Yellowstone at the Edge of Winter

"During the summer, people, not the wildlife, turned this park into a zoo."

Yellowstone experienced an unprecedented surge in visitors in 2015, hitting four million people for the first time in its 143-year history. We talked with some rangers who relayed horror stories about the peak summer months: hour long lines just to get into the park, traffic jams for miles because of cars stopping to look at animals, and overflowing parking lots around major attractions. In July, one of their friends circled around the sizable parking lot of Old Faithful for an hour and a half before giving up completely.

During the summer, people, not the wildlife, turned this park into a zoo. But by October, the crowds had all but disappeared. But by late October, the crowds had all but disappeared. Every hotel was closed, there wasn’t a single tour bus to be seen, and only a handful of cars were on the road. Each parking lot we pulled into seemed comically oversized, but the rows and rows of empty spaces reminded us of what the park looks like when operating at full capacity. Despite the gloomy weather, we never stopped being grateful for arriving when we did. | Huckberry

Posted by gerardvanderleun at November 22, 2015 12:12 PM