Yellowstone National Park

The National Public Lands Day Tour visited one of our nation's crown jewels this past week. On Thursday and Friday, the tour visited Yellowstone National Park located mostly in Wyoming. (Yellowstone also lies within Montana and Idaho). The National Public Lands Day Tour was lucky enough to be invited to the Yellowstone Park Foundation (YPF) board reception on Thursday night to present YPF $1,000 for their trails initiative and directly for their upcoming trails project for National Public Lands Day near Mammoth Springs in Yellowstone National Park. Pictured left is Chris Glenn, Yellowstone Park Trails Manager with myself and Kathy Mota and William Duff from Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.

The Yellowstone Park Foundation was also treated to a wonderful address from Department of Interior Deputy Secretary of Interior, Lynn Scarlett. Photograped below left to right is Michael Cary, Executive Director of the Yellowstone Park Foundation, Deputy Secretary of Interior Lynn Scarlett, Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park Suzanne Lewis, Toyota representative Mary Nickerson, and Director of The National Public Lands Day Program, Robb Hampton.

The following day, I was invited to attend the demolition ceremony of the 'old' Old Faithful Visitor Center. With money that has been raised in help from the Yellowstone Park Foundation, a new and improved visitor center will be built on the same spot. Attendees had the rare opportunity to sledgehammer the building.

Here I am taking a sledgehammer to the Old Faithful Visitor Center. I couldn't believe it!
Of course, no Yellowstone blog is complete without a photo of Old Faithful. I think she was a little upset that we were hitting the visitor center with a sledgehammer. This was my first time visiting Yellowstone. I was truly 'wowed' by the diversity of geology, wildlife, and scenary. It is a very special place on the planet and the National Park Service does a wonderful job in maintaining it for the public to enjoy. It's an excellent resource for outdoor recreation, environmental education, and just plain enjoyment. If you have never been to Yellowstone, you owe it to yourself to schedule it in during your next trip.

The National Public Lands Day Tour will start heading to Oregon where we will visit two locations before heading back down to California. Until next time, enjoy your public lands!