For this final post on our recent winter trip to Yellowstone, I share a poem that Melissa wrote on a previous trip and read to our group while snowshoeing one day. It seems like an appropriate ending for this incredible journey.
Yellowstone (a poem by Melissa Dowland)
I want so much
To connect ever deeper
With this place;
Idolized,
But perhaps rightly so.
I want to feel
Home
To become part
Of all that I see
And hope
That this special place
Embodies
And is.
Is it home? Not home maybe.
I want to become the
Person who’s home this is.
Who knows intimately
Who connects deeply
Who embodies the wild freedom
Who glories in the spectacular
And the common
Who loves deeply
(who never dulls)
who lives courageously
who embraces wonder
and who teaches others
as this place itself teaches,
to connect
to glory
to live
in that same way:
something larger than oneself
something as big as the whole world.
The boardwalk at Grand Prismatic Spring (click photos to enlarge)
Icy trees at Grand Prismatic
Dead trees in the Upper Geyser Basin
Ephydrid flies and their salmon-colored eggs in one of the thermal areas
Bull moose at Round Prairie
Elk cow near the North entrance
Snowy bison face
A late-born bison calf, still sporting its reddish-orange coat
Snowy hills in Lamar Valley
Bighorn ram near the Confluence
A coyote that had apparently been fed and was being harassed by a park ranger (moving toward it in her vehicle with flashing lights) in an attempt to keep it away from people
Elk resting in a snow storm
Mule deer buck
Golden eagle
Bald eagle (about 3 1/2 years old based on plumage)
Roads End Naturalist 
Beautiful poem that spoke to the longing of getting closer to this place, of wanting to submerge yourself in its raw perfection. Photos and text were astonishing.
Thanks, Mary. A magical place that keeps calling us back.
Meditative and beautiful!
Sorry to see this series of photos end. The magic of Yellowstone in winter and your skill in capturing these natural wonders will be missed until your next trip. Thanks for sharing and bringing up my memories of when I lived there.
truly a wonderland – I especially liked the line of the poem:
” I want to become the
Person who’s [whose] home this is.”