Hello everyone,

It has been a while since I updated our website. I left Portland, Oregon (population 750,000 +) to live at the East gate of Yellowstone National Park. (population 9) There are 9 people living here including myself. As you can imagine, this is a bit of an adjustment. I live in a modern government apartment with a 23 year old roommate. We each have our own bedroom and bathroom, and share the kitchen and living room. The cost is about $290 per month including everything. Not bad, but it would be nice if it was free.

I work as a Park Ranger - Visitor Use Assistant. Basically, this means I collect money at the entrance station and answer the same basic questions over and over again. I enjoy the job itself, but I don’t enjoy working 40 hours per week. We work four 11 hour days in a row. I haven’t worked this many hours in many years. It’s challenging. Here is my schedule for the summer:

Mon: 12:30pm - 11:30pm
Tues: 12:30pm - 11:30pm
Wed: 9:00am - 8:00pm
Thurs: 8:00am - 7:00pm
Fri - Sun OFF

Yellowstone Park is setting itself up to be treated like Disneyworld. We charge $25 to get in. This money is used for maintaining/upgrading roads, new state of the art visitor centers, staffing, building maintenance and construction, and so on. The park service is being run more and more like any other business. The park leases out hotels, gas stations, stores, restaurants, and so on to major corporations. We have close to three million visitors over the summer. The number one activity among them in Yellowstone is shopping. There are corporations chomping at the bit to get into Yellowstone because there is so much money to be made. For some good laughs, read: ‘Industrial Tourism and the National Parks’, in the book "Desert Solitaire", by Edward Abbey. This was written over 40 years ago by another seasonal Park Ranger. I can relate.

So what to do? Good question! One of the big problems is that people make a living working for the park. The Rangers and park staff are unlikely to do things that the paying public don’t like, because the paying public is paying our salaries. This creates a conflict of interest. The park service mission is to protect and preserve the park, but also to provide for the enjoyment of the public. If the public wants to shop, well then who are we to stop them? If they want to stay in a nice hotel room, why not inside the park? If they want to drive their 40 foot motor-home all over the park, then let them drive. I feel it is the duty of the park service to whip humans back into the primitive animals we really are. (Myself included) The park service should help us to live "closer to nature" while we are visiting a park. I would have to agree with many of Edward Abbey’s ideas for fixing this problem.

So on the days I work, I don’t have a lot of free time. On my days off, I enjoy being surrounded by beautiful scenery and lots of wildlife. I have been going for walks/hikes in the area. I also enjoy mountain biking in the Shoshone National Forest. These are my primary activities for exercise. I cook most of my meals. I always eat at home...partly because there are no other options...and it's cheaper. (and better for my health) I travel to the town of Cody, about 52 miles away (population 8,000) to get groceries, visit the library, and go on the internet. After living in Yellowstone for a while, Cody now seems like a big city! I don't have Television or radio reception at home, so I borrow movies and CD's from the library. I also download radio programs off of the internet.

My next stop will be Asheville, North Carolina...the beginning of October.

I'll write more in the next couple weeks.

I hope you are doing well.

Jason