Before Kevin Costner.Before the most-watched show of 2022.

Before Kanye West’s mega mansion, Harrison Ford’s palace or Bill Gates’s luxury club.

There was just Yellowstone — and geography teacher Ann Linsley.

Linsley started taking her students to Yellowstone National Park 26 years ago, when the trip cost one-third of the price today.

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Ann Linsley

Students in Yellowstone listen to a ranger present on different job opportunities available in Yellowstone. Ranger Scarlet majored in wildlife management but now works in more of a biology-focused area.

“At that time, it only cost $600,” Linsley said. “It wasn’t a [smaller operation]. We visited the same places. But airline tickets were $250, and [they’ve] gone up three times. Of course, the bus has gone up in costs, too.”

Linsley started with around 20 students. This year from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, she’s taking 74 kids: 24 from the Bellaire International Baccalaureate program and 50 from Pin Oak selected from a lottery of 100.

“I think [Yellowstone] gives students an exposure to being able to do something to consider future careers that relate in a lot of different disciplines,” Linsley said.” How you [can] be compassionate or interested in being able to do work with the environment and then contribute back to society as a whole through better management, [and a] better understanding of how our ecology works.”

For Linsley, visiting the same places year after year allows her a personal view of how Yellowstone has changed.

“You’ve got two areas [that have changed]: the ecology and the behavior of some of the thermal features,” Linsley said. “The ecology, particularly with the reintroduction of the wolf, has not only changed the balance of the apex predator but also the flora and how the rivers have responded to not having as many elk. The thermal features [change too] as they continue to constantly grow through this process that the planet is going through.

But for many of her students — most of whom are IB seniors — Yellowstone is the first national park they’ve visited or even the first time they’ve traveled outside of Texas.

“Yellowstone was impactful to me because it was my first time going to a national park and truly being in a remote place where I could get in tune with nature,” senior Sydney Martinez said. “It gave me a breath of fresh air — literally and figuratively — from the stress of school.”

And even for those who had visited before, Yellowstone still held its own wonders.

“I think Yellowstone always just makes you feel small,” senior Luca Rainusso said. “It’s the second time I’ve gone, and I had a whole different experience. It makes you realize how little you are in a giant world, and wonder how your life would be if you didn’t live in an urban area.”

The trip included a tour through the western United States, with stops at the Great Salt Lake, Snake River (Lower Granite Dam) and Grand Tetons en route to Yellowstone.

“The beautiful scenery from Utah to Idaho to Wyoming to Montana was simply too pretty not to look at,” senior Luke Wang said. “When I wasn’t looking out the window, I was hopping from seat to seat talking with friends about our personal lives.”

Yellowstone’s physical beauty combined with the seven days together and close quarters students shared forged new friendships and strengthened existing ones.

“My trip to Yellowstone forced me to be emotionally vulnerable with myself and others,” Wang said. “At Yellowstone, you’ll not only get the chance to get closer to people you’re already close with, but you gain a deeper emotional understanding of one another that makes the IB program complete.”

And while the trip was scheduled right in the middle of college application season, many students, like Wang, agreed that the trip was well worth their time.

“One concern that we all had was how we could’ve used this time on our college apps,” Wang said. “But I would urge others to understand what truly matters in life. To me, family, friends and personal relationships come first. At the end of the trip, my IB warriors and I felt more at peace with ourselves, and we’ve created bonds that will remain strong for years after we graduate.”

For Linsley, these bonds include many of the people she sees every year in the park. Linsley has become good friends with the owner of the Desert Inn in West Yellowstone, who has charged her almost exactly the same rate for 26 years. Linsley has also grown close to the bus driver Clay, who she has worked with since 2007.

“I had to have a driver that was toler[ant] of kids, and then also be willing to work with me on how this trip had to go,” Linsley said. “Clay, when he meets me…the look on his face was like, ‘God, how fast can I get rid of y’all.’ [But] a former teacher who I used to work with at Bellaire, Scott Vancouver, took Clay aside, and said ‘It’ll all be fine.’”

Linsley continues to pick Yellowstone over other possible sites like Coastal Alaska or Cascadia in Maine because it demonstrates physical components students could otherwise only read about in a textbook.

“Yellowstone is everything that is in that IB course,” Linsley said. “It is everything from the unit on geologic hazards to the unit on extreme environments—glacial environments. And then it’s also human impact. It’s eco-tourism. It’s also climate change.”

Specifically in regards to global warming, Linsley has noticed large-scale changes to the park climate and water levels in rivers and lakes around the area.

“This is not normal weather,” Linsley said. “We always have a dusting of snow or really cold temperatures, and being able to be sitting here in short-sleeve shirts and T-shirts is extremely unusual. One of the areas we did not go [to], we used to be able to test [for] some of the thermophiles, but we can’t even access them because they’re too far into the feature because the water is down.”

Linsley’s field testing gathers physical data for IB Geography students’ Internal Assessments, which function as scientific papers analyzing trends in field work. The fieldwork takes place on the sixth day and is often a highlight for students.

“My absolute favorite part of Yellowstone was doing field testing,” Martinez said. “We conducted tests in the Snake River and Firehole River, both of which were fun. I got first-hand experience about on-site testing while also getting to collaborate with my peers.”

Even 26 years later and with all the changes to the park, Yellowstone continues to astonish Linsley.

“It’s definitely uniquely different,” Linsley said. “Iceland, New Zealand and Tanzania are the only other places where you find any kind of sizable numbers of thermal features like this. It really puts into perspective the power of Mother Nature. It’s all a dynamic process, and it’s ongoing.”