Yellowstone Prevails!

In early June, Yellowstone National Park, which is celebrating its sesquicentennial year, was hit with heavy rain and fast snowmelt causing devastating flooding.

- CANDY MOULTON

The natural event wiped out roads and bridges, took houses and other structures off their foundations and floated them down rivers.

Campers and visitors were evacuated, and the park immediately shut down all entrances. It appeared that the park would be closed for weeks. But the National Park Service, under the direction of Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Jolley, showed that sometimes even the great federal bureaucracy can move quickly. Within days some roads were reopened, and just over a month later the entire park was open to some degree.

A lot of work needs to be done to recover from the flooding within the park and in nearby communities. One message came out loud and clear in the aftermath: The communities are resilient and open for business.

The flooding and closure caused tremendous harm, damaging businesses and closing many of them down during the peak summer tourist season-which they all rely on to make it through long winter months.

GOOD GRUB AND LODGING

The Pollard Hotel, Red Lodge, MT; Whiskey Creek Saloon, Livingston, MT; Chico Hot Springs, Pray, MT; Three Bear Lodge, West Yellowstone, MT; The Wort Hotel, Jackson, WY; The Irma Hotel, Cody, WY

Buffalo Bill's Historic Irma Hotel in Cody, Wyoming, is a great place to call home for a long weekend or more while exploring the city, visiting its museums-including the Buffalo Bill Center of the West-traveling the countryside and going to Yellowstone National Park via the park's East Entrance. Courtesy Wyoming Office of Tourism