Arose early to have our first restaurant breakfast since leaving home. Want to get on the road since we have only one night in Canyon and a few things to take in during our stay, namely, Hayden Valley and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Early didn’t happen. After breakfast we packed up and headed for Snow Lodge for our 30 minute allotment of WiFi time on our blog since we needed to return for the Old Faithful Inn tour at 9:30a. Ruth from Kansas works full-time for Xanterra as a tour guide for the Inn in the summer and in the personnel department in the winter. They begin hiring new staff for the next season in December and they come on board as early as April. The lodges throughout Yellowstone are opened in a domino effect beginning with Mammoth then Old Faithful Inn and so on. The lodges begin opening the 3rd Friday in April and close the 2nd Sunday in October. Since most of the lodges aren’t open in the winter, it takes about 3 weeks to drain the pipes, weatherize and secure each of the lodges for the winter freeze.
Some of the fascinating facts about the Inn were its quick construction of less than a year from 1903-1904. It was financed by the Hartford railroad for $125K which would be $3.2 million in today’s dollars. Guests were able to take a 5-day trip throughout Yellowstone and stay at 5 different lodges for a total of $50 which included transportation, lodging and meals. That was a vast sum considering the lodge employees made $25 per month.
The unusually shaped logs decorating the lodge were, like all wood used in construction, located in various places throughout Yellowstone. This search was conducted by a team sent out JUST for this purpose. The lodge was closed completely during 1943-1945 for austerity purposes during the war. The stairways to the roof have not been accessible to the public since 1948 when visitation to the Inn doubled to 1,000,000 and the manager noticed that “non-guests were entering the Inn” much to his dismay. The “bell” staff are the only ones allowed on the roof to raise and lower the flags each day.
The old wooden front door has always been painted red and the bell is still attached but no longer working. A replica of the key was made when the original began to be worn due to use and damaged by bumping. The tour continued with stories of ladies dressed in ball gowns for dinner. Everyone was called to dinner at quarter till the hour and took their seats as an orchestra played from the balcony and a grand procession of servers made their entrance with the first course.
After dinner, the orchestra moved to the balcony above the main hall near the “tree house” to continue entertaining themselves. Popcorn was popped in the huge fireplace and guests often gathered around a piano for singing of songs of the day. The lodge makes special effort for some of their guests. Ruth told the story of the granddaughter of an original guest from 1904. Using the Grandmother’s journal entries and scrapbooking of the original flyers advertising the Inn, they were able to locate the window and eventually the exact same room that she stayed in and changed the woman’s room to the same one her grandmother had slept in some 90 years earlier.
Our drive to Canyon Lodge gave us a brief stop to follow elk coming out of the Firehole River. We stopped by Artist’s Paint Pots and found they were just more bubbling mud so didn’t take the hike but headed for Canyon Lodge to check-in and go to the Visitors’ Center for maps of the area. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone didn’t disappoint. We started furthest South with iconic views of the falls on the South Rim Lower Falls, then the Upper Falls with little Crystal Falls in the distance, Lookout Point with an osprey nest, Brink of Upper Falls with a gorgeous rainbow and the rest of the North Rim drive back to our cabin.
Dinner at the lodge and we’re off to Hayden Valley for wildlife “hunting”. Our first encounter was a HUGE bison on a hill next to the road We saw an elk herd, a black bear (which appeared as a dot in our photo), Canada geese (AGAIN!), bison (of course), an otter and much to our surprise, a red wolf and later a black wolf at different locations along the river’s banks. The wolf sightings are unusual as they stay mostly out of sight.
The black wolf made a beautiful silhouette in the river, the bison moved quickly to each other’s defense and the elk herd stood at attention at his approach. Lots of respect for a lone wolf. . And this sight made a traffic jam as people stopped to see the elk herd, bison and wolf. (A park ranger’s work is never done as he pulled over with flashing lights to direct traffic and assist.) Our drive back to the cabin rewarded us with an elk at roadside. A man was standing 5’ from the elk and another ranger drove up and calmly grabbed his shoulders to direct him away from the 8-pointer’s grazing. People are amazing as they think they’re in a zoo instead of US being the caged animals inside Yellowstone’s “zoo”.
We’re quite full of ourselves after so many wildlife sightings and our camera batteries running low. Time for bed in our Canyon Lodge Frontier Cabin. Will sleep with the windows open tonight since past nights have been “just right” for outdoor air. But not until I ran to the office for soap, toilet paper, Kleenex and shampoo. Will be speaking to someone in the morning about the lack of amenities.
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