Alarms were set for 4 am, but the rustling started at 3:45 am. The opportunity to see Yellowstone wolves that morning motivated us to pack up camp quicker than ever before. Shoving sleeping bags into their compression sacks, sleeping pads folded up tight, and the crumpling of rain flies.
Marching back and forth between trailer and tent sites was the start of the mad dash for the singular pit toilet and jumping into the student cooler for breakfast treats planted a day earlier, before the wall of bins and backpacks grew too high to reach our treats.
Headlamps were turned off and we all piled into our non-assigned but permanent seats, tiredly eager for the chance of wolves and seeing the magnificent creatures we had spent the last few days reading and thinking about.
The van door closed and everyone buckled up as we spoke our head count sentence: “What – is – the – meaning – of – grasshopper – legs – they – use – many – toes – allegedly.” With all 12 of us accounted for, the rustling of treats began, with one lost spoon interrupting the eating of a 1 pint tub of yogurt and granola. Thankfully, someone donated a spoon to the morning yogurt endeavors.
We made it to the gates of Yellowstone around 5 am with one of our instructors perfectly timing our entry with the start of a heavy metal song to break the silent anticipation. Laughter erupted inside the sleepy van, as it usually did. While we’d seen gorgeous views at our other campsites, like Mt. Haggin and the Snowcrest Mountains, we had never seen the hazy early morning glow of blue to orange beginning its cascade down from mountain peaks, seen from the cliffside roads peering into valleys and forests.
A shout from the passenger seat raised the possibility of a much desired bathroom break as we pulled into a valley overlook with a singular pit toilet. It (the toilet) was heaven on Earth. Everyone deliriously tumbled out of our clown car, rushing past the pit toilet to the hazy orange mountain peaks looming over the vast valley in front of us. Caldera, a word I learned a couple days prior to describe the formation of Yellowstone. I excitedly asked if this crater and valley surrounded by mountains is what they meant by caldera. We stood in awe at the landscape before us, finding the energy to stay standing through the laughter and crazed antics we had found ourselves enduring for the past two weeks. We stood in a messy line – no doubt our laughter was echoing down into the valley.
Out of all the magnificent things we had seen and learned that day about wolves and ecosystem relationships, our dance of laughter and shenanigans is the orange glow that will warm my heart in the time to come.
