Is summer very short? (Cody, Jackson: cars, boundary, lodge)

[Earniefan]

Visit yellowstone when the animals are more active?? I thought the idea was to avoid all the grizzlies lol.

What you want to avoid are the idiots who visit that think wild animals like bears and buffalo are friendly pets because they're in Yellowstone. I don't know if they think they're dealing with Yogi and Booboo or what, but they sure do some stupid things that end up getting them and those around them hurt. This is one of the main reasons we haven't visited Yellowstone yet (we've lived here 11 years), I'm just not sure I want to put my family in the mix with people that don't have a clue about wildlife and don't think the warning signs apply to them. So my point is, I would rather go there when there are fewer people, I think it's safer.

[MRVphotog]

Originally Posted by Earniefan

What you want to avoid are the idiots who visit that think wild animals like bears and buffalo are friendly pets because they're in Yellowstone. I don't know if they think they're dealing with Yogi and Booboo or what, but they sure do some stupid things that end up getting them and those around them hurt. This is one of the main reasons we haven't visited Yellowstone yet (we've lived here 11 years), I'm just not sure I want to put my family in the mix with people that don't have a clue about wildlife and don't think the warning signs apply to them. So my point is, I would rather go there when there are fewer people, I think it's
safer.

I lived 60 miles from the south entrance of Jellystone for many years and we rarely went into the park during the summer season for just the reason Earniefan points out.

I witnessed so many situations that were sometimes just frustrating to very dangerous. One short example. Took some friends up to see Old Faithful, parked in the big lot next to the Old Faithful Inn. Saw two shaggy looking bull bison at one end of the parking lot so we walked around the other way.

Looked back and we saw a toddler, maybe 3/4 yo run up to one of the bulls and start petting and pulling the hair on his legs. Luckily what had the potential to be a disaster ended up okay as I don't think the buffalo hardly noticed the child and just walked away and then the dad came running up an scooped the child up. Whew!

On the frustrating side if we came upon a "animal jam" cause someone sees a buffalo, moose, elk or a rare Griz and within seconds everyone is pulling over. some just stop and park right in the travel lane, many times with their doors left wide open.

The road is a state hwy that folks traveling from Jackson to Cody and vica-versa are using. They do think the park is like DisneyWorld and not a real road system used to not only get around the park but driving thu the park.

One time as a joke, we were driving in the park and there was a pretty good line of tourists behind us. We were traveling the speed limit. We put on our brakes for a short second or two, pointed to a meadow, with absolutely no wildlife, then pulled off onto the shoulder. We got out, looked intently at the wildlifeless meadow and within maybe 60 seconds 20 or 30 cars were causing one of the finest "animal jams" you could ever possibly witness, tho artificially induced. The faces of the people in cars coming from the opposite direction were priceless as they are wondering what these idiots are looking at as they slowly pass by. Naturally most pull over to join the fun.

We were in our 20's, immature, not respectful of the visitors perspective but we were laughing so hard that when we drove away we almost hit, as we rounded a curve, that stupid buffalo standing in the middle of the road.

[cvanripe10]

So is Montana's climate over the edge??? considering how extreme wyomings climate sounds.

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by cvanripe10

So is Montana's climate over the edge??? considering how extreme wyomings climate sounds.

No, not necessarily. Wyoming isn't that bad, in some area's. Montana isn't that bad either. Both can be brutal. Both can be nice. Just got to figure out where you want to be.

[MRVphotog]

Originally Posted by ElkHunter

No, not necessarily. Wyoming isn't that bad, in some area's. Montana isn't that bad either. Both can be brutal. Both can be nice. Just got to figure out where you want to be.

Yup, up in the Flathead Valley in northern Montana it's pretty low elevation, weather is more pacific northwest than northern Rocky Mt. They even grow cherries there. Bozeman, in southern Montana the weather can be brutally cold.

In Wyoming, YNP/Jackson is usually the coldest and snowiest while Sheridan is much more hospitable. In the spring Sheridan always looks greener than most other places in the state.

Course, with the wacky weather of the last few years what's been the usual might not be all the time.

