You know, I didn’t mind paying $10 for a sticker for my ATV. It seems reasonable to me that those who use the outdoors should contribute to its upkeep. But the new rules from Fremont County are getting out of hand.
Now, instead of simply buying a sticker from any local business and going riding, you have to get a license plate (available only from the county — 40 miles away in St. Anthony,) and you still have to buy the sticker somewhere else to boot. Then, once you have the plate, you have to figure out how to affix it to your machine and go through all that hassle.
Here’s a thought. Why not just increase the price of the stickers? Wouldn’t that serve everyone? If you’re going to tax us for our fun, why not at least make it easy on us? There’s no reason to force everyone to to go clear to the valley. These are not cars. We don’t use them on the road. We use them infrequently for recreation. Why make everyone miserable?
This is undoubtedly the brainchild of yet another politician with an insatiable hunger to get into the pockets of the average American. You ask yourself, “When will it be enough?” The answer is, when they have everything you have. Then it will be enough.
My first thought when I saw this sign was, “I’m not sure I can wait until 2010.” But that’s what you’re in for if you’re planning of traveling from West Yellowstone into northern reaches of the park. The road from Madison Junction to Norris will be experiencing road construction for the next year or so, especially through the Gibbon Falls / Gibbon Meadow area.
Well, Memorial Day has come and gone and we’re none the worse for wear. Tourists by the thousands came with quad runners in tow and settled in for a great weekend. I think the thing I liked best was that it was a week earlier than usual.
Well, summer is here if you mean license plates from the four corners of the country, and hordes of people coming to enjoy the great outdoors. There still may be snow on the pumpkin around here, but we’re seeing traffic ratchet up like it always does this time of year.
According to the Island Park Ranger Station this morning, all campgrounds in the targhee national forest will be open by this weekend with the exception of Big Springs and Cave Falls. That means Macks Inn, Pond’s Lodge, McCrea, Riverside, Coffee Pot, and all others in the greater Island Park area will be open. You may be fighting a little snow in some of the sites, but the campgrounds will be open with all services. Remember, there is a fee for camping these days. You can check as you pull in to see how much it is.
Unless you have been living on the moon (or outside the promised land,) you know that the Friday before the fishing opener is the big pancake breakfast in St. Anthony, Idaho. I’m not sure when this tradition started, but I can remember partaking back in the early ’60’s.
According to the Island Park newspaper, a herd of wandering buffalo (or is it buffaloes, or is it . . . Oh well,) — wandering bison headed for Island Park was turned around and pushed back into Yellowstone. No, it’s not that the government is trying to incarcerate the buffalo in Yellowstone anymore than they’re trying to keep us out. It’s more a fact that bison (at least some of them) carry brucellosis which is deadly to cattle. Because ranchers lose $1,000 - $1,500 every time a cow dies prematurely, they aren’t very neighborly to wayward bison.
I have been watching to see if the public campgrounds will be open in time for the Memorial Holiday Weekend. As of today, Riverside campground (south of Pinehaven) still has a drift 3 feet tall on the road going in and the gate is closed. Pond’s Lodge campground the same. They have a sign in the road (which has been plowed out, but still has considerable snow on the sides of the road and in the trees) which says road closed. Macks Inn public campground is likewise impassable.
It was without fanfare or announcement of any kind that the fish stocking truck pulled up to the Landing and Macks Inn with a huge tank of fish. Like most government ops (operations) this man was bound to secrecy by an oath taken upon the heads of his family, friends, and job. He refused to say exactly how many fish were being belched out of the giant tube, but he would agree that it was more than a hundred.
If you want to repel green insects this is for you. . . . . Oh, that’s another article. This flower works on all biting bugs Beautyberry is a naturally growing flower whose leaves contain two substances called callicarpenal and intermedeol that are as effective at repelling biting insects (mosquitoes, ticks, chiggers, etc.) as 100% DEET! And it’s all natural. 
If you’re looking for things to do while in Island Park, here are some ideas. 
Well, the roads are starting to open up now. The road to Big Springs has been opened, the Chick Creek road is mostly open (at least so you can get to the scout camp,) the Red Rock Road is mostly open now (and should be clear over to Elk Lake soon.) You can drive all the way around Henry’s Lake now.
The number of bears in Island Park has increased dramatically in the last 20 years or so. We have bears that live here and those that travel out of Yellowstone for a visit from time to time.
No, this isn’t a photo of the tornado in Island Park. As luck would have it, my camera was at home. But the funnel cloud over Harriman State Park (almost straight west across the river from Trout Hunter) started forming about 6:45 p.m. last night. It began about 1,000 feet off the ground in the base of some serious cumulo-nimbus clouds and started growing toward the ground. Within no more than 2 - 3 minutes it touched down and snow, ice, sagebrush and other debris was flying everywhere. Just as it started to move southward, it lifted off the ground and started retreating toward the clouds. Then the whole process repeated itself and the tornado touched down again. This happened three times.