We haven’t done a Makin’ The Loop spot for awhile, so I thougt it was about time. Today’s loop is from Island Park to Ennis, from Ennis to Bozeman, from Bozeman to West Yellowstone, and from West back to Island Park. This is an easy day loop with plenty to see and do.
There are many people here in Island Park who make regular runs to Bozeman for food, dining, and recreational opportunities. Of course many go to Idaho Falls for shopping too, but Bozeman and Idaho Falls are about equidistant, and if you’re looking for a change, Bozeman is a great change.
And it’s not just Bozeman, of course. Ennis is a fun town to walk around in for a couple of hours. There are several antique stores, art galleries, real estate offices, and so forth on the main street and everything is within walking distance. One caveat, you’ll want to avoid eating in Ennis. Your get better food and better prices in Bozeman and it’s only 30 - 45 minutes down the road.
If you’re a fisherman, the Madison flows all along the road to Ennis. This is blue ribbon trout water and there are trout shops all along the way where you can buy supplies and licenses, get advice on what’s happening currently and just talk a little fishing with knowledgeable folks.
This is a great loop and I highly recommend it. We do it about once a month, just to break the monotony of going to Idaho Falls all the time. Bozeman is a college town with plenty to do for an afternoon. Plenty of gas, food and other services all along the way, so no worries there. See you on the road!
With this week’s snow storms and colder temperatures (highs in the 30’s) cattlemen are calling it a summer. It’s common now and will be for the next couple of weeks to see cowboys on horseback scouring the mountain valleys and high meadows for their cattle. After finding them, they bunch them up and drive them down a road to the loading chutes.
Wow! Snow at the end of September has to be a good sign if you’re a snowmobiler. It started snowing about 5:00 a.m. today and has continued throughout the morning. We’ll see what happens this afternoon. I had heard earlier that El Nino was blowing in this year, which would normally be the harbinger of a “below average” snow year. But who knows when the first storm comes on the last day of Sept.
If you haven’t been in Harriman in the fall, you haven’t been to Harriman. The park is beautiful as the colors start to change and the elk start to bugle. It’s like stepping back in time about 3,000 years. The sounds are prehistoric.
As hunters take to the field, bears are near the top of their safety concerns — and for good reason. The number of grizzly bears has increased dramatically over the last 20 or so years, and bear encounters in the wild are occurring more and more frequently.
If you’ve always wanted to take a great bike ride in Yellowstone but were intimidated by the traffic, now is your chance to join a large group of cyclists riding from West to Old Faithful and back. There is no restrictions on what kind of bike you can use (except it can’t have a motor,) and you don’t have to be a certain age.
The archery season elk hunt in Island Park is off to a fairly slow start this year. It’s been warm and the elk haven’t started bugling in earnest yet, making them difficult to find. There seems to have been more hunters this year than in years past, but that’s just my observation and not a scientific opinion. For the hunt to really take off, we’re going to need a three or four really hard freezes in a row to get things moving.
I suppose it had to happen sooner or later. The Ashton / Island Park ranger district is seeking public input on ATV and off-road-vehicle use in the Island Park area. I’m really torn on this one. I really like being free to go where I want on my four wheeler. I ride these trails virtually every day in the summer and I enjoy watching the wildlife and and wildflowers as I go.
You know, we always complain about bad service when someone doesn’t treat us right, but we don’t always talk about the good service we receive. So in the interest of keeping the playing field level, I want to report some examples of great service.
If you love Island Park, and I know you do or you wouldn’t be reading this, consider volunteering for one of the many cleanup opportunities in the area. The Henry’s Fork Foundation just sponsored a cleanup of the stretch of the Henry’s Fork of the Snake that runs through Island Park and they did a tremendous work. Cleaning up both in and around the river made a better situation for everyone.
Hello. My name’s Allan and I’m an environmentalist. Wow! That was pretty easy. Now I’m out of the closet. As an environmentalist, I can honestly say I love this land. I’ve chosen to live here and I want to protect it. I want my children and grand children to enjoy things just like I have. But as a budding environmentalist I haven’t developed the full fervor of my eco-terrorist, plants and animals before people paradigm. But I do have a few good ideas of my own.
As another installment of our Makin’ The Loop series, today’s loop is the longest yet. It can be done in one day, but you’ll have to keep moving. This loop goes from Island Park, to West Yellowstone, to Old Faithful, to the South Entrance of the park, to Jackson Hole, to Dirggs, to Tetonia, to Felt, to Ashton and back to Island Park.