Yellowstone National Park's Boiling River Closed Until Further Notice

This is not the actual sign, but you get the point.

Yesterday marked the time of year that college students from Bozeman loathe, the Spring closing of the Boiling River. No, the super volcano is not getting hotter. The reasoning for the closure is very easy to figure out if you have ever lived in a place that has four seasons, Spring runoff. The rivers are rising which makes them more dangerous. They are being fed by all of that snow that is melting and running down the mountains.

The thing that I find funny is that people will drive 75 miles to soak in an overcrowded place which is only 3 miles from the North Entrance to the park and not go past. A friend of mine said that she had only been to the Boiling River previous to her visit this last week. This saddens me because  Yellowstone National Park (YNP) is one of the most special places in the world in my view.

 The National Park Service does not close this because they fell like it, there are always legitimate reasons for any closure in Yellowstone. In this case it is high water, sometimes there is a animal carcass on a trail, etc. If you are caught in this area while it is closed you will most likely be fined.

YNP is home to over 10,000 thermal features including the highest concentration of geysers on planet Earth. Actually it has more than all of the other geyser fields combined. It is also home to the largest free roaming herds of elk and bison in the world, which is quite amazing. There are also pronghorn antelope, white tail and mule deer and many other small mammals. Not to mention the grizzly and black bears, mountain lions, bobcat, lynx, and many other predators.

If this is not enough for you I'll also mention that there are over 1,100 miles of hiking trails in the park and many more in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem  that surrounds the park.

So if this is not enough for you then I don't know what to say.

Yellowstone National Park is unique and beautiful as well as captivating and dangerous. This place should not be taken lightly. If you live in this region take a trip to the park, watch some wildlife, get the geyser predictions from the Old Faithful Visitors Center or get the NPS Geyser APP for you "smart phone" users.

Yellowstone National Park was set aside "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people" on March 1, 1892 because it is so unique and full of wonder and danger.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. They are pushing the Find Your Park campaign to get people out. Is this your park or are you gonna just drive 3 miles in?

The decision is yours but I beg of you, take a cruise and see what it's all about. It is in fact your heritage!

Thanks for reading and I hope that you Find Your Park! #findyourpark




The Boiling River in 1900

Emmylou Harris and John Prine To Headline "An Evening at the Arch: Yellowstone Celebrates the National Park Service Centennial" August 25th, 2016 in Gardiner, Montana

 

This is a copy of the news release that came out yesterday.

 

Grammy award winning singer-songwriters, Emmylou Harris and John Prine will headline “An Evening at the Arch: Yellowstone Celebrates the National Park Service Centennial” on Thursday, August 25, 2016 at 7 p.m. MT in Gardiner, Montana. The event will be broadcast live online.

 

“This very special event will kick off the second century for the National Park Service, highlight the importance of public/private partnerships, and recognize the completion of the Gardiner Gateway Project Phase One,” said Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk.

 

The event features a talented line-up of performers: Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Leyla McCalla, the children’s chorus The Singing Angels from Cleveland, Ohio, and Teddy Roosevelt reenactor, Joe Wiegand, with more performances and details to be announced in the coming months. Local, state, and national dignitaries will also speak at the event.

 

Advance tickets are required. Tickets are free, but limited. The first ticket release will be on Sunday, May 15 at noon MT on https://www.ticketriver.com/event/19359. Additional ticket releases will occur on June 15 and July 15. Event organizers strongly recommend that people secure lodging BEFORE getting a ticket because area lodging is limited. Residents of Gardiner and Jardine are encouraged to get tickets from the Gardiner Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber will distribute tickets held especially for local residents as a thank you for their patience and flexibility during the Gardiner Gateway Project construction.

 

For the safety and comfort of all attendees, no alcohol, coolers, umbrellas, or dogs will be allowed at this event. Qualified service animals are welcome; however, they must be leashed and under your control at all times. Additional information about coverage logistics for news media will be released at a later date. For more information, visit https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/evening-arch.htm.

 

The event sponsors include: Yellowstone Association, Yellowstone Park Foundation, Yellowstone National Park Lodges, Yellowstone Park Service Stations, Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Cool Works, D&R Coffee, First Interstate Bank, Gardiner Chamber of Commerce, Kendeda Fund, National Parks Conservation Association, National Park Foundation, Sinclair, State of Montana, State of Wyoming, and Yellowstone Country.

 

“An Evening at the Arch” is a great example of the countless ways there are to find your park. Launched in March 2015, Find Your Park / Encuentra Tu Parque is a public awareness and education movement to inspire people to connect with, celebrate, and support America’s national parks and community-based programs. Celebrating the National Park Service Centennial and setting the stage for the Service's next 100 years, Find Your Park invites people to discover and share their own unique connections to our nation's natural landscapes, vibrant culture, and rich history.

