An Exclusive Tour around Yellowstone + a VIP

Dear Reader,

This past weekend, staff and students embarked on a historic tour around the park. If you have followed this blog or the national news, you will need no reminder that the park has been closed to the public since last Monday and this state of affairs has translated into our somewhat exclusive access to the park. For example, consider the following representation of Old Faithful's typical popularity (2019), courtesy of Wikimedia:

In contrast, notice the empty benches near the YCC staff and crew as they stare intently at Old Faithful:

That's right, we obtained exclusive access to one of the most famous icons of Yellowstone National Park, if not the entire United States of America. But we didn't only stop there; after all, there's so much more to the 8983 square kilometers that is Yellowstone National Park than an explosive hole in the ground. We extended our exclusive access to:

• Other geysers and hot springs, e.g., the West Thumb Geyser Basin:

• The nearby Yellowstone Lake, the largest freshwater lake above 2100 meters in North America:

• The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (also the site of the Yellowstone Falls):

• The Continental Divide, or, the boundary between the watersheds of the western and eastern United States, of which the former flows into the Colorado River then the Pacific Ocean and the latter the Mississippi then the Atlantic:

• Madison Junction: See Dean lead his resource education session below:

• Wildlife: As the esteemed animals may have gotten wind that their human cousins were on leave, a grizzly, a black bear, a herd of bison, and others let us spot them:

Nature's wonders come aplenty at Yellowstone from geysers and hot springs to canyons and wildlife, but also snow that remains just days before the Summer Solstice. Natural ammunition for a snowball fight, indeed.

Yellowstone is massive; it took 2 days by car to complete this tour. But not all is far as within a 2 mile radius of the YCC camp lies Mammoth Hot Springs with its travertine terraces that have taken over thousands of years to assume their current form.

Nearby the YCC camp is also Joffe Lake, the site of the YCC tradition to jump in with as flamboyant an expression one can have (attire included):

On a more serious note...

19 June 2022, Mammoth Community Center. Director of the National Park Service, Charles ("Chuck") F. Sams joined Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly to discuss the park's recovery efforts such as a $50 million kick-start. After his address, Director Sams mingled with the audience among which were the YCC staff and crews. As he answered YCC crew member questions, Director Sams revealed that he himself had been part of a YCC in his youth. The narrator hopes that the youth crew members will keep his existence in mind when they embark on their successful careers.

Well, that's it for this week in recreation. Looking forward to Week 2!

Regards,

Your Narrator

P.S. Let's see if we can make this blog more interactive. Reply below for the following question: what pose is JJ in?