"Stir" takes to the road again!

[Stir Young]

Hey, its me, Gary Young! You know, the smart alecky guy who was gonna go out west??? I thought I might try doing one of these blog thingies about my trip to Yellowstone Park and back.

So who is Stir? Well, that's been my nickname since I was in high school. I was originally called "Youngster" by one of my friends, I guess because I only looked about 12 years old when I was a Junior. As time went on, "Youngster" got shortened to "Ster", or "Stir", as I prefer to spell it, and people just ASSUMED that the shortened variety came about because I "stirred" up trouble. Why, nothing could be further from the truth....c'mon, you know me....I'm a peacemaker!

Well, anyway, about 2 years ago, I embarked on a quest to find people whom I'd worked with in Yellowstone Park in the summer of 1969. It became a cooperative project as I found others, and they started looking too. Along the way, we've been able to account for about 12 people, and the idea for an employee reunion came about. That reunion took place on August 14th and 15th 2009, in Gardiner, Montana, and the story that follows will hopefully tell a little about the summer of 1969 in Yellowstone Park, and my journey back there 40 years later.

And just who is that mischieveous looking guy up above? Why that's me, in the summer of 1969, of course.

[Stir Young]

I checked out of the Absaroka Lodge the next morning. It was Wednesday, August 12. I decided to stick close to Mammoth today, only venturing as far as Norris Junction, to see the Norris Basin hydrothermal features.

There was a bit of a traffic jam coming into Mammoth....a herd of elk had taken up position in the middle of the rotary. They were mostly laid down resting, but it was an impressive sight.

I headed up past the Mammoth Terraces, and decided to see them on the way back. I quickly came upon the Hoodoos, a weird jumble of rocks. I remembered this area from 1969...there was a little one way drive that looped off the road and back onto it. For some reason I remembered that as well.

[Stir Young]

I spent a lot of the evening sitting out on my balcony again. I really liked the Absaroka Lodge, it was centrally located, with the river below, Gardiner next, and the mountains in the distance. This would be my last night here, as tomorrow I was moving on the the Yellowstone Village Inn for the next four nights. Our 40th reunion was starting to loom closer....and the Yellowstone Village Inn was to be our headquarters.

[Stir Young]

Here's the Silvertip! Its 5 Star dining, in my book!

[Stir Young]

I got back to the Absaroka Lodge, and decided to walk around town some more. Right across the street from the Absaroka was a gas station/convenience store. I remembered it from the summer of 1969, although it was just a service station back then.

Beyond the station, and heading north on Route 89, was a line of small houses, mostly made into little shops. They were quite close to the road, and kind of ramshackle, in a charming way. I walked by one that was a book store, and even had a limited menu of beverages and edibles like you'd find in a Borders. I checked it out, but didn't find anything that interested me, so I moved on. Next door was a place called The Silvertip, and it offered Mexican food, so I went in the check it out.

The Silvertip was pretty cool....it had a small kitchen right inside the door, with a counter to order at. The menu was on a chalk board. Beyond this room was a couple of small rooms for indoor dining.

I ordered a pork burrito and coke, and it was up in short order. I took a seat in the dining area and chowed down. That burrito was great, it was good sized, and reasonably priced too. I decided I might want to dine at that place again.

[Stir Young]

There was far less traffic on the road to Canyon this time, and no buffalo jams. There wasn't near the amount of people parked in the turnouts....perhaps the animals have unionized and now go off duty in the mid afternoon.

At any rate, I got back to Canyon, and decided to head back to Gardiner by way of Tower Falls and Gardiner. By going to Tower from Canyon, I would be traversing the part of the main road system that i had never gone on before. Back in 1969, I never went over the Dunraven Pass on the Tower-Canyon road. Nake told me early on, to not take the VW bus over the Dunraven Pass, it would be too strenuous on it. So I never did go over the Pass, although it did dawn on me that Nake must have taken the Unit over, or how else did he know to tell me not to try it?

This stretch of road is 19 miles in length, and it quickly rose in elevation. The views were absolutely beyond description. I pulled off a couple of times and just sat and looked. The road seemed to cling to the side of mountains, and there were switchbacks. This was another place where it would have been nice to have a co-driver, so I could have taken more in. I was leery to let my eyes wander off the road for very long, it was a long way down!

Eventually I got to the top of Dunraven Pass, and started back down to other side. There were signs advising to use a lower gear, it was a 6% grade for the next 8 miles. I was going down, but if Nake went up it with the VW Camper, I can imagine why he advised me not to try it....that might have put a strain on the engine that would have repercussions later.

I got to the bottom of the grade in fine shape, and drove past the Tower Fall store. I noticed that, like the day before, it was jam packed with cars both in the lot and on the sides of the road. Business was booming in Yellowstone National Park.

