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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/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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Previous 7/16 |
Monday, 8-23-99I unloaded a hay truck today and stacked 60- to 80-pound bales in the barn. Not bad for a 52-year-old. I’m thankful that I’m still able to do something like that! There’s a new assistant head wrangler, which means a new work schedule. My days off now are Sunday and Monday. To catch up with the new schedule, I’m working six days straight through. ***** I spent the evening in the Aspen Dorm common area gabbing with some of the couples who live here. I don’t know how Amfac finds these people, but lots of them show up in late July and throughout August to take the place of students returning to school. Ann and Jack Thuston are a good example. They have several businesses west of Saint Louis and a homestead there that was a French fur trappers cabin. Jack says it is the oldest building west of the Mississippi (he probably means in Missouri). He and Ann sat across from me in the employee dining room one day recently and we met. They were assigned jobs in housekeeping in Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. Jack said he’s making beds and cleaning toilets and that prior to now he’d never made a bed in his life. The head housekeeper was making her rounds one day and asked Jack how he liked his job and he said, “I hate the job.” She was taken aback until he added, “but I love the people.” That sums it up around here. Well, we were all sitting around in the common area, like I said, and just talking about whatever came to mind. Probably like folks used to do before TV. By the way, there’s no TV here except for a few of those newfangled 12- and 18-inch satellite dishes that people have brought with them. It’s very relaxing to just sit and talk in the evening. We talked about our hometowns, our interests, families, old jobs — anything except what’s happening right now in the real world, because we don’t know what’s happening out there in the real world. The only paper here is the Billings Gazette, which is like having no paper at all. ***** Christmas eve is tomorrow. Yes, you read that correctly. Christmas is celebrated on August 25th in commemoration of an August 25th in the early 1900s when everyone got snowed in at Old Faithful Inn. On that day, someone got the idea to decorate a tree in the yard with ornaments and sing Christmas carols, and the tradition stuck. My roommate John and I have been invited to a Christmas Party and wine and cheese open house at the Terrace Dorm on Christmas Day. I haven’t seen other fall and winter holidays celebrated
in the park this year, but years ago when I worked at West Thumb
we celebrated Halloween on July 31st, Thanksgiving a few Thursdays
before August 25th, and New Years Eve on August 31st.  |
Previous 8/1 |
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