 

 

Yellowstone Roads Open And Geyser Mania Ensues

So every year we have lived in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem we have made it a tradition to head to the park on the opening weekend. This year we took a couple of new friends and headed to Old Faithful. As always it was amazing but this year we had an amazing geyser day in the Upper Geyser Basin (where we spent our whole day).

We pulled up below the Old Faithful Inn and there were maybe ten vehicles. We headed into the visitors center to get the predicted times for the geysers and headed out.

It's always good to know when the predicted times are so you can plan your route through the Upper Geyser Basin.

So we started out on our journey and headed out to get up to Observation Point thinking that it would be a great place to see Old Faithful from. We got to the bridge and our friend noticed that Beehive was erupting! As normal I ran to get next to it and WOW what a great first geyser of the National Park Service Centennial year! After that we caught an amazing show from Old Faithful.

BEEHIVE!!!

OLD FAITHFUL!

After this we headed out towards Morning Glory from Geyser Hill. The boardwalk from Castle to Sawmill Geyser is being redone so you could access the trails from Old Faithful and Grotto Geysers. We did the round and made it to Artemisia and sat there for a while. We decided to head to Biscuit Basin and caught Jewel from the other side of the lollipop loop. We watched some ravens eat a cormorant at Black Diamond Pool and headed back to the trail. I was the first to get back to Artemisia which started erupting upon my arrival. This was my first time as well as all my companions to see this geyser. It erupted for 24 minutes, we stayed the whole time.

Artemisia on the first pass.

Ephydrid Flies on a bacteria mat at Biscuit Basin.

BOOM! ARTEMISIA!!!

Great times with great friends!

After watching this amazing geyser action we headed back towards the main basin area to Riverside which had not gone. It was in overflow when we got there so we waited, it must have just started so we waited almost an hour in hopes that Grand had not gone yet. It was worth the wait because you can see Grotto from the Riverside viewing area. We finally got a show, it was amazing as always.

RIVERSIDE!

We stayed for the majority of the show and headed out to Grand because we had not seen any steam plumes from that area. We waited for two turbans and on the third we got the wave and Grand gave us an amazing show. It had quite a few bursts then paused for an amazingly large explosion of water from below! One of the local Geyser Gazers was super vocal and excited. That made me excited because these people live for these amazing unique features! It was awesome!

This is the large burst! WOW!

On the way back to Old Faithful geyser we were near the Lion Group when Castle Geyser let off a little steam, well and a ton of water. It's always great to see the big, predictable geysers erupt. They are so unique and we should not take them for granted.

Castle Geyser, one of the greats!

After this, on the way back to the car we caught another Old Faithful eruption.

What? No one else is at Old Faithful, this is very strange...

This was the end of our geyser day at Old Faithful but one that will go down in our personal history books as, well an EPIC geyser day.

On the way back home we got another show, thermal in some way but not the same.

Electric Peak at sunset!

The park is opening the roads at the normal rate. Happy hunting!

Thanks for reading my blog! I hope you enjoyed it!

Midwest Music Invades Montana!

Once again it's time for bands to hit the road on their Spring tours! And there are a lot of good ones out there. Obviously I have biased towards certain genres and musicians because everyone does. Most of the music that I listen to is based on local tastes of where I have lived in the past and present and is roots based, eg not mainstream. So here are a few shows that I would recommend people attend in and around Park and Gallatin Counties in Montana.

Charlie Parr 4/2/16 @ The Filling Station

First up is the immortal Charlie Parr! Charlie will be headlining the Filling Station on Saturday, April 2nd with Russ Chapman opening the show. The Filling Station is the quintessential Bozeman music venue. The décor is a reminder of past oil changes and neon signs. The place is ragged and dirty and the crowd eclectic.

Click the link below for a taste of Charlie from 2014 at The Filling Station.

https://archive.org/details/cp2014-04-03

Pert Near Sandstone and Head For The Hills

4/14/16 @ The Filling Station

Next up on the agenda is Pert Near Sandstone and Head For The Hills. These bands both rock! Pert Near Sandstone hails from Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota with an outlier that lives in Los Angeles (Hey Nate!). They have been playing together for over 10 years and have been here there and everywhere. This past year they threw one hell of a festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin dubbed the Blue Ox Festival, very fitting for the north woods of the Midwest. Pert Near Sandstone has always focused on old time and bluegrass music, playing standards and their own originals as well as DEEP tracks. 

