Smoke in the Parklands: A Fall 2020 Vacation Primer

×

Expand

Photo by Anna Pietrzykowska

Nature, it’s been said, can be a balm for the troubled soul. Some of nature’s best assets can be found in the curated approach of the National Park System, often called “America’s best idea.” Whether it’s the sublime spectacle of sunrise over Maui’s Haleakala crater or that same sun’s shimmer off the buff, brown and violet strata of the Grand Canyon, the parks showcase the wild at its finest.

But this is 2020, a year like no other blistering with economic chaos, civil unrest, wildfires and hurricanes, not to mention that crazy little thing called the COVID-19 pandemic. After six months of self-isolation, we desperately needed a vacation, and headed to Grand Teton and Yellowstone, adjacent national parks, to find respite. We didn’t know what we’d be up against, and our expectations required a few adjustments. A little insight from our journey may help you plan for similar adventures.

Welcome Aboard?

Throughout the pandemic, news footage has shown partially empty aircraft and deserted airport terminals. We did note that the airports seemed to have fewer fliers wandering their corridors, along with mostly shuttered restaurants and businesses that normally serve them. However, the zombie apocalypse motif ended at the aircraft doors.

Major airlines including United, which flew us from Wisconsin to Wyoming and back, learned to adjust their routes and provide just enough planes to handle the dwindling crowds. Face masks and social distancing were required in terminals, but three of the four legs of our flight found us, as always, cheek to jowl with hundreds of perfect strangers. All were masked and generally cooperative, but the close quarters were anything but pandemic friendly

On each segment we received identical snack bags featuring 8-oz. bottles of water, a tiny bag of pretzels and a Stroopwafel, a tasty Dutch confection that the U.S. airline industry has made popular. We could remove our face masks to eat and drink and, since passengers also brought their own food on board, the mask requirement’s efficacy was negligible at best.

So This is Where Everyone has Gone

We planned our spur-of-the-moment trip three weeks out yet found it hard to find lodging in or near the parks. That’s because, as the clerk at an Old Faithful concession told us, “this is the busiest September that anyone can remember.” Indeed, leaving the parking lot at Yellowstone’s best-known attraction was a lot like trying to exit a Milwaukee Brewers playoff game complete with impeding construction.

In fact, most of the fumaroles, geysers and hot spots that make Yellowstone unique were crowded to the point of inaccessibility. Many of the visitor centers were closed, as were restaurants, limiting visitors to always-tepid cafeteria takeout that could be eaten in your room or your rental car (there were never enough outdoor tables to accommodate the crowds.) The National Park Service provided an app with extensive information, which would have been helpful if there were adequate cellphone service in the park or any of the lodgings. Which there wasn’t.

The lodgings that were left were the higher-cost accommodations, some of which were worth the price, others not. We highly recommend The Wyoming Inn, a boutique hotel in Jackson complete with one of the city’s most highly rated restaurants, but not The Canyon Lodge at Yellowstone, offering a nouveau campground motif at Four Seasons prices. And, in both places, you get to be your own maid for the duration of your stay. It’s fewer amenities without a discounted price. Nice, not.

And then there are Wildfires

In addition to its hiking trails and wildlife, the Grand Teton range’s major attraction are the mountains themselves, sharp granite peaks that seem to thrust straight up out of the valley floor. Our first day there brought us a crystal-clear sky and inspirational view of the mountains. Subsequent days saw the entire range shrouded in smoke wafting primarily from the Oregon wildfires, sometimes creating a ghostly visage, while other times entirely obliterating the view. In fact, air quality in both parks was rated “poor” by weather forecasters.

Yellowstone had its own wildfire to contend with, the Lone Star Fire so named for the geyser to which it was adjacent in the park’s southwest corner. At only about 3,000 acres, the smallish fire was well under control of park authorities, but that part of the park was closed, and smoke permeated much of Yellowstone’s southern half. Authorities anticipate the Lone Star Fire will be extinguished by October’s end.

So What did We Like About the Trip?

Travel memories often gather themselves like a series of snapshots. Here are ours:

• The glorious Grand Teton range itself. Always.
• A mother bear and cub feeding and frolicking in a meadow along a rarely used Teton trail.
• A boat ride across followed by a rocky hike along the Teton’s Jenny Lake. It was as inspiring as it was difficult.
• A superbly prepared elk steak served with a huckleberry gastrique at The Wyoming Inn’s Whistling Grizzly Restaurant.
• The countless vents, geysers and hot spots a Yellowstone, which is really an underground volcano that has found a productive way to control its temper.
• Yellowstone’s ever-present bison herd, complete with calves, grazing throughout the park.
• The breathtaking Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone as viewed from the Grand View.
• A stunning sunrise over Yellowstone Lake with elk grazing in the foreground.
• A scatter of female elk across the grounds of Fort Yellowstone with a nearby bull elk with a 16-point rack, one of the most magnificent animals we’ve ever seen.
• Finally, a traffic jam in both directions caused by a lone bison ambling down the middle of the highway. He made clear who was in charge that day, and it wasn’t us.

To read more Arts and Entertainment feature stories, click here.

To read more stories by Michael Muckian, click here.