Preparing for Yellowstone!!
Written by admin on August 29, 2008 – 11:15 pm -Well, I got to do a once in a lifetime adventure and that was to get to ride part of the CDT trail in Yellowstone National Park. I’ll explain the issues, later, but I can tell you that no horse can do the CDT completely through Yellowston NP and that is also according to the Rangers and Backcountry Rangers within the Park. If you could see the old and downed trees that we went through, you could understand. There are parts of the trail that haven’t been maintained within the last 15 or so years (according to the Rangers) and that being said, the downed trees and the fire of ’88, left the park with trees like “pickup sticks”, where no horse could go over or around. If it weren’t for the trail being maintained where we went through, you couldn’t even go 50 feet. On with this week……
August 24, 2008
I left Pinedale and took Hwy 352 to the Green River and Bridger-Teton National Forest and started on the forest road 600 or Upper Pass Road, then forest road 620 towards the Darwin Ranch. I wasn’t in but an hour, when a pickup stopped to talk (2 couples out of Dubois on a Sunday drive) indicated they saw bear tracks on the road not more than 100 yards back. I thanked them and started on. I’m riding Soldier, and ponying Blackie. I have Jazz with me, to help “scare” any animals I might come across. About then, I heard a grunt in the small canyon to my left and Soldier heard it at the same time, jumped, and tried running away. I figured it was the bear, because the horses can smell and sense them, also. I didn’t see anything, but, again, I really didn’t want to see anything. I did begin to see the bear tracks in the road and they were “huge”!! I couldn’t tell by the claws on the paw print, but I believe it was either a large black bear or a grizzly. The length was as big as 2 hands put together. When I got up this morning it was 38 degrees. The days are getting shorter and the temperature is getting colder. Paul had talked to someone that had just come down from Glacier National Park and they said they were getting snow in the park, already. I’m not going through the park, but will be a little east of it (I’ll touch the park in the southern portion). At about 3:45, I hit the Darwin ranch, operated by Lorring and Melody. Lorring showed me how to get through the pasture, over the creek and to the trails on the other side. He said it was O.K. to ride the horses through, but he didn’t want any motorcycles!! He said to just follow the orange diamonds on the trail (snowmobile trail). Jazz is tired, but she is staying up with us. There has been plenty of water for horses and Jazz all through the day. Weather has been good, a little cloudy and overcast. For lunch it was a snickers bar, beef jerky, Vienna sausages and water. At 5:00, I heard an ATV coming up and he stopped to chat. His name was Dale Peterson. He worked in Jackson and even offered me a Dr Pepper!! I decided to stop at 6:00. The trail came onto the Gros Ventre Road and there just happened to be an old wooden corral there, where I could put the horses in and not have to tie them for the night. This time, I made certain they couldn’t get out. I set up the tent and got set for the night, not knowing if there were any “critters” in the area…..or not. I rode 27 miles and 10 hours.
August 25, 2008
I got up and got off by 7:45. It was 38 degrees this morning but by the time the sun came over the mountains, it started warming. I’m in a beautiful valley with high mountains on each side. I follow the valley on out the road leading to Jackson Hole, and Slide Lake. I’m riding Soldier and leading Blackie. It seems to be a good horse combination, at this time. There is plenty of creeks for the horses to drink and Jazz seems to stop at every one of them. She has plenty of energy in the morning, but soon drains by afternoon. Although the temperature is in the 60’s during the day, the sun is pretty hot on a black dog!! By 11:00, I got my first glimpse of the Tetons as I rounded a bend in the valley. It was quite a site and I knew that was where I was going to end up. Further on, I met Ron. He works for the Goose Wing Ranch (a large dude ranch in the area). He is a Viet Nam Vet and is enjoying his job here in the mountains. At 12:30, Paul and Kathy found me on the road. They had set up camp at Slide Lake and found the road I would be riding in on. I was glad to see them, ate lunch (which they brought), put Jazz in the pickup and Kathy said she would ride Blackie the rest of the way. It was a total of 24 miles and 9 hours.
