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Show Yellowstone Park no? what it used to be By Hartt Wixom Vernal Express Outdoor Writer You've possibly read somewhere else that Yellowstone National Park is in trouble. After a recent visit there, let me repeat it. First of all, the fishing is not what it used to be. In spite of new regulations regula-tions for catch-and-release, no fishing from Fishing Bridge, et al, trout angling angl-ing is going rapidly downhill. It is true park officials had to do something after random surveys of trash cans indicated in-dicated more dead trout there than popsickle sticks. So they reversed all their fisheries management strategy. I looked at chunky cutthroats slurping slur-ping mayflies below Fishing Bridge, but that is not what they wanted downstream where fishing was allowed. allow-ed. Part of the poor fishing had to be that no one could find what the trout wanted. At the same time I've never seen so few cutthroats in Yellowstone. Some anglers in boats are hooking trout in Yellowstone Lake. But a new edict requiring return of fish over 13 inches has everyone grumbling. One angler told me he caught two trout, but could keep neither for the table or to show others. "All the trout in there are 13'2 inches long," he complained. On the upper Gibbon, where grayling grayl-ing can be found, you have to put them all back. If you can catch one. But that seems in line with what else I found: Old Faithful isn't spouting as high, you can't find any bears, campground slots are so scarce you have to hover around places like Madison Junction and Slough Creek all day just to have a place to spend the night. If you try to do so outside the designated camping spots, of course, a ranger will wake you up in the middle mid-dle of the night and evict you to "anywhere outside the park." You might have to drive 50 miles, then return to see the sights you came for. Your best chances, I discovered, are at Canyon Village. This is a "hardside" camp only (no tents or canvas) due to past problems with bears, including grizzlies. But don't expect to see any. No one I've talked to lately has seen a bruin in Yellowstone. To get or keep a slot you may have to been there in the middle of the day, with little chance when night arrives. You will find more camping places, as well as less crowded fishing, after you depart the park. The Madison, Gallatin, Yellowstone offers better angling outside. Crossing the boundary, boun-dary, I felt a relief that I could stop where I wanted, and fish away from crowds, except of course, only in the six miles between Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks. As for the no-fishing edict on Fishing Bridge, I have heard that rangers are happy with the rule because "swans are returning to the outlet area." You can have the swans. I'd rather see peo- ple fishing there and enjoying themselves. One of the best streams in the park is Pelican Creek, but you can't fish the lower two miles. Must be the swans again. You can carry this natural business too far. The trails and bridges from Inspiration In-spiration Point above the Grand Canyon Ca-nyon of the Yellowstone are certainly not natural. But they serve a purpose: to let more people enjoy the park's natural wonders. I'm surprised that given the artificiality of it. we are still allowed a close-up view of the falls from man-made structures. With the narrow roads, it is a wonder there haven't been more accidents in Yellowstone, especially considering traffic with no place to pull off but trying to do it just the same when wildlife is seen. We didn't find much on this trip. The hordes of elk along the Madison meadows? They weren't there. A heat wave had "put them in the high timber," one ranger told me. As far as I could see, the weather there was same as usual, freezing and wet But don't get me wrong. I love Yellowstone. Anyplace in this world which runs water that clean can't be all bad. You can still see the yellow rocks on the bottom of the Yellowstone River. It isn't easy to protect a pristine environment en-vironment from all those people. Park officials may be doing the best they can with the challenge at hand. But not all of it seems to be working. |
