swalker
Very helpful member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2014
- Messages
- 1,580
- Reason
- DX MND
- Diagnosis
- 07/2014
- Country
- US
- State
- CO
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- Vail
As promised, here is a trip report for our May trip to Yellowstone.
We went for 2 entire weeks and stayed the entire time at the Old Faithful Inn. The weather was frightful, with cold, rain, sleet, snow, and generally gloomy conditions. We had an absolutely great time and can hardly wait until we return in July.
The trip started out great. On our drive to Yellowstone we saw a bald eagle, golden eagle, sandhill crane numerous hawks, magpies, and other assorted birds, antelope (pronghorn), deer, etc. We split the 12 hour drive into 2 days, which worked out well.
I found Yellowstone to be very accessible with a wheelchair. Obviously, there were many places I could not go, but I did manage to put over 100 miles on the wheelchair. There are miles of boardwalks and trails around and through the various geyser basins. I explored as many as I could. Since we were staying in the Old Faithful area, it was easy to go out for an early morning stroll in the wheelchair while my wife was getting ready for the day. I would go out for 3 to 7 miles many mornings and really enjoyed it.
The Old Faithful Inn is fairly friendly to wheelchairs, through there is only 1 automated door I could find and for that you must negotiate an elevator that is workable, but tight for a large PWC. Of course, that entrance was blocked off for several days of maintenance work. Other entrances worked fine and there seemed to always be someone willing to hold the door open for me.
We wound up being assigned 4 separate rooms. This was all because our reservation got messed up. The first had a door too narrow for the wheelchair so we were reassigned to an overflow room right next to the elevator. It was tiny but the chair did fit. The next day they attempted to put us into the room we were originally supposed to be in (double doors, lots of room, etc.). In the process, they cancelled our reservation and someone else grabbed the room (they are in very high demand...we made our reservations almost a year in advance). They upgraded us to a very nice room, which was great...until the power went out. Did I mention the weather was frightful? A snow storm knocked down many trees, some of which fell on a power line. They have generators, but one of those failed, leaving only emergency power, which did not include the elevators.
Once power was temporarily restored, I rode the elevator down and they moved us to a room on the first floor. The staff was wonderful and really took good care of us during all the moves. The original mistake was theirs, but they owned up to it and made it more than right. And, they are very focused on making sure the mistake is not repeated for our 2 week trip in September.
Of course we saw a lot of wildlife as well as interesting human behavior. A 16-year old girl was gored by a buffalo while we were staying there, but thankfully we were elsewhere in the park and missed that excitement.
Here are a few of the interesting things that happened on the trip.
I have not been able to do the Norris Geyser Basin trails for several years. Now with the wheelchair, I was determined to do them. That morning I had done about 6 miles around Old Faithful. That was a mistake. I wound up running the PWC batteries down so low at Norris that I could not get it back into the van. Fortunately, I got it to the van and was able to hook it up to a car charger I had purchased (highly recommended). After about a half hour the chair had enough juice to make it into the van.
Before going to Yellowstone, I researched accessible trails. There is only 1 listed and there is an accessible campsite at the end. I wanted to check that out so we can go "backpacking" on a subsequent trip. We started on the trail and within 5 feet there was a drainage channel sloped about 15 degrees to the right. It was scary, but I made it through. We then encountered 3 log steps that I barely managed to get the wheelchair over. Finally, about 100 yards total into the trail we came across a tree that had fallen and was blocking the trail. I have attached a picture to give you idea. So much for the accessible trail. Fortunately, there are other very much more accessible trails.
When parking at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (not THE Grand Canyon), we found there is only one handicap spot. Fortunately, it is van accessible and it was empty. We pulled in. My wife got out to open the side doors and start deploying the lift. As she was doing this someone pulled into the cross hatched part where the lift would go. She noticed they had no handicap placard and politely informed them that she was trying to deploy the lift. They got all huffy and said they needed to pick someone up. There was ample parking within 10 yards, but they were not interested in moving! The worst part is they had Colorado tags on their car. We are hoping it was a rental
One of our favorite geysers is Beehive. It is spectacular when it is erupting, which happens about once a day. We missed it for the entire trip and were quite disappointed. On our last day, after we had checked out of the hotel, we stopped for breakfast at the Lower General Store. Over the years we have gotten to know some of the folks there pretty well. Our breakfast was delayed, and by the time we finished up, we had been there for well over an hour. It was very pleasant. On our way out, Beehive erupted and we had a wonderful view of it. It was a great way to wrap up our time in the park.
Overall it was a great trip. We saw wonderful wildlife, great geology, and just enjoyed ourselves immensely. I can hardly wait until our next trip.
Here are a few pictures You can check out the full set at http://swalkeratvail.zenfolio.com/2015_spring_yellowstone:
1. Me at the end of the trail to Lone Star Geyser. I got to test out my wet weather gear, which all worked very well.
2. Grand Geyser erupting
3. Lori and me in front of Blue Star Spring in the Upper Geyser Basin.
4. Harlequin Duck at LeHardy Rapids. I was hoping to get a chance to see these relatively rare ducks.
5. Grizzly Bear sow and yearling cub at Norris Meadow
6. Black Bear sow and 2 yearling cubs at Calcite Springs in the Tower area
7. Antelope (pronghorn) in the Lamar Valley
8. Tree blocking the "accessible" trail
Steve
We went for 2 entire weeks and stayed the entire time at the Old Faithful Inn. The weather was frightful, with cold, rain, sleet, snow, and generally gloomy conditions. We had an absolutely great time and can hardly wait until we return in July.
