It’s Sunday evening and once again there’s a gently swirling snow falling outside our window. It’s been an absolutely crazy 3 days here at YNP. The snow forecasts, after two weeks of sunny late spring weather, have thrown all the guests into a quite unusual tizzy. The front desk has been absolutely crazy—most of the desk staff is new so they are just really learning things. Then you throw at them folks who want to leave early because they are afraid of the snow; folks who want to stay over because they are afraid of the snow; folks who want to know, every 30 minutes, which roads are open/closed and, to top it off, the folks who want you to tell them what to do when mother nature is at her most unpredictable.

Saturday there was 7 inches of fresh new snow on the ground, most of which was gone by 6pm. This morning there was another 2-3; this time gone by noon. Two of the 4 major routes out of the park were closed until  noon—and there was panic in the streets. Yesterday, when I told one guest that Craig Pass was open you could almost hear a cheer go up from the entire lobby.

It never ceases to amaze me how little people prepare themselves to come to YNP. They arrive with nothing but t-shirts and shorts and then end up spending a lot of money on sweatshirts, pants and socks because they didn’t read about the average temperature. They don’t realize how big the park is and how long it takes to navigate and then get irritated when you tell them that, basically, you can’t see the entire park in one afternoon.

Of course there are also the guests who ask crazy questions. My favorite one last week was “At what altitude do deer turn into elk?” There are days when I think half the American population needs to repeat 3rd Grade. They want to know what time we turn Old Faithful on, where to go to pet the bears and even “Where are the elephants?” That place is called Gibbon Falls, so of course we must have gibbons. They stand with an infant in their arms less than 30 feet from a grizzly bear and let total strangers watch their children. They want to pet bison and want to know what time we let the wolves out.

The crazies are all made up for by all the wonderful folks you meet along the way. There was one guest I spoke with 3 times yesterday—she kept coming back to me because she knew my recommendations would probably involve a comfortable chair and a beverage of her choice (hot or alcoholic or both). There was the look of total relief on the face of the gentleman from Europe when we managed to locate the bag with his passports. There’s the little girl racing to see Old Faithful and telling her daddy “We have to get it on video!”; another guest who, every time you see her, has a great big grin on their face and  says “I’m in Yellowstone!” There are the guests who are totally patient and understanding when rooms aren’t ready (because the linen truck was 4 hours late getting here due to impassable roads) and, of course, there are the absolutely crazy fisherman who were out in full force today, even though the outside temp was hovering around 35-40 degrees.

Happy Memorial Day!