Yellowstone Radio 2020 -- Part 3


The radio adventures in the first couple of days since the last posting were dominated at times by the Lone Star Fire closures and the chaos that those closures caused. It didn't help when one of those closures is on the Saturday of a holiday weekend with the road at Mud Volcano also closed. Since then, things got back to normal.

  • Call about theft from motorcycle saddlebags. Took a while for NPS to make contact, but when they did, the missing items were quickly recovered and the culprit identified-- a raven.
  • Massive search for man who got irate in Snowlodge lobby, threw a drink and stormed out. Was described as intoxicated when he then abandoned his family in their car in the parking lot and disappeared. Search included off trail areas between paved bike trail and highway, trails to Biscuit, and even a helicopter. Was eventually found on the overpass. Not sure what happened next, although it appears his family ended up staying in Snowlodge cabin that night.
  • Person stopped at Fairy Falls parking area for "resource" who had a prior local record for "MVA" . Given a written warning for rock collection.
  • Call at 09:30 about a tent set up "in meadow at exit to Firehole Lake Drive" with the car well off the road. Three were cited for OB (out-of-bounds) Camping and one for Car Off Road, all with a court date in October.
  • Dead bat at the Lodge. Correction, live bat, at least it's moving a bit. And tourists seem to be overly interested in playing with it.
  • If you call about a lockout from your vehicle, and you have an expired driver's license, you will get your vehicle opened and a citation for the expired license.
  • During the Labor Day weekend traffic mess, there was a call about a dead deer next to the southbound lane just south of the entrance to the Fountain Flats Drive.
  • The Craig Pass road may have been reopened the morning, but the trailheads and picnic areas were still closed, to keep people out in case they suddenly needed to close the road again. (As happened on Sunday). That didn't stop people from getting cited for being in closed area.
  • The last day at Norris started with the morning report of a collision between cement truck (hauling 11 cubic yards) and an RV trailer right at the entrance to the Madison Campground. Callout and canceling of OF fire crew, as well as a traffic mess and debris all over the place.