"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]

Here's another shot of the Boiling River entering the Gardner River, looking something like an one ramp onto a freeway.

[Stir Young]

Back in 1969, there were no rules posted, or boardwalks, that I recall, and no level, improved path from a parking lot to get to this place. This was a place to skinny dip after dark, and it was reached by taking a narrow path from the main road. I remember coming here to skinny dip, with some girls of course. Of course, we had to douse the lights before we disrobed, and keep our hands to ourselves. I remember it was pitch black, one couldn't see one's hand in front of one's face. It wasn't much of a racy adventure at all, but it was very nice, being in that warm water on a chilly night.

[Stir Young]

I left the entrance to the campground, and got back on the road to Gardiner. I quickly came upon the turnoff to my next stop, the Boiling River. I had pulled in here a couple of days before, but decided on holding off visiting. This was also a place I visited in 1969.

[Stir Young]

This is the Ranger Station to the Mammoth Campgrounds, which is located on a small plateau right below Mammoth, heading toward Gardiner. When we finished up our employment in 1969, we stayed here one night, and left in the morning...back on the road to California.

[Stir Young]

I decided to leave Mammoth, and head back to Gardiner. I had a couple more brief stops I wanted to make on the way, so I exited on the paved two lane main road.

[Stir Young]

This is a current picture of the inside of the rec center. I don't recall that it looked much different in 1969.

[Stir Young]

This is the recreation center in 2009, to the right of the ramp. I didn't remember the attached building to the left at all, but was later informed that it indeed had been there in 1969.

[Stir Young]

There was another place in Mammoth that I wanted to check out again, and that was the recreation center, located behind the Mammoth Inn. The rec center had been the site of weekly dances, with a live band, back in 1969.

I only recall attending the very first one, which was probalby only a week or so after Nake and I had arrived. I had told Nake about it, and he said he'd come down, and he might bring a few people with him. I thought that I'd buy some beer, for responsible consumption only, of course, so I went over to the General Store and brought a twelve pack up to the counter. Ted was working the cash register, and he really gave me the third degree, wanting to know what I was going to do with it. I was somewhat taken aback...I was old enough to buy, and I told him it was for Nake and Me. He didn't buy that for one second, and said to me: "you'd better not give that beer to anybody under 21, its a felony offense to provide alcohol to minors in a National Park." I quickly responded, "Gee Ted, I didn't even know there was any mines around here." Ted was not happy with my flippant answer. He said, "you know what I mean, I'm going to watch you"!

Well, Nake showed up for the dance in the VW camper, and he had about eight girls who worked at Tar with him! Of course, we broke out the beer soon thereafter. Twelve beers split amoung ten people wasn't going to hit any of us too hard, but we did manage to fly under Ted's radar.

[Stir Young]

When I reviewed this picture, which showed the hill that was behind the General Store and service station, it reminded me of a little adventure I had back in the summer of 1969.

The mainstream use of illegal substances was just in its infancy. Most of my friends and I drank beer, and sometimes drank way too much beer. Early in 1969, back in Lansing, a friend of mine came home on leave from Viet Nam, and he introduced me and a few other people I knew to marijuana. I enjoyed the sensation it gave, but it wasn't really my thing. I went back to my beer.

One day, rather late in the summer of 1969, I went over to the General Store to cash out the cash registers, a job I didn't relish because of my poor relationship with Ted. I went back to Ted's office to tell him I was leaving, and I saw a letter addressed to me laying on his desk. It seemed odd that it hadn't been delivered to our office with the rest of the morning mail, but I didn't think too much about it. I mentioned to him that I might as well take it, and he agreed.

I noticed that the letter was from my old Lansing buddy stationed in 'Nam. It seemed a bit thick, but I didn't pay much attention. I went back to the accounting office and put it on my desk. At lunch, I went up to my room before eating and opened the envelope....two joints fell out of it.

It seemed that now I was in possession of an illegal substance in a National Park! I hid the joints in my room, and went down to eat, and back to work. I was not sure what to do with my newly acquired stash, so for a couple of days I did nothing.

I didn't really get paranoid, but I wanted the joints gone. I wasn't so ready to get rid of them that I was going to destroy them, however. I made a couple of descrete inquiries, and found that their were some people I knew who would indeed be happy to help me dispose of my stash.

So, after a couple of days of me holding weed, four of us went up the hill shown in the above picture and smoked those joints...looking down on Mammoth and enjoying ourselves to the limit. We came back down the hill, still high, but the evidence was now gone.

I guess it was the perfect crime, but I wonder if the statute of limitations has run out yet? Could my youthful indescretion now come back to haunt me, and be made part of my "permanent record"?

[Stir Young]

This old postcard showed the gift shop many, many years before 1969.