Rating:

3.0 (6 votes)

About three million visitors packing into Yellowstone National Park each of the last few years can make such a wild place seem pretty crowded.

It's a day before the opening of Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, and Thanawat Rujiiawanichtep, or Joe as he's known around here, makes up the last of the beds.

He traveled from his native Thailand to work here for the summer season because he loves wild things, wild trees, wild spaces.

"I saw some bear, in the wild," Joe said.

"This is a place like no place else on earth, wildlife is running free. And I don't think many international employees get to experience that at home," marketing and sales director for Xanterra, Rick Hoeninghausen, said.

Of all the things he wanted to see, Joe said he wanted to see "snow, because in Thailand it's so hot, like 100-something."

As Joe's beloved snow begins to slowly melt into trickling runoff, his hotel and the rest of the park prepare for a different flood.

"Honestly come mid-June it feels like someone turned on the fire hose full of visitors," Yellowstone National Park spokesperson Al Nash said.

It's a rush that typically continues until late August.

"And that has an impact on everything. Visitors' services, hotel rooms, meals available, campgrounds and yes it has an impact on wildlife," Nash said.

"I've never seen a bison up close, so it's pretty neat," one park visitor said.

Nash says many visitors don't have experience with the unique animals here. Most of the critters are quite comfortable with people, but Nash says some tourists may not realize the animals can and do charge if we get too close.

"It can be challenging for us as the park staff to be someplace to help keep visitors at a safe distance," Nash said.

That can be particularly difficult in campgrounds, where bears can be attracted to food left out in the open. Park crews must constantly remind users to take advantage of bear safe storage and dispose of trash in the right ways.

Overall, though, the Yellowstone ecosystem survives the yearly human stampede with grace. The animals, the geysers, the rivers, move and function pretty much how they want to. And the park remains wild, which is why so many people from around the world come here in the first place.