. We arrived at the West Entrance just around 4:15 PM, which provided a small window to gain park insights from the Visitor’s center. This was particularly useful since many sections of the park were still closed due to either animal activity or snow.
We planned to splurge on our camping budget to stay inside the park ($20-28 / night), but unfortunately, even on a Thursday in the off season, the only campground available had filled by 10:54 AM! Our plan B was to drive through the park to the North entrance, and hopefully find a free campsite just outside the park entrance.
After a beautiful drive through the partially snow covered park, we entered Gardiner, Montana. The North side of the park ended up being a haven for wildlife. The lower elevation provided less snow, and seemed to condense herds of Bison, Elk, Antelope, and Bighorn Sheep into conveniently viewable proximity.
From town it was a short drive to our first possibility—a National Park Service campground overlooking the North side Yellowstone valley. $7 a night is very reasonable for a maintained campsite, but we continued driving down the road hoping to find a BLM free site that may provide additional privacy. Our search ended quickly at a closed gate, so we returned to the NPS campground, fortunately snagging the last available site.
After setting camp, we celebrated Leah’s birthday with drinks and burgers at a cute restaurant in Gardiner…only a few days into our year long trip, and we are already splurging on budgets! The food was delicious, even if our moral compasses went haywire eating meat from the same animals we enjoyed viewing in the park. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sample a variety of meats in one setting: tasty sliders made from farm raised Buffalo, Lamb, Beef, and Elk! (editors note: I am not sure if the Elk were farm raised). The elk burger ended up being our favorite.
The next morning we awoke to find the herds of animals had followed us to camp. We sat on a rock, and watched bison invade the campsites below, while also observing a herd of Elk migrating through the surrounding hills. We ended up getting very familiar with the bison when they decided to enter our campsite. Although they seem very benign and friendly, thoughts of campground warnings for Bison unpredictability came to mind when one of the 2000lb animals gave a loud snort while staring Leah down as she stood about 10’ away.
After thoroughly enjoying our morning experience, we left camp to return to the park, where we made a 2 night reservation for Madison campground on their first open day of the season. Although our experience camping outside the park was spectacular, we looked forward to exploring the rest of Yellowstone from a more convenient vantage point.