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by MRVphotog

Yup, up in the Flathead Valley in northern Montana it's pretty low elevation, weather is more pacific northwest than northern Rocky Mt. They even grow cherries there. Bozeman, in southern Montana the weather can be brutally cold.

In Wyoming, YNP/Jackson is usually the coldest and snowiest while Sheridan is much more hospitable. In the spring Sheridan always looks greener than most other places in the state.

Course, with the wacky weather of the last few years what's been the usual might not be all the time.

Great post. Sometimes, the weather changes so fast that it's just not the same by the time I finish this post. But it's all good.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by MRVphotog

I lived 60 miles from the south entrance of Jellystone for many years and we rarely went into the park during the summer season for just the reason Earniefan points out.

I witnessed so many situations that were sometimes just frustrating to very dangerous. One short example. Took some friends up to see Old Faithful, parked in the big lot next to the Old Faithful Inn. Saw two shaggy looking bull bison at one end of the parking lot so we walked around the other way.

Looked back and we saw a toddler, maybe 3/4 yo run up to one of the bulls and start petting and pulling the hair on his legs. Luckily what had the potential to be a disaster ended up okay as I don't think the buffalo hardly noticed the child and just walked away and then the dad came running up an scooped the child up. Whew!

On the frustrating side if we came upon a "animal jam" cause someone sees a buffalo, moose, elk or a rare Griz and within seconds everyone is pulling over. some just stop and park right in the travel lane, many times with their doors left wide open.

The road is a state hwy that folks traveling from Jackson to Cody and vica-versa are using. They do think the park is like DisneyWorld and not a real road system used to not only get around the park but driving thu the park.

One time as a joke, we were driving in the park and there was a pretty good line of tourists behind us. We were traveling the speed limit. We put on our brakes for a short second or two, pointed to a meadow, with absolutely no wildlife, then pulled off onto the shoulder. We got out, looked intently at the wildlifeless meadow and within maybe 60 seconds 20 or 30 cars were causing one of the finest "animal jams" you could ever possibly witness, tho artificially induced. The faces of the people in cars coming from the opposite direction were priceless as they are wondering what these idiots are looking at as they slowly pass by. Naturally most pull over to join the fun.

We were in our 20's, immature, not respectful of the visitors perspective but we were laughing so hard that when we drove away we almost hit, as we rounded a curve, that stupid buffalo standing in the middle of the road.

Last summer, one of my employees (a Wyoming native) had to make the trip (yes, on business) between Cody and Jackson. He got stopped by an "animal jam" caused by a Japanese tourist taking pictures of the bison in the road. When this tourist stupidly got between the bison and its calf, the adult bison got very agitated and was about to charge the fellow. At the point, my employee got out of his vehicle, grabbed the tourist from behind and practically pulled him back to his vehicle out of harm's way. I don't think the tourist spoke much English, but I'm sure my employee communicated quite clearly to him what a hare-brained stunt the fellow had just pulled and that we was lucky not to have been gored or trampled by one p.o.'ed bison.

My late father worked for a summer in Yellowstone, way back when the Park Service was still feeding garbage to the bears. He told a couple of hair-raising stories about encounters with hungry bears that had lost any fear of humans--one particular encounter occurred in the laundry room in the basement of one of the employees' living quarters at Mammoth. Luckily, it was a black bear that day, and not a griz.

[Earniefan]

Wouldnt' it be great if there were a locals week at Yellowstone, a week when only people from Wyoming can get in the park. I wonder how you would accomplish something like that?

[ElkHunter]

Why on earth would you want that????? I go there to watch the tourists, not the animals. It's much more fun. haha

[jkb826]

Originally Posted by Earniefan

Wouldnt' it be great if there were a locals week at Yellowstone, a week when only people from Wyoming can get in the park. I wonder how you would accomplish something like that?

That is a great idea but I don't think it would ever happen. One reason is that Montana and Idaho also claim Yellowstone as part of their states also. And I guess since it is Yellowstone NATIONAL Park that would be frowned on from alot of people. Oh well -- we can always dream