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Hi. I’m Ben Benton from Flagstaff, Arizona. I believe that you will enjoy my daily journal from Yellowstone National Park during the summer of 1999. I left downtown Flagstaff with my saddle and duffel in early July and lighted in the horse corral at Mammoth Hot Springs. My journal will continue through September 20th, unless the weather shuts us down earlier. You’ll read about adventures on the back country trails, Yellowstone history, people I meet, and anything else I can think of to write about. I’m the author of “National Park Employment Data,” a guide to working in national parks, which is available for purchase on my web site at www.gorp.com. I’ve been working in national parks and ski areas off and on for over twenty years. Because I want the data in my book to always be fresh, I continually test the concepts, employers, and tips that I provide. Right now, I’m working for Amfac Parks and Resorts. They are a top notch concession company because they place employee training, morale, and amenities first. |
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Thursday, 7-22-99Since the corral has seven rides a day, we all work twelve hours. That gives me four twelves and three days off. I’m off Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. On my trip into Gardiner, I noticed that the 45th Parallel Hot Pot is finally open. It’s been closed all spring because the Gardiner River has been running high — too high to safely use the hot pots in the river. I stopped on my way back and jumped in for an hour or so. Very relaxing, when you find the right spot half way between the icy river water and the extremely hot geyser water, which enters the river here from the Mammoth Hot Springs thermal area. The 45th Parallel is exactly midway between the North Pole and the Equator and it marks the state line between Wyoming and Montana. I first visited the 45th Parallel Hot Pot twenty to twenty-two years ago and I don’t recall it being called “Boiling River” like they do now. If you went down after dark, everyone just took their clothes off and jumped in. Now, the park rangers close it before sunset. Thursday evening, Kodak Ambassadors presented a photo program in the Map Room of the Hot Springs Hotel. Very interesting and worth watching if you get the opportunity. I guess Kodak sells so much film in the park that they have reps on hand to oversee it. I know Hamilton Stores used to sell so much Nally canned chili in their lunch counters in the park that Nally officials used to come down and visit each lunch counter to see how things were going. Hamilton’s has since switched to an off brand that doesn’t taste nearly as good. You can’t believe the positive comments we used to get about the chili at Hamilton’s when it was Nally. Everyone loved it and even wanted the recipe. The weather has been just perfect the last few days. Bright, sunny days with clear skies, and an occasional puffy cloud. I ordered a rain slicker from L.L. Bean though, because it won’t stay like this forever. I brought leather chaps to keep my legs dry; just needed something from my neck to my waist. I’m sure you’ve read about the problems reintroducing wolves to Arizona. They are having problems here also. As of May 1999, about 110 wolves are in the Yellowstone Park area. Reintroduced four years ago, they have split up into eleven packs. In December 1997, the U.S. District Judge ruled that reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone violated the Endangered Species Act due to a lack of geographic separation between the Yellowstone wolves and the fully protected naturally recolonized wolves in northwestern Montana. He ordered the removal of the reintroduced Yellowstone wolves, but immediately stayed the order pending appeal. |
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