My first flight of the COVID era [excluding coming back from Honduras] is to from JFK to Denver. My friends and I are doing a little family reunion out in Frederick, Colorado before heading out to Yellowstone.

[Quick jetBlue COVID procedures review below]

Anyway. 4 hours later and I arrive at DIA. A few hours earlier because I don’t have a good concept of time zones on plane arrival times. But I am picked up by my friends and we set to drive across the entire state of Wyoming to Yellowstone National Park in the morning. I am exceptionally excited, even though I sleep in the back of the car through the first two thirds of the trips, waking just in time to do the last 3 hours from Cody, Wyoming to our campsite.

Madison Campsite is in the south-west quadrant of the park. It’s situated on a river that goes from bone chilling cold to well over 80 degrees, as little geysers and other hydrothermal water mixes into the clear run off from the Grand Teton mountains.

I spend mornings brushing my teeth with my feet in the flowing stream. I spend nights sleeping in the comforts of my camping hammock, reminded of all the nights abroad in the elements.

We will spend the next week eating camp meals between trips to extremely eclectic nature spots.

The continental crust crunch produces geysers. The overflow houses trillions of bacteria in hundreds of species, each find a niche in the temperature and environmental/chemical makeup that changes radically. In some cases making dramatic gradients of color and biodiversity over just a few feet.

The park is also filled with vertebrate animals. From the moment we get in, we see birds of prey, elk, bison, antelope. It’s too hot for the bears who are in the mountains. But we do spot a coyote and a female wolf tucking into an elk carcass at one point.  Elk herds cross through our campgrounds. Bison, alone or in packs, dot the park. A ranger, overseeing us observing the bison, is a wealth of information. A hundred wolves and five thousand bison are the exact number of a tightly controlled population of wild animals. The largest wolf pack is about 50 members, half adults and half pups. The rest are in smaller groups. Another pack controls the range over the mountains.

The bison are kept controlled to avoid cross contamination with the huge cow herds that run over the rest of the state. This is for the genetic purity of the Yellowstone bison which is the only herd left that hasn’t been cross breed with cows yet. But mostly, it’s because there is a threat of a fetal calf disease that can hop between bison carriers and profit cows. It affects the ranchers’ bottom line and they refuse to be subject to it and have legal protections to minimize that risk at the expense of having more ranging bison herds in Yellowstone. 

But! They do quarantine bison to confirm they are virus free and will donate them to the local American Indian reserves in the area if they are over quota.

We swim in rivers, warmed by the mantle of the earth. We hike trails to see pools and waterfalls, cliff sides and mountains. Vast plains of grass or huge natural growths of calcium that make for alien landscapes; like we’ve crossed to the moon. Rainbows come from boiling pools. Endless streams of gas come from the pits of the abyss. Waterpools that are boiled clear; the surfaces are blue windows into their depths.

The park is crisscrossed with roads that suddenly give way to massive valleys and waterfalls. We often pull over to random attractions; paths or cliffsides or swimming pools. There’s literally too much to do, and over 5 days, we feel like we’re sprinting through the park and barely seeing anything. There’s lots of human built attractions too; lodges around Old Faithful, restaurants in the towns where we have a meal at an upscale Cracker Barrel, complete with a free spin wheel of prizes. Still. My broiled game fish was fresh and not overcooked.

The nights are huddled around the crackling flame pits where we roast sausages and marshmallows; a requirement of all camping trips.

There are gorgeous mountains and vast plains. We have an excellent dinner in Jackson Hole in Wyoming, with plates of wild game; bison ribs, elk chops, raw bison tartar.

The trip is excellent, but mostly it was amazing to see my friends. We spend a few nights back in Colorado, my friend has just become a homeowner. We play monopoly and Cards Against Humanity, reels of laughter and moments of levity in a bubble of comfort. It has been far too long since seeing these friends.

COVID has ruined many things this year. But Yellowstone is a successful and much needed getaway. While air travel might not be the most advisable thing, we sincerely enjoyed the time together and I’m very grateful to have made the excursion.

[A little aside about flying in COVID]

jetBlue did a good job of following social distancing. First. The airplane is equipped with medical grade air filters, so the circulating air in the cabin is clean. The attendants all wear masks, as do all the guests. We are seated every other seat. Unfortunately for comfort, no more meals. Also, as with everything, lots more single use plastics.

However, and this is very important. There are no IR temperature gauges anywhere in the airport. But checking temperature is a great way of preventing disease spread by finding potentially ill travelers.