The summer of 1976 was my last summer to work as a bellman at Old Faithful Inn.  It overlapped with my friend Neil Payne's first summer in the park.   He was a bar porter in the Bear Pit Lounge.  We didn't know each other prior to arriving at the Inn that summer, but since we were both from Mississippi, it didn't take us long to become acquainted.   We've remained friends ever since and began coming back to Old Faithful together in 1987 when a group of former employees started organizing reunions.  We've been back to the park every three years since during the summer, but neither one of us had been to Yellowstone during the winter months for the past 20 years.  We hadn't really planned to go this winter since the only time we would be able to go was over New Years, and we were informed by AmFac in December of 98 that Snow Lodge had been booked up for those dates for years.  Well, sometime around July of 1999 I got a call from AmFac telling me that they had some rooms available (Y2K fears, no doubt!) and would we still like to come out.  Neil, his wife Catherine and I decided it was too good to pass up, so we packed up and headed to the airport.  The three of us had been to Old Faithful in July for the most recent employee reunion.  That was Catherine's first visit to Yellowstone so she was eager to make the winter comparison.  We flew out on 12/28 and returned on 1/4.

All things considered, it was a pretty cosmic trip.  However, it started out like the trip from...Hades, as our United flight from Jackson, MS to Denver on the 28th was "CANCELLED-MECHANICAL".  Whoa...say what?? All the later connecting flights from Denver to Jackson, WY were booked solid.  After three hours of computer wrangling with United Air Lines, the best they could do was to fly us to Denver, spend the night there, get up the next morning and fly to Salt Lake and then to Jackson, WY....  A day late!! As unsettling and deflating as this development was, there seemed little we could do about it.   I called AmFac and Alltrans (the shuttle service in Jackson) and completely rescheduled our rooms, snow coach reservations, pick up times, etc.   Well....  when we stepped off the plane in Denver, Neil....just out of curiosity...  walks over to the United counter and ask the lady if there is any chance we could make it to Jackson, WY that night.   "Sure" she says, "No problem.  That flights about 3/4ths full, leaves in an hour!!" Go figure? I frantically call Alltrans to see if they can re-book everything I'd just cancelled a few hours earlier.  No problem...  We'd have to call AmFac at 8:00 AM the next morning and "redo" with them.  We did.   From that point on everything worked like clockwork.  The temp in Denver when we left was 60 degrees; when we stepped off the plane in Jackson---in our shirtsleeves---it's 3 below zero.  We didn't care! The shuttle met our flight and took us to the motel.   Catherine went to bed and Neil and I headed to the Cowboy Bar.  A fitting end to a hectic day.  

The shuttle picked us up at 8:30 the next morning and took us to Flagg Ranch where we caught the snow coach to Old Faithful.  Not having made a winter trip to Yellowstone in 20 years, and being from the kudzu covered South, I found this ride somewhat magic, marvelous and breathtaking.  Every new vista looked like a Christmas card scene.

The Snow Lodge was nice.  Cute rooms with little bear soaps! Friendly staff.  Needless to say we became fast friends with the Firehole Lounge personnel.   We found the dining room menu similar to those we'd encountered during our summer visit.

I cross-country skied three days, Neil and Catherine did four.  I spent one afternoon hiking up to Observation Point and down to Solitary geyser and around the boardwalk to Castle geyser.  The snowfall was really low according to the skiers and Rangers we talked with.  The trails were very icy.  This was not good for regular skiers...much less for chubby Southern boys with high centers of gravity.  I knew I could get 'up'...it was 'down' I was concerned about.  I did not push my luck on the Howard Eaton Trail.   The New Year's Eve party was interesting.   Seemed to be several large groups who were tied in with travel agencies, etc.  There was a large group from Jackson and one from Bozeman.   Lots of them had on nametags.  One group had hauled in what they claimed was a $1000.00 jeroboam of champagne.   (They didn't offer me any, so for all I know it could have been Ripple or Boone's Farm).  Since we didn't know a soul there other than ourselves, we hit the "strolling international buffet" (don't ask) and found an empty table in the bar by the crackling gas flame fireplace (It does grow on you!).   I went out to the boardwalk around 11:00 PM to catch the last Old Faithful eruption of the passing millennium.  I went around to the seats by the Lodge in order to escape the big crowds.  Old Faithful erupted about 11:45.  My beer froze up real nice during the wait.  I got some pretty good audio of the eruption using a digital video camera.  Not many camera flashes for this eruption.  I went back to get Neil and Catherine for the first eruption on the next millennium.   This eruption was around 1:10 AM.   Probably about 200-250 partygoers were on the boardwalk.  I got some pretty good video this time thanks to the multitude of camera flashes.  Zero audio, as our formerly secluded viewing perch was besieged by what appeared to be a horde of carousing employees who launched into a chorus of raucous ululation the instant Old Faithful erupted.  Oh well...at least they had a good attitude and a festive spirit.

Snowmobiles are a problem...worse than I'd been led to believe.  The whining drone from those 2 stroke engines is constant...From dawn till way past dusk.   The sound carries for miles.  The smell of oil & gas permeates the air around the Old Faithful area.  Since I think we all have a right to enjoy and experience Yellowstone in its winter splendor, I can argue it round or argue it flat.   The consensus of everyone I talked to ( AmFac employees, NPS, fellow travelers..) seems to be that the technology for improvement does exist (four stroke engines, batteries, etc..); Getting the snowmobile manufacturers to incorporate the technology and the snowmobilers to "buy it" seems to be the next hurdle.  Virtually every person I discussed the "road plowing" question with was against it, because they felt like if the road was plowed from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful, then Old Faithful would become the "staging area" for the snowmobiles, thereby making the noise and air pollution problems worse.  That had never occurred to me, but it makes sense.

I got the overall impression, just from asking a few specific questions, that the decision to cut off the OF WebCam from Dec.  15 until after New Years came from the higher ups in D.C.  They didn't elaborate don't know what they feared might happen.  Maybe they actually had Y2K problems, but it struck me as a bureaucratic over reaction to a non-existent problem.  But, hey..it ain't my toy!

We made it back to Jackson Hole on the 3rd.  Neil and I spent the afternoon rumbling around Jackson while Catherine got down to some serious shopping.  We wound up lingering a few hours at the cozy Wort Hotel bar/grille.   We flew out on the 4th.  It was snowing big time and the airport runway was a blanket of white.  One person got off the plane rather than endure the take-off.  We Southern boobs didn't know any better and enjoyed the "magic carpet ride".  I was surprised how much I enjoyed spending time in Jackson this trip as opposed to our summer visit .The winter ambiance in the town seems much less hectic than the stampeding crush of cars and people that occurs during the summer months.

If you're a Yellowstone person and have never visited during the winter months, I recommend the experience.  Getting in there is not easy and staying there is not inexpensive, but, in my opinion, it's worth the effort and expense at least once.  I'm ready to do it again.

Chuck Lewis