I got behind a car just before I got to Roosevelt Lodge that was driving in an irritating fashion....erratic speed ups and slow downs, hitting the brakes at odd places. He finally pulled off at a wide spot in the road after I did some creative tailgating on him. I don't really like to tailgate (OK, yes I do), but this guy was really irritating. With clear road ahead for most of the drive, I got back to Mammoth, and took the alternate one way route back down to the Roosevelt Arch, and I headed back to my motel in Gardiner. Other than the camera running out of battery power, it had been a great day.

[Stir Young]

When I got back to Fishing Bridge, I stopped at the General Store, on the other side of the road from the interpretive center. I had a hard time finding a place to park, which I had come to realize was the norm. I went in, and the store was jammed with people. I had it in my mind that I should look for souvenirs for some people back home, although I didn't know exactly what I was looking for. Then I saw something....coffee mugs with names on them!! There were lots and lots of choices of names. I started looking, and every name I wanted was there. I ended up with eight mugs. I had completed my shopping in just a few minutes, and I was quite happy about that. I took my mugs up to a register, and of course whipped out my newly acquired Yellowstone Association membership card. The guy manning the register was a retiree, and he seemed quite cheerful, almost too cheerful, kind of like he had pasted on a smile that morning, and by God, he was gonna be cheerful! He had to summon a co-worker to show him how to ring in my discount, and she had that same kind of smile he had. The summer was almost over, and I wondered if these folks were maybe just holding it together now, after a summer of working in that store. The guy even wrapped all the mugs in tissue paper and put most of them in boxes with compartments to keep them from hitting each other.

With my mugs packed away in the back of the car, I was off again, heading in a northwesterly direction back to Canyon.

[Stir Young]

A portion of the road going east took me along the shore of Yellowstone Lake. It was a huge body of water, and quite pristine looking. I saw a very few boats out fishing. Large portions of the lake are regulated as to what types of watercraft, if any, can enter. I stopped once, and went down to the shore. It reminded me of Lake Superior somewhat, a mostly rocky shoreline, and very, very cold water. There was driftwood strewn about, and some sandy areas amongst the rocks. Little streamlets entered the lake occasionaly.

Eventually the road left the shoreline, heading mostly east to southeast. It went up in altitude, again going through some beautiful mountainous terrian. I got to the East entrance, and stopped at the rest room located there. I turned around, and headed toward Fishing Bridge again.

[Stir Young]

Nake and I had entered the park through the East Entrance back in 1969. I don't remember much of that part of our journey, except that I think we stayed somewhere near Cody the night before. I do remember that Nake was driving as we went up into the mountains. it started raining, then it started snowing, and by the time we got to the top, it was really snowing hard. A portion of the road was still being cleared of the winter snow accumulation, by big rotary snow blowers. As we descended the other side, the precipitation reversed, the snow lessened, turned back to rain, and then stopped. The VW camper had done well, lots of downshifting and going slow, but we had made it into Yellowstone.

[Stir Young]

I made it to Fishing Bridge, turned left, and went over Fishing Bridge, which crossed the Yellowstone River where it leaves Yellowstone Lake. I was now heading east. Note that the above postcard shows people fishing from Fishing Bridge. I believe that fishing from the bridge was stopped in 1970, so perhaps the span should be called "No-Fishing Bridge" now.

Just past the bridge on the right was an interpretive center, located on Yellowstone Lake. I stopped to look things over. The building was a big old log structure, very typical of buildings seen in Michigan State Parks....buildings built by the CCC back in the depression. I don't know if that was the history of this particular building though.

As I was finding everywhere in the park, this placed was packed with people. Inside, however, there was a store run by The Yellowstone Association. This place had lots of books, and other educational items. A sales lady explained to me their mission...to help the public understand, appreciate and enjoy the park, and they did it through funding and education. The books in here were great, and they also offered wonderful DVDs and other items. I was taken enough that I got an annual membership, which entitled me to a 15% discount on purchases in their stores, and a 10% discount in any General Store. I love to buy books on my travels, and I had hit the mother lode here. I bought a couple of books, and away I went, heading east again, bound for the East entrance.

[Stir Young]

I got back in my car, and left the South Rim. I decided to head southeast to Fishing Bridge.

This stretch of road took me into the Hayden Valley, a broad expanse with the Yellowstone River winding through it. Here and there I could see buffalo, or bison, off in the distance. The turnouts and parking areas were jammed with vehicles, and people were out taking pictures, movies, or just viewing through binoculars or telescopes.

I came upon a traffic jam. We were at a standstill, nothing was moving. Presently a buffalo (or bison) came walking on the road in the oncoming lane, toward me. He (I'm pretty sure it was a he...I think I know enough about anatomy to make the call) had a peculiar gait....lumbering, I guess would describe it. He kept inching toward the center of the road, ever so slowly, with each step. He ended up right next to my car, no more than a foot from me (inside with the window up). When he passed my car he cut behind it to the shoulder, and made his way off the road. I guess the poor guy just wanted to cross the road, but the cars were lined up too close together. It was a truly massive beast...just powerful as all get out! I could see how they could gore people and throw them up in the air when provoked.