Jimbo wrote on Aug 18^th, 2009 at 5:51pm:

Hey Jimbo
It was twenty years ago but my wife and I honeymooned in yellowstone for almost 2 weeks and I got to know it a bit. If you go back PM me. There are some places where the dandy cutts aren't so educated.......pretty good lick to get in though.

Jumping in a few months late here, but if you're still interesting in paddling around Yellowstone and the Tetons, check out the Yellowstone.net forum for a wealth of YNP & GTNP knowledge, not to mention awesome photos and some really great folks    

Here is a link to one of several threads on canoeing in Parkadise.   (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)
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Paddling the Snake in GTNP is on my "to-do" list next trip, if I can pry myself away from wildlife watching.  

Before you plan to paddle Yellowstone, you may want to read the August, 2009 edition of National Geographic. I noticed that Q is outside the 'fallout zone'.

Just THINK what you could do with all that extra money IF you were  taxed as a "religious" organization
Maybe you could put a little "GOLDEN" cupola on your house with the sign of the QJ stick figure on it.
Call it the CHURCH of the PADDLER
Makes as much sense as some of the groups that call themselves "Church's"

Yeah, Wally, that's them!  They own half the land in the valley, per my rafting guide.  He tells me you can drive tractor trailers through their underground bunkers.  They are waiting for the massive cataclysm when the world teeters on the brink of a disastrous end.  Then they all jump into their bunkers, ride it out with their supplies behind their gun turrets, etc., & wait for their saints & demi-gods to come fetch them after all the fireworks are over.

Or, at least, that was sort of how it was put to me.

I never actually ran into any of those folks that I know of.  I merely asked, "Who are those folks behind those high barbed wire topped fences under the tall golden steeple?"  We floated right past their complex.  Later, I came back & fished right across the river from them.  My son caught a nice trout right in there, too.

You know, I don't really think their bunkers will do that all that much good if the Yellowstone caldera ever really blew its cork....

Later,

Jimbo  

This group run by Elizabeth Clare Prophet.  They have a massive underground complex just N of the park along the river....just N of Gardiner....
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Wally,

Are you taking about those doomsday/survivalist guys under the golden steeple?

Jimbo   

Jim here's a web cam link I check daily....from very near your location out there....
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And somewhat off-topic....did you see any remains of the Church Universal on the W side of the road...just N of Gardiner?  I've always been fascinated with that place and it's history.

Wally,

My guess is that paddling conditions right in the town of Gardiner were close to being Grade 4 and those down in Yankee Jim Canyon would definitely be Grade 4 when water conditions are high.  I gotta imagine the hydraulics down in that canyon would prove to be fairly substantial in the spring.  As it was, I was probably dealing with Grade 3 conditions... pretty easy in a raft!

ST,

Yes, I was definitely beginning to feel pretty low on the food chain that afternoon.  I figured if the grizzly was around & wanted me, he HAD me... and one or two more casts for cutthroats wasn't going to matter all that much.

We pretty much saw most of the wildlife that one can see in the region... though I never really SAW the grizzly bear (if, indeed, it was one).  I DO believe what Wally says about the grizzly reports in that area over the past 2 years!  In addition to bear & elk, we ran into bison, deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, strutting lesser prairie chickens, the butt ends of two moose, rabbits, ground squirrels, coyotes, osprey, eagles, magpies, several varieties of herons, etc. & so on.  The area is incredibly impressive in this regard.

Mad_Mat,

Thanks for the links, tips, etc..  I REALLY like that John Murray quote re: grizzlies in that one link! 

I'm going to have to study-up on a potential Shoshone Lake venture.  My food-storage & consumption-in-the-wilderness practices would have to change pretty dramatically if I were to take such a trip.  I've been rather cavalier about allowing my food barrel sit right next to QP's tent or under Magic Paddlers hammock in years past.  Such practices out in Yellowstone might substantially reduce my pool of future paddling partners....

Jimbo   

Jim....I've been back to Heart Lake a few times before the fires....9 miles (hike) a bit far for a canoe...but many go back, and pack in float tubes and flippers.  Camp a night or two and come out.  Heart lake trailhead right across from Lewis lake area.

I also have camped and fished the Yellowstone right near your "house" during the late 80's.  Cutthroat and whitefish were just as prevalent then as well.  That area is infamous for class III and a short class IV stretch....but from there on down to Livingston is an easy paddle and float....not to mention breathtaking.

The Gardner area and just N of the park has seen several Grizz attacks in the last two years.


Mad Matt...it's been my dream to tow across Yellowstone and hike down to near Jackson from the reaches of the upper Yellowstone....past Bridger lake and Hawk's Rest, past Parting of the Waters Nat. Landmark...and on SW.  And to see the Thorofare and Hawk's rest cabins.  I'm jealous of your hike.