Rollin’ through Yellowstone National Park

Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing,” said Helen Keller. This summer, my family, my mom, dad, sister and I, went on an adventure. Our family vacation was to Yellowstone National Park. In Salt Lake City, we rented an RV and drove to the park. Some of our sights include geysers, hot springs, waterfalls, mud pots, and animals. We saw many beautiful views, animals, and had lots of fun. This was one of my absolute favorite trips yet.

While we were visiting, I learned many interesting things about the Old Faithful Geyser. It’s height varies from 106 to 184 feet in the air and before it erupts, the water beneath the ground is 2,499 degrees Fahrenheit! It can be anywhere between thirty-three and 120 minutes between eruptions and 3,700 to 8,400 gallons of water is discharged during each eruption. Although watching the geyser erupt was thrilling, some other activities were more enjoyable.

My favorite experience during this trip was our visit to Moose Falls. We saw some people swimming beside the waterfall in the river. However, we decided to swim behind it through the tiny gap in the center of the tower of falling water. We swam behind Moose Falls several times trying unsuccessfully to stop our legs from hitting the shallow and rocky floor of the river. It was stupendous behind the waterfall. We put our heads back and it looked as if the water was falling directly onto us. While I was behind it, I felt like I was the only person in the world. I forgot all my worries and I was myself. The fifty-foot drop of Moose Falls filled me with awe as I stared at it’s natural beauty.

Other than the astonishing things we saw, we also had fun white water rafting down the Snake River. We were in a large raft boat with ten other people. We crashed over rapid after rapid, getting wetter and wetter. The water, melted ice and snow from higher up the mountain, was freezing cold, but it added to the exhilaration we felt during our ride. We realized how cold it actually was when we jumped into the river in a calm spot where there were no rapids. Once we jumped in, we immediately wanted to be pulled back into the raft. Although Snake River is full of rapids, there were some calm rivers that we stopped to put our feet into along the way as well.

Apparently bison like dipping their feet in the water too. One day, we saw some bison crossing a calm, slow moving river. Bison were the animals we saw the most during our trip. They were rolling in dust bowls, grazing, and one even crossed the road in front of our RV. As it passed by us, we saw mothers yanking their children into their open car door fearing the docile buffalo would turn on someone any second. An early morning excursion led us to a heard of about 300 snarling, moaning bison grazing in a large valley. Other creatures we observed were a black bear, a moose, cutthroat trout, mule deer, elk, osprey, geese, chipmunks and a bald eagle! Although they were in captivity, we admired grizzly bears and wolves at a Discovery Center.

Yellowstone National park was my favorite vacation. The RV was exciting, but the vistas were even better. The geysers, waterfalls, and animals we marveled at were breathtaking and white water rafting was phenomenal. I would recommend this trip to anyone who is ready for an adventure and wants to have the time of their lives!