The trip started out great. On our drive to Yellowstone we saw a bald eagle, golden eagle, sandhill crane numerous hawks, magpies, and other assorted birds, antelope (pronghorn), deer, etc. We split the 12 hour drive into 2 days, which worked out well.
I found Yellowstone to be very accessible with a wheelchair. Obviously, there were many places I could not go, but I did manage to put over 100 miles on the wheelchair. There are miles of boardwalks and trails around and through the various geyser basins. I explored as many as I could. Since we were staying in the Old Faithful area, it was easy to go out for an early morning stroll in the wheelchair while my wife was getting ready for the day. I would go out for 3 to 7 miles many mornings and really enjoyed it.
The Old Faithful Inn is fairly friendly to wheelchairs, through there is only 1 automated door I could find and for that you must negotiate an elevator that is workable, but tight for a large PWC. Of course, that entrance was blocked off for several days of maintenance work. Other entrances worked fine and there seemed to always be someone willing to hold the door open for me.
We wound up being assigned 4 separate rooms. This was all because our reservation got messed up. The first had a door too narrow for the wheelchair so we were reassigned to an overflow room right next to the elevator. It was tiny but the chair did fit. The next day they attempted to put us into the room we were originally supposed to be in (double doors, lots of room, etc.). In the process, they cancelled our reservation and someone else grabbed the room (they are in very high demand...we made our reservations almost a year in advance). They upgraded us to a very nice room, which was great...until the power went out. Did I mention the weather was frightful? A snow storm knocked down many trees, some of which fell on a power line. They have generators, but one of those failed, leaving only emergency power, which did not include the elevators.
Once power was temporarily restored, I rode the elevator down and they moved us to a room on the first floor. The staff was wonderful and really took good care of us during all the moves. The original mistake was theirs, but they owned up to it and made it more than right. And, they are very focused on making sure the mistake is not repeated for our 2 week trip in September.
Of course we saw a lot of wildlife as well as interesting human behavior. A 16-year old girl was gored by a buffalo while we were staying there, but thankfully we were elsewhere in the park and missed that excitement.
Here are a few of the interesting things that happened on the trip.
I have not been able to do the Norris Geyser Basin trails for several years. Now with the wheelchair, I was determined to do them. That morning I had done about 6 miles around Old Faithful. That was a mistake. I wound up running the PWC batteries down so low at Norris that I could not get it back into the van. Fortunately, I got it to the van and was able to hook it up to a car charger I had purchased (highly recommended). After about a half hour the chair had enough juice to make it into the van.
Before going to Yellowstone, I researched accessible trails. There is only 1 listed and there is an accessible campsite at the end. I wanted to check that out so we can go "backpacking" on a subsequent trip. We started on the trail and within 5 feet there was a drainage channel sloped about 15 degrees to the right. It was scary, but I made it through. We then encountered 3 log steps that I barely managed to get the wheelchair over. Finally, about 100 yards total into the trail we came across a tree that had fallen and was blocking the trail. I have attached a picture to give you idea. So much for the accessible trail. Fortunately, there are other very much more accessible trails.
When parking at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (not THE Grand Canyon), we found there is only one handicap spot. Fortunately, it is van accessible and it was empty. We pulled in. My wife got out to open the side doors and start deploying the lift. As she was doing this someone pulled into the cross hatched part where the lift would go. She noticed they had no handicap placard and politely informed them that she was trying to deploy the lift. They got all huffy and said they needed to pick someone up. There was ample parking within 10 yards, but they were not interested in moving! The worst part is they had Colorado tags on their car. We are hoping it was a rental
One of our favorite geysers is Beehive. It is spectacular when it is erupting, which happens about once a day. We missed it for the entire trip and were quite disappointed. On our last day, after we had checked out of the hotel, we stopped for breakfast at the Lower General Store. Over the years we have gotten to know some of the folks there pretty well. Our breakfast was delayed, and by the time we finished up, we had been there for well over an hour. It was very pleasant. On our way out, Beehive erupted and we had a wonderful view of it. It was a great way to wrap up our time in the park.
Overall it was a great trip. We saw wonderful wildlife, great geology, and just enjoyed ourselves immensely. I can hardly wait until our next trip.
Here are a few pictures You can check out the full set at http://swalkeratvail.zenfolio.com/2015_spring_yellowstone:
1. Me at the end of the trail to Lone Star Geyser. I got to test out my wet weather gear, which all worked very well.
2. Grand Geyser erupting
3. Lori and me in front of Blue Star Spring in the Upper Geyser Basin.
4. Harlequin Duck at LeHardy Rapids. I was hoping to get a chance to see these relatively rare ducks.
5. Grizzly Bear sow and yearling cub at Norris Meadow
6. Black Bear sow and 2 yearling cubs at Calcite Springs in the Tower area
7. Antelope (pronghorn) in the Lamar Valley
8. Tree blocking the "accessible" trail
Steve