August 26, 27 2008
We went into Jackson Hole for a rest and restock of supplies for the horses and ourselves. We stayed at their rodeo grounds, but it cost us $10 per night for electricity and $15 per night to stall our horses. We had electricity, so I even was able to use my heater in my camper for one of the first times. It was getting pretty cold in the mornings. On Monday, 26th, we took a trip to Yellowstone, to talk to the rangers on entering and riding the trails. It was quite an adventure. We had to pass through the Teton National Park first and this is the only road in western Wyoming that goes on out of state. It is a major highway (287/191) and even though it is a major highway, you have to pay to pass through both national parks. Check your Wyoming map. It is quite ridiculous!! Anyway, as we came to the entry into the Teton NP, I was driving my pickup, which has our feed for the horses in back (hay, grain, water, etc.). The gate guard asked if the hay we had was “certified weed free”. I said I didn’t think so. Wrong answer!! They would not let us pass through. This was after driving 30 miles from Jackson Hole. We went back to Jackson Hole and found the local feed store. It had a sign that said they were closed and had gone out of business. Luckily, next door, the auto supply store had 2 stacks of hay stacked outside. I asked inside and they were for sale at $16 a bale. WOW!! What prices. Anyway, I bought 2 more bales and got a certificate that they were certified weed free and we headed back to the Teton entry station. When we got there, they asked if the hay we were carrying were certified weed free and I said yes. They then passed us on. I have a lifetime card that gets me into any National Park and 2 other guests that might be with me. That alone saved us $25 just passing through the Teton national Park. We then got to Yellowstone National Park guard gate. I showed him my pass and he asked if the hay was “certified weed free” and I said yes and I wanted to talk to the backtrail rangers about riding in Yellowstone. He said to just pull aside and go into their station (which we did). The lady inside didn’t know anyting, but to go to the Grants Ranger Station and they might know. We left the building, but ran into another ranger (John McElvey) who asked if the hay was “certified weed free”. I said yes and showed him the document. That was O.K., but we couldn’t go any further, because the National Park regulations said the hay had to be bagged or covered. We had a tarp and John helped us cover the hay. When we asked him about riding in the park, he said no one has ever ridden it completely that he knew of and they couldn’t because of the unkept trails in which the logs covered the trails and you couldn’t ride on them. He said to talk to one of their main backwoods rangers in the Grants station. I was to talk to Milo Williams. We went on. At Grants, I got with Milo. He hadn’t ridden in a few years, but knew we couldn’t ride but certain trails with the horses and none of them connected. He advised we ride the CDT trail/Shoshone Lake trail/lonestar trail that started just above Lewis Lake and came out on the Lonestar trailhead, just below ‘Ole Faithful. I asked him about the Nez Perce trail that is indicated on all my maps that goes out the west exit of the park. He said he knew of no trail and when I showed him on my map, he said the trail does not exist, but was the path taken by the Indians, at that time. I asked him about the CDT trail through Yellowstone and he only knew of 2 segments. They didn’t really connect, either. I decided to take his advice and we would ride it. We then went on to ‘ole Faithful and watched it “go” with a few hundred other people. At least we experienced it. I decided to go ahead and leave the park on the west entrance and to try to find a place to stay in West Yellowstone, when we finished our ride. We found a lot to park in and headed back into Yellowstone NP. At the guard gate, the guard stopped us and asked if the hay was “certified weed free” and I said yes and showed her the document. She then said we couldn’t go into the park because our hay was not completely covered. I told her that one of the main ranger “supervisors” (John McElvey) had even helped us cover the hay. It didn’t matter, some hay was sticking out on the edges and we couldn’t go through. She finally said she had some bags and tape and she would help us tape it up, so we could pass (which we did). We drove straight back to Jackson Hole and got in about 11:00 that night. The next day, we took a different route from Jackson Hole, into Idaho and north via Hwy 20 to West Yellowstone, Mt (by-passing all the National Parks and their irregulated rules!!). We weren’t through yet!!
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