Wonderland

A word you hear a lot around here, “Wonderland” is a term originally used by early White visitors to Yellowstone, possibly even before it became a national park. And the term seems apt. Because there’s so much wildlife here, but it’s not just the wildlife. The mountains are spectacular, but there are mountains everywhere. And the forests, so majestic. And there are so many lakes, rivers, and waterfalls. But it’s not just the forests and the waterfalls, there are also hot springs, geysers, and bubbling mud pots. But it’s not just that, it’s just… well, I just don’t know. It’s really just a wonderland.

To the Native Americans who were here long before the White visitors, this land was a sacred place. The Shoshone, Bannock, Blackfeet, Crow, and Nez Perce are some of the tribes with deep roots in this area, and the geysers and hot springs held special spiritual and medicinal significance for them, along with the animals who inhabited the region. But Native Americans have a different relationship with the land than White folks tend to. As their ancestral home for over 11,000 years, the original tribes continue to hold a deep respect for all aspects of the land as their mother earth. We come as tourists, to see and experience the sights, and far too often to commercialize and commodify the resources.

Truly, this land is unlike anywhere else on earth. Much of Yellowstone is actually a supervolcano that last erupted 640,000 years ago. The areas in the south of the park sit on what we call the “caldera,” the original center of the volcano, and this is where you will find most of the geothermal features, such as geysers, hot springs, and mud pots. Mud pots are basically hot springs that contain mud. The caldera filled in with a layer of ash and lava long ago, and of course is now covered with grasses, trees, and water, making it largely indistinguishable from any other land, except for the emerging geothermal features.

But I wanted to know more about how the term “Wonderland” came about as a descriptor of this area. I had originally thought it was just a term people started using because of the feelings that were inspired in them by the land. I had the romanticized notion that people 150 years ago may have been less sophisticated than people today, and more available to feelings of sheer wonder. And while that may be true, it was actually the Northern Pacific Railway who made the term popular in 1885 as a nod to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, which had been published only 20 years earlier. Northern Pacific created an ad campaign with Alice writing to her imaginary friend about the wonders she saw in the newly-created national park. So it seems that even 150 years ago, people were being successfully marketed to. Happily, though, this article shows that the term was around even before the marketing campaign. Apparently one Calvin C. Clawson described the features of Yellowstone in a newspaper article entitled “Notes on the Way to Wonderland” in 1871, just one year before President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law on March 1, 1872, designating it as the world’s first national park.

When was the last time you felt wonder? For me, I honestly can’t remember. Other than, perhaps, when I’ve visited some of the national parks out west: Yellowstone, of course, but also Rocky Mountain National Park, Arches, Bryce Canyon, Zion, the Grand Canyon. These are places where you can experience the vastness and complexity of the natural world, and maybe where you can find your place in it. But I think it can be difficult to fully appreciate the wonder without trying to grasp or possess it. Our culture seems to be particularly that way, and maybe it’s just part of human nature. One thing I’ve noticed quite a bit in the park is that people want to buy things that remind them of the time they’ve spent here. T-shirts, hats, stickers, or pins are very popular, and people actually wear them while they’re in the park–not later, to show others that they’ve been. I think this reflects the extent to which people want to feel that they are a part of this amazing and special place.

And I think this is part of why I wanted to work here: it seemed to me to be the only way to really get to know the place. First of all, we could never afford to stay here this long if we didn’t have some kind of job. Moreover, without a particular purpose, we would not be able to develop the friendships and camaraderie we have found with others here. We’d just be having superficial conversations with folks behind the counters in the visitors’ centers, restaurants, and general stores while just passing through. I was quoted a statistic that only about 2% of the park’s 2 million acres has been developed (meaning with roadways, boardwalks, lodges, or restaurants) and that only about 2% of visitors ever leave the developed area to travel out into the backcountry. I’m glad I’ve had the chance to be one of them. Because I think I really appreciate some of the wonders I’ve seen in the backcountry–Fairy Falls, Imperial Geyser, Little Gibbon Falls, Lone Star Geyser–all the more because it’s taken some work to reach them. It seems that whatever energy we put into this place, we get back in rewarding experiences.

One final observation: not only does Yellowstone contain an astonishing variety of natural wonders, there are also many ways to experience them. We’ve already hiked about 50 miles of backcountry this season, in addition to the sights we can see from the road, or from pre-constructed boardwalks. We’ve also been on a horseback ride through some of the valleys around the Roosevelt lodge and have gotten to experience the park just the way Teddy Roosevelt did 120 years ago. Many areas have been made accessible for those in wheelchairs or with limited mobility, and the visitors’ centers have programming for people of all ages. There’s really something for everyone here. If you’re in need of some wonder in your life–and, really, who isn’t these days–this is a wonderful place to explore. It’s hard to believe we’re already 1/3 of the way through our stay here and have barely scratched the surface of all there is to see and do. I know I’ll be sad when it’s time to leave but hope to make the most of the time we still have. So you can look forward to lots of upcoming posts from our hikes and day-trips.