Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Stone

Watching video recently of the damage to roads in the Yellowstone National Park area was a sad surprise.

Readers of this space know we are frequent visitors to the park. Bring up “road trip” to the kids, grandkids or Mary and Yellowstone is nearly always in the top spot or very near it.

It was just a year ago that my son-in-law, Brennan Murphy, and I were hiking above Mammoth Hot Springs in the NE part of Yellowstone. On that hike we looked out over the valley through which the Gardner River flows. That’s the river that cut into the roadways leading into the park from Gardiner, Montana and further north, isolating the town for a while and separating Gardiner from Mammoth for what will be many months.

Over the past years we have camped in the park, stayed in various lodging facilities in each of the park’s “villages,” camped in tents and made numerous day trips from Cody, where Mary’s brother lives. We have lots of fond memories from all of those trips.

With so much damage, the park closed and sent visitors away. It opened again last week but on a more limited basis. Roads in the NE part of the park are the problem. The access from Gardiner is damaged north of the town and inside the park. Access through Cooke City and Silver Gate to Mammoth was damaged. Access through Teton National Park on the south, West Yellowstone to the west and Cody, Wyoming to the east are open. I understand an even-odd license plate system is in place to limit traffic in the park. Those with in-park lodging reservations will be allowed in.

Within the park a road segment south of Tower Junction, between Canyon Village and Tower, suffered damage. That’s in the NE part of the park.

Most features within the park are accessed by a figure eight loop. The closure of the Tower-Canyon segment of the loop limits access to the NE part of the park from the south.

 The Mammoth Hot Springs area has major damage between Mammoth and Gardiner. Much of the freight coming into the park comes in that way. The road between Mammoth and Silver Gate is open year around. It and the Gardiner entrance are the only access roads open in the park during the winter. The remainder of the figure 8 loop is groomed for snow coaches that go to the Old Faithful area from Mammoth in the winter.

That’s why damage to that part of the park has a disproportionate effect on the park as a whole.

Rock Creek in Red Lodge apparently flooded much of the town and damaged some bridges, including the route east out of Red Lodge to Bear Creek and Belfry, a route we have taken many times. At one point the sheriff of the area reported water four feet deep over the top of the bridges in town. The Red Lodge to Cooke City over Beartooth Pass drive to Yellowstone is considered one of the most scenic drives in America.

It takes a long time to fill in areas where roads were washed out and what takes a little longer is rebuilding the roadway and protecting it so it doesn’t disappear in the next heavy rainfall.

Park officials hadn’t, as of this writing, been able to give a complete assessment of the damage done. In addition to roadways, concern was expressed about damage to water supplies and sewage systems.

What caused all this mess? Over Memorial Day weekend the park received snow. Then over the weekend of June 11-12 it received up to five inches of rain in some spots. The combination of rain and snow melt was more than the riverbeds could handle.

We’re hoping gas prices go down a little so we can take a road trip through that area this fall!