A love letter to Yellowstone

I can’t believe that it was just about 1 year ago that I was making my list (and checking it twice).  Nope, it wasn’t my Christmas list but rather a list of everything I would need for my road trip across the country, with Yellowstone National Park being the major destination.

I was fortunate to spend the first 5 weeks of 2023 traveling a total of 7426.6 miles through 11 different states.

Photographing something new is always exciting but nothing could have prepared me for the beauty that our country possesses. Massive highways nestled among prairie grasses, grain silos, mountain ranges, major cities, and sleepy 47-person towns. The drive out and back allowed me to see things I never expected to see or that I could even imagine. Miles with no discernible signs of people, just cattle. Driving under night skies with headlights and stars as the only light, hours navigating 80 mph highways without seeing another car and white-knuckling 25 mph winds on I-80 flanked by triple-tractor trailer trucks. It was a thrilling adventure all the way around!

However, as incredible as the stops were on the way out and back, nothing could have prepared me for Yellowstone.

What can I say about Yellowstone that even comes close to what it was truly like in person? It was nothing that I anticipated, yet it was everything that I needed and wanted it to be. The raw, untamed, rugged environment inhabited me and has taken up permanent residence in my heart and soul. The contrast of the softest, palest pink, gray and lavender sunrise over wintered land against the thundering hooves of bison that have roamed the lands continuously since prehistoric times is hard to forget, nor do I want to.

The wildlife was unlike anything I’ve ever seen, coupled with landscapes that only exists there and you end your day knowing you’ve been on hallowed ground and are grateful for that gift. Yellowstone in winter offered up the harsh, brutal conditions of winter which served as a beautiful backdrop for the thriving ecosystem - it was an assault in the most beautiful way on my senses.

The sounds of Yellowstone ranged from total silence alongside a grove of sulphur-singed trees to the white noise of a nearby river to morning fog pierced by the excited howling wolves, heard but not seen.

The sweeping, smooth, sloped, blinding white hills and crested mountain tops served as perfect canvases upon which the park’s denizens were painted upon - pine martens in snowfall, frosted branches, iced bison faces, and bobcats.

The trip was life-altering in ways I have not yet realized even a year later. I have no idea what 2024 will bring but I have a feeling that once again I will be making a list and checking it twice…and not in a Christmas list kind of way.

Happy New Year!