Merchants are our Groundhogs

Communities across the country have various methods of predicting spring’s arrival. The most noteworthy occurs on Groundhog’s Day when Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil looks for his shadow. His shadow indicates six more weeks of winter.

Island Park has a much more effective predictor of spring. When vigilant business owners see fewer snowmobiles and mud begins to appear, spring is around the corner. As retailers shorten their hours and restaurants close until late May, it affirms that Old Man Winter has left the building. Unlike the eastern rodents, the caldera’s merchants are as accurate as a Swiss watch.

The selection of dining establishments in Island Park dwindles to four until Memorial Day. Stores reduce their hours during mud season or close completely. Those who live on the flat don’t realize how slow spring business can be in the caldera. The best that a business can hope for is to break even during this difficult time. This period of isolation is peaceful. Not many tourists have a hankerin’ to slog through the mud and remaining slush.

The slack time does not go unused however. Residents use it to make needed repairs and prepare for the visiting hoards that will begin arriving at the end of May.

The citizens of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania have a rodent that is removed from its Gobbler’s Knob burrow each February and held high for the cameras. Island Park has not only developed a more accurate way to predict when spring is arriving but we have grizzly bears that emerge from their dens at the same time. I’d like to see someone from Gobbler’s Knob hold up a griz for the cameras!

Yellowstone Country Safety * Found Car *

I found the car that was buried under the snow all winter! I love Island Park.

Yellowstone Country Safety * Snow Melt Recovery *

The snow melt has begun in earnest when you begin recovering things that you lost in the snow during the winter.

Yellowstone Country Safety * Clean Carpets *

You might want to hold off on cleaning your carpets until after mud season.

Just a thought.

Yellowstone Country Safety * Bad Footing *

Watch your footing in the mornings. Temperatures at night are below freezing and the melting snow freezes. Taking a header on your stairs may be entertaining but painful!

The End

The End

If Jim Morrison of the Doors had lived and experienced living in Island Park, his song “The End” might have sounded something like this:

This is the end, beautiful friend

This is the end, of winter’s grip, the end.

Of nature’s cloak of white, the end

Of snow machines’ loud whine, the end

No safety or surprise, the end

I wait for warmer skies again

Can you picture what will be, so green and snow free?

Desperately in need of some stranger’s hand, in a muddy land

Stuck up to the axels in mud

This sight-seeing trip turned into a dud

I should have waited until the end of the flood

Now I have to call and wait for my bud

There is danger through the center of town

People drive too fast on highway 20, baby

Drivers swerve to avoid a moose

Slow down on highway 20, baby

Fish the Snake; fish the Snake,

Or the lake, Henry’s Lake, baby

The snake is long, many miles

Fish the snake, it’s clear and you may see some deer

The west is the best, the west is the best

Get here and you’ll get some rest

Spring bear season is calling us

Spring bear season is calling us

The first big game hunt is worth the fuss

The hunter awoke before dawn, he put his boots on

He took a bow from its rack and he walked on down the hall

He went into the room where his wife slept, kissed her

And then he gathered up his day pack

And then he walked on down the hall

He came to the door and he walked outside

Father, please bless me with a successful hunt

And protect my family while I am gone

Next time, come on a hunt with us,

Next time, come on a hunt with us

I’ll meet you back at the cabin tonight, baby

This is the end, beautiful friend

The end

The Melt has Begun

The Melt Has Begun

It struck abruptly on the first full week of March. The temperature hovered above freezing regularly for the first time this year and the melt was on. While this is my first experience living year round in Island Park, as a flatlander, I had experienced some of the melt’s effects before.

I was introduced to the mud season in May of 1981. I was a police officer for Pocatello City and fellow officer, Wally Peterson invited me on a bear hunt. He had access to a cabin in the foot hills above Ashton. I was thrilled to tag along. Leaving the paved roads, we drove up a dirt road that deteriorated into little more than a Jeep trail. The remaining pockets of snow along the road or the small puddles in low spots were of little concern but as we continued, we encountered more snow and deeper puddles.  Six or seven miles in, Wally drove his truck through a large mud puddle. The truck sank up the axles and we were there to stay!

It was getting late so we set up camp. We gathered wood and started a camp fire on a small island of dry ground surrounded by water and mud. We broke out the stove and cooked on the tailgate. The conditions were more reminiscent of a Louisiana swamp than the Rocky Mountains. After sleeping in the back of the truck, we hiked out and found Wally’s friend, who extricated the truck with a tractor.

Like the first Christmas tree displays at Wal-Mart, mud season has its initial seasonal indicators. Several of the restaurants close down, many residents head out of town, mostly to warmer climates and the sound of snowmobiles screaming down the trails becomes less frequent.  Water and bare pavement replace the snow base on the roads and the long underwear gets packed away until next year.

It is as if the high country and its residents are taking a much needed break before the onslaught of summer visitors. I am looking forward to the changes that accompany mud season and I want to thank those in advance who will pull me out from the mud holes in which I will get stuck!