Following massive flooding that shut down one of America’s most beloved natural wonders and swept away roads, bridges, and homes, a gnawing worry hovered over the Yellowstone National Park gateway town of Gardiner this week. Gardiner itself was spared floods, but hundreds of park visitors were trapped when the road leading into town was stopped due to the rising Yellowstone River. The tourists vanished as soon as the route reopened.
“Town is weird right now,” said Katie Gale, a booking agent for a rafting and other outdoor adventure company. “We had all those people stuck in here, and when they opened the road… it was like someone had pulled the plug on a bathtub.” The loss of visitors has become a major source of concern for companies in communities like Gardiner and Red Lodge, which serve as gateways to Yellowstone’s northern entrances and rely on tourist traffic.
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The park’s southern section, which includes Old Faithful, might reopen as soon as next week, according to officials. However, after sections of important highways inside Yellowstone were washed away or buried in rockfall, the north end, which includes Tower Fall and the bears and wolves of Lamar Valley, could remain inaccessible for months. The park’s access roads suffer extensive damage that will take months to repair.
Red Lodge is dealing with a double disaster: it must clean up the deluge’s destruction to portions of town while also figuring out how to live without the summer business that normally keeps it afloat for the rest of the year. “Winters in Red Lodge are tough,” Chris Prindiville said as he hosed mud off the pavement outside his shuttered diner, which had no running water or gas for the burners. “You have to make money in the summer so you can make money when the bills come in and the tourists stop.”
Over the last three days, the Montana National Guard has rescued at least 88 people from campsites and small villages, while muddy waters have destroyed hundreds of homes, including almost 150 in Red Lodge. In the town of Gardiner, one huge house that housed six park personnel was wrenched from its foundation and drifted 5 miles (8 kilometers) downstream before drowning. According to a Stillwater County spokesman, four to five homes could yet fall into the Stillwater River, which has already washed away several cabins.
There have been no fatalities or significant injuries reported. A boil-water alert was in effect in Red Lodge, and trucks delivered drinking water to the half of the town that was without it. For those who couldn’t flush at home, portable toilets were carefully positioned. The Yodeler Motel, which had been home to Finnish coal miners since 1964, was forced to close for the first time. Mac Dean, the hotel’s owner, said he’ll have to destroy the basement level, where 13 rooms were swamped with chest-high water.
“Rock Creek seems to follow its own path,” he observed. “It just leaped the bank and sped down Main Street, crashing into us.”Dean had anticipated a busy summer in honor of the park’s 150th anniversary. In the 13 years that Dean and his wife have owned the business, the Yodeler has had the most bookings. He’s now hoping for assistance, perhaps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
He described the devastation as “catastrophic.” “We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place,” says the narrator. And until we get some help, we’re not going to make it.” Yellowstone is a popular summer playground for adventurous backpackers camping in grizzly country, casual hikers walking past steaming geothermal features, nature lovers gazing at elk, bison, bears, and wolves from the safety of their cars, and amateur photographers and artists trying to capture the pink and golden hues of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone’s cliffs and its thundering waterfall.
All of the park’s 4 million annual visitors must pass via the little communities that line the park’s five entrances. The flooding, which was caused by a combination of severe rain and quick snowmelt, occurred just as Yellowstone’s hotels were filling up with summer visitors. June is usually one of the busiest months in Yellowstone. President Joe Biden declared a catastrophe in Montana and requested federal help.
Cara McGary, who leads groups into the Lamar Valley to see wolves, bison, elk, and bears, had a good start to the tourism season. This year, she had spotted more than 20 grizzlies on certain days. The wildlife is still there now that the route from Gardiner to northern Yellowstone has washed out, but it’s out of reach for McGary. Her tour company, In Our Nature, has run into financial difficulties. “The summer we planned for is nothing like the summer we’re going to have,” she explained. “During the peak season, this represents an 80% to 100% loss of business.”
Officials and business leaders are hoping that even without access to the park, Gardiner, Red Lodge, and other small towns can attract visitors. Sarah Ondrus, the owner of Paradise Adventure Company, which rents cabins and offers rafting, kayaking, and horseback riding activities, was frustrated by the number of cancellations she was receiving.
“Montana and Wyoming are still alive and well. “I’m not sure how I’m going to persuade these individuals,” Ondrus stated. “We’re good to go again once our water quality is good and our law enforcement feels it’s OK.” It’s still a vacation spot. Horseback riding, cowboy cookouts, and hiking in the national forest are all still available.” That could be a difficult order for anyone entering the park from the south or east and hoping to escape in the north. It would take a nearly 200-mile (320-kilometer) detour through West Yellowstone and Bozeman to reach Gardiner once the southern section of the park reopens. From Cody, Wyoming, it would be an approximately 300-mile (480-kilometer) journey.
Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte has been under fire from Democrats and the public for being out of the country throughout the crisis. Brooke Stroke, the governor’s spokeswoman, said the governor had left last week on a long-planned personal trip with his wife and would return on Thursday. She wouldn’t tell where he was because of security concerns. Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras of Montana signed an emergency disaster declaration on his behalf on Tuesday.
Melley filed this report from Los Angeles. This story was contributed to by Associated Press journalists Brittany Peterson in Red Lodge, Amy Beth Hanson in Helena, Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Lindsay Whitehurst in Salt Lake City. The Associated Press owns the copyright to this image until 2022. All intellectual property rights are reserved. Without permission, this information may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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