The Community and the Job

If you look at Google Earth and locate Madison Junction Road, zip code 82190, you can see the aerial view of our home for the summer.  There is a pretty much hidden community across the road from the large Madison campground which includes a small RV loop, a ranger office, and a number of apartments.  That’s where we live.

This photo was taken on May 26, the opening day for the Madison Information Station where we work.

And this was the view from our “office” on that day.

And here I am headed for work.

We work three days on, three days off, and then four days on and four days off.  On our work days, one of us works the morning which is from 9:00 until 1:00 and the other works the afternoon which is from 2:00 until 5:15.  We both go over to the ranger office at 8:15 and print out various items to post over at the Information Station.  Now that the weather is getting more decent, we can walk to the station.

On duty, we work with two rangers who present programs throughout the day.  We answer questions, give directions, identify animals visitors show us on their digital cameras, and in general listen to and chat with visitors who are so thrilled to be here.  Another big part of our day is working with the Junior Ranger program which involves handing out the newspapers and explaining the work involved to earn a patch for children from age 5 and up.  When children bring in the completed papers, we get to swear them in and present them with a patch and be photographed with them.  They don’t know that we are not “real” rangers!

The workers here are a diversified group, all very bright and quite dedicated to their jobs.  Our immediate co-workers include a civil engineer, an orthopedic surgeon and a PhD in Celtic literature.  They are from Connecticut, Kentucky, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Ohio among others.  There is plenty of social interaction which will increase with the coming of evenings warm enough to be outside.  Sunset here is well after 9:00pm even at this early not-quite-summer part of the season.

We are almost used to being in a communication black hole.  We are seven miles from cell phone reception which we have used in the past to supply Wifi for our laptops.  We do have government e-mail in the office and can look at and send e-mails from there.  Both of us did pass the Homeland Security clearance and online test on proper computer use.

We are now seven weeks into our four-month season here.  It is becoming busier in the park and in the MIS (one of many acronyms we have learned to use) which is our little building.  The bison have for the most part moved east into the Hayden Valley for the summer although we still have the free spirits who can see that the grass is plenty green around here.  There are at least three elk cows and their frisky calves still hanging out at the Seven Mile Bridge which is one of our cell phone spots when we don’t want to drive the fourteen miles into West Yellowstone.  Although they did not nest in their usual location near the road, the eagles still hunt for fish along the Madison River which the road follows for quite a way, and we frequently see them on our way to town.  Blondie, the beautiful light cinnamon black bear, is usually seen about once a week nearby.  She was very close when Barry was walking Carly early in the morning off leash.  Fortunately, a neighbor called out a warning, and no harm was done.


Future posts will be about whatever happens to be going on.  We hope to tackle our list of hikes soon since it is dry now and most of the bear management restrictions have been removed.