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/nped/. 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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Journals

7/16
7/17
7/18
7/19
7/20
7/21
7/22
7/23
7/24
7/25
7/26
7/27
7/28
7/29
7/30
7/31

Wednesday, 8-18-99

My friend Tom Sperry lent me a cassette tape of Garrison Keiler’s Prairie Home Companion broadcast live from Old Faithful Employee Recreation Hall, a huge log building, on the July 4 weekend, 1997.

Guests with him were the Hopeful Gospel Quartet, cowboy poet and singer Skip Gorman, Yellowstone superintendent Michael Finley, former Montana Congressman Pat Williams, park ranger Anne Deutsche, and members of Geyser Observation Study Association (GOSA, which also stands for Geezers Out Stumbling Around, according to Garrison Keiler).

Garrison said, “We’re at Yellowstone where about 3,100,000 Americans come each summer. Of these 3,100,000, about 46,000 go up into the trails in the high country, and the rest are right here this weekend. It’s all right. This is where we come to meet our fellow Americans . . . in all their glory.”

I suppose one could say that about the Grand Canyon, too. About 3,000 people hike the Bright Angel Trail on the Fourth of July, while 40+ mules are winding their way to Plateau Point and Phantom Ranch. Talk about a rodeo looking for a place to happen!

Garrison featured camp songs that had been sent in by listeners.

Like:
Oh, the liquor was spilled on the barroom floor
And the bar was closed for the night,
When out of the corner came a little brown mouse
And he sat in the pale moon light.
He lapped up the liquor on the barroom floor
And back on his haunches he sat,
All night long you could hear him ROAR,
“Bring on the gosh darned cat.”

Or,
(to the tune of The Old Grey Mare, She Ain’t What She Used to Be)
Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts,
Hurdy gurdy birdy feet,
Purplated monkey meat,
French fried eyeballs swimming in a bowl of pus,
That’s what I had for lunch.

second verse,
Great big gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts,
Jubilated monkey meat,
Concentrated birdie’s feet,
A great big jar of all-purpose porpoise pus,
And me without a spoon.

Later, there was an interview with The Honorable Pat Williams, America the Beautiful was sung by the live audience in the recreation hall, Yellowstone Park superintendent Mike Finley addressed the audience with his Fourth of July speech, and lastly Garrison gave his monologue on Lake Woebegone.

Previous
Journals

8/1
8/2
8/3
8/4
8/5
8/6
8/7
8/10
8/11
8/12
8/13
8/14
8/15
8/16
8/17

 Copyright ©1999 Ben Benton -- All Rights Reserved