By Chelsea DeWeese
As March transitions into April here at Yellowstone National Park’s North Entrance we can’t help but pause and reflect on the monumental efforts that provided us with this world-class experiment in preservation. We also can’t help considering how, ultimately, this wild environment has molded each and every one of us–guides, mentors, guests, and residents—into the human beings we are today.
On March 1, 1872, Congress passed the initial Organic Act that would establish Yellowstone as the first national park—not only in the United States—but on the planet. Just over 31 years later, on April 24,1903, President Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone for the Roosevelt Arch in our gateway town of Gardiner, Montana, marking the park’s North Entrance. Ever since, this famous stone archway has greeted visitors with an inscription dedicating Yellowstone: “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People.”
It’s a tricky balance.
Providing recreational opportunities while protecting the environment takes intention, and it’s an ideal we at Yellowstone Wildlife Profiles take quite seriously. Collectively, our fabric as a company is woven by interactions we’ve been fortunate to engage in on the Yellowstone landscape.
It’s finding the first dainty yellow buttercup peeking out through dormant grasses still frosty from the dregs of winter.
It’s smelling sulfery hot springs as fog lifts from the Yellowstone River where it melds with the waters of Tower Fall.
It’s catching a flickering glimpse of spawning cutthroat at Trout Lake, and hearing the gruff bellowing of rutting bison in the Lamar Valley.
It’s hearing the sweet-sounding chirps of mountain chickadees alighting on trees in a silent winter forest and grasping onto limbs with their tiny toes.
It’s pushing hard that last half mile before arriving at camp, collapsing in tired gratification, and releasing the straps of the overnight backpack.
These are just some of the moments we’ve shared with our friends, families, and guests on tour, and we hope to continue sharing these experiences for years to come. By working together—and by ethically and responsibly immersing visitors into Yellowstone’s 2.2 million acres of wonder and wildness—we hope to help continue the preservation legacy laid down before us.
In that vein, we challenge you to consider wild spaces that have filled your soul. We also challenge you to ponder the words of historian and environmental activist Wallace Stegner who famously wrote in 1983: “National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.”
But don’t just take it from us! Here are some lasting Yellowstone impressions from the mouths of our guide team:
Photographer/Naturalist Guide Angela Tempo: “On Christmas Day in 2018, because my family was far away and I was close to the Yellowstone community, I decided to spend the day in the park. There was a storm alert. The park was empty: no cars, no people, and the snow started falling as I drove toward Lamar Valley. I slowed down, hoping to see some wildlife, and sure enough something moved about 200 yards ahead of me. The alpha female of the Wapiti Lake wolf pack was resting in the snow with the entire pack. She heard me and stood for a few minutes to inspect, looked at me, and laid down again after a long howl. It was magical! It felt intimate as nobody else was there to interrupt the moment.”
YWP Co-Owner/Naturalist Guide Carolyn Bulin: “To me, the Yellowstone landscape is alive with the spirits of more than two decades of memories and stories that I’ve experienced during my time here: A heart-stopping grizzly encounter here, a goshawk (rare bird) sighting there. Listening to caterwauling on a hike with the cougar research project on this trail, or finding a perfect arrowhead along that trail. A wolf experiencing a seizure on that hillside, a wolf howling so close I could see her breath in this patch of sagebrush, a thought-provoking discussion shared among new friends in that aspen grove. The personal stories that connect us to place are what I treasure most about Yellowstone, and each time someone visits the park, they have the opportunity to build those connections for themselves through their own experiences here.”
Outdoor Educator/Naturalist Guide Shauna Baron:“One day the Canyon wolf pack was spotted near Tower Junction. With a crowd building, the alpha female and the rest of the pack crossed the road away from the visitors, but one wolf was stuck in the traffic jam that had ensued. A photographer pulled up next to him and began driving alongside the wolf, preventing him from crossing. The wolf finally just stopped moving and stared right at the photographer. Suddenly, the photographer’s car stalled right in the middle of the road, and the wolf was able to walk across with ease. My guests and I began laughing hysterically as we discussed the possibility that wolves must have some sort of Jedi superpower to stop vehicles at will.”
Photographer/Naturalist Guide Rob Harwood: “Standing on a small bluff overlooking the Slough Creek valley, watching wolf puppies playing below us as a grizzly traversed the ridgeline above and bison wallowed in the flats, I was struck by the sheer magic of this place. Even though the road was less than half a mile behind us, we had purposefully hiked over a small hill out of sight from the road, and you couldn’t see a single sign of civilization as far as the eye could see. It felt like we had stepped hundreds of years back in time. All of the ecosystem’s charismatic megafauna, exactly where they have lived for millennia, on a landscape almost untouched by human hands. There is simply nowhere else like it on Earth.”
Give thought to spending some of your time in Yellowstone with us this summer. Our guides are excited to help you plan an outing imbued with firsts, with reverence, with humor, and with wonder.
Learn more about our trips and courses and consider making us a part of your one-of-a-kind Yellowstone adventure!
Chelsea writes from her hometown of Gardiner, Montana, the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
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