Head For The Hills is a great Colorado group that is also super fun! They definitely throw down in yo town. I'm not as familiar with H4TH but they never disappoint!

Click the link below for my recording of Pert Near Sandstone from last fall in Bozeman.

 https://archive.org/details/pns2015-11-03

Click the link below for my recording of Head For The Hills from Ed's(no name)Bar in Winona, Minnesota.

https://archive.org/details/hfth2013-03-02

The Last Revel and Lil Smokies @ The Filling Station 4/28/16

The Last Revel became an instant smash in Montana when they won the Best New Band title at the Red Ants Pants Festival a couple years back. They have been gaining steam in the Midwest as a new band on the scene and we hope they keep gaining and gaining and gaining. They will be playing with The Lil Smokies from Missoula who won an even more prestigious title of Best New Band at Telluride Bluegrass Festival last summer. This is one not to miss!

The Last Revel!

Here is a recording of The Last Revel from The Turf Club in Saint Paul from Tommy The Beard

https://archive.org/details/LR2016-02-25

The Lil Smokies are HOT!

Here is a recording of The Lil Smokies from Seattle.

https://archive.org/details/TheLilSmokies2014-07-16.akg481.flac24

The Lowest Pair 5/11/16 @ Live From The Divide

Some of my favorite people are playing at Live From The Divide on May 11th. The Lowest Pair consists of Kendl Winter and Palmer T Lee are who I would consider the second family of the banjo (behind Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn and little Juno Fleck) These two are an amazing duo and should not be missed with dual banjo action and amazing harmonies. The Lowest Pair's debut album 36cents was produced by the one and only Dave Simonett, front man  of Trampled By Turtles. There is super limited seating for this show so get your tickets early.

How could you not trust a man with morels on his hat?

Here's a link to my recording of The Lowest Pair when they played The Filling Station from 4/7/14:

https://archive.org/details/TheLowestPairLiveAtTheFillingStation

Horseshoes & Hand Grenades 6/2/16 @ The Eagles Club

w/Special Guests TBA

If there was ever a show in Bozeman not to miss it's this one! Horseshoes and Hand Grenades have been on one hell of a roll. They have recently toured with Railroad Earth, Greensky Bluegrass and are about to jump on with Yonder Mountain String Band for a series of shows. These fellas hail from Stevens Point, Wisconsin and WOW do they have some fun. Just last year they released their third album Middle Western which pretty much sums them up! One thing you might want to beware of is they like to run around topless in the middle of winter.

 

Here is a link to my recording from Horseshoes and Hand Grenades first show in Bozeman!

https://archive.org/details/hhg2014-07-10

Last but definitely least we have our good friends Joe and Vicki Price!

Joe and Vicki Price @ The Murray Bar 6/9/16

Joe and Vicki Price hail from Decorah, Iowa and they have definitely made a name for themselves. Joe had been on the circuit for many years when he was picked up by Vicki and they became this immortal duo. Joe and Vicki are some of the most genuine people you will ever meet, and they will rock your socks off! Joe has been called Little Buddha by the legendary Greg Brown who also hails from Iowa. If you love the blues then make sure not to miss this one, as Joe reiterates, "I just came to play the blues!"

Here is a copy of Joe and Vicki live at Weber's Deck in French Lake, Minnesota recorded by Tommy The Beard and transferred by yours truly.

https://archive.org/details/jv2011-08-28

If you are from the Midwest and have a hankering for a taste of home here are a few options to cure the blues. All of these bands and musicians are world class artists and people so come on out and support them and the culture that they are a part of! Midwest music is on the horizon so get some while you can!

Yellowstone Getting Ramped Up For Centennial Celebration

Yellowstone National Park was the first in the world to hold the designation National Park. The park celebrated it's centennial in 1972 marking 100 year of protection and preservation. This year marks another big event, the centennial of the National Park Service whom protect and preserve Yellowstone and all of the other sites under their care. I'm sure that there will be celebrations happening in all of the satellite communities. I also expect the biggest to be in Gardiner, Montana which is the closest community to the parks headquarters in Mammoth Hot Springs.


I have read that community leaders in Gardiner are trying to attract president Obama to the community for the celebration that will take place on August 25th, 2016. I would expect big things to happen in Gardiner as well as all of the other communities in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Here's what Arch Park looked like back in the day, I wonder how it will look in 2016.



2016 will bring amazing events to all of these amazing places. I sure hope that you get out and explore your National Parks in 2016 for the Centennial.


For more information please join the Facebook group National Park Service Centennial at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/579427665532340/

Find Your Park!