ONE FINE DAY...

Hello All,

Seems as though I am a little over due as far as updates go...
Well like I said things have picked up tremendously here. It is amazing how one week can be so different than another. So I'll give you the highlights and try not to make this email too long. Just after I sent the email last week things started to pick up. On the 29th I got to drive a back country law enforcement vehicle out to the wilderness line. The wilderness line is just what it says - there is no development out there, trails are not maintained and roads are not made, it is the wild. The point of the trip was to take an LE Ranger and a General Ranger out to the Wilderness Line in the Shoshone National Forest from which point they would make their way back into the Park on foot. My job was to drive them out there and then return the vehicle to the Ranger Station. I volunteered for this task even before I knew what it entailed, for a couple reasons: 1) I got to get out of the gate at noon, 2) I got to see a beautiful part of the country that few people get to see, and 3) I knew I would run into overtime :). Now the road out to the wilderness line gets smaller and smaller as you go until it turns into just a trail and then into nothing. There are several fords (rivers) that you have to drive through to get to the drop point. This is where the fun comes in! The first two fords were maybe two feet deep and we made it through with ease. However, the third was a whole other story! We entered the ford thinking it was going to be just a normal two maybe three feet deep until about half way through and the whole hood of the truck went underwater. Mind you, this is no toy truck, this is a Chevy Silverado 2500 4x4 with a lift and all terrain tires. Back to the story: now when the hood goes under the LE Ranger had a choice word or two and slammed on the gas. Luckily we made it through. About half a mile down the road the LE Ranger turns to me and says, "I'm a little nervous about you going back through that ford." To which of course I respond with a dumbfounded look on my face, "you and me both buddy!" :) We headed another mile or two until the road narrowed too much to continue and we began to unload. After everything was settled and the truck was turned around, the LE Ranger turned to me and said these wonderful words of encouragement, "Radio us when you make it through the ford. If you don't, we'll hike back to you; nothing we can do for you but we'll keep you company." And to those words of wisdom, we headed our separate ways. When I got back to the ford I stopped and got out of the truck to form a plan of attack. The problem returning was that the angle of entry was very steep, straight down to the deepest part of the river and then gradually up from there to the other side. Here is where the balancing act comes in - if I attack the river too fast I could ram the truck right into the bed and get it stuck; however if I ease it in too slowly I could flood the engine and get stuck. So after studying the river for a couple of minutes, pumping myself up, and reminding myself of that time when Bryan and I had a similar situation with the Suburban at home (Dad doesn't know about that one... sorry), I took to the river. My plan was to ease into the river until I felt like I had hit the deepest point and then I floored the gas as hard as I could. And this was exactly what I did! She hesitated a little when I hit the gas but as soon as those back tires were able to grab something, I flew right out of the river. It was a nerve racking situation (getting a gov't rig stuck in a river is not a good idea) but I got to see an amazing part of the world and I got a pretty good story out of it.

-- Brent Everitt
Visitor Use Assistant
Northeast Entrance Station
Yellowstone National Park