A glorious Father’s Day to all the Dads out there. Go do something that brings you joy, the world can always use more joy! It’s not unusual for many Dads and youngsters to go fishing on this day, but unfortunately I don’t see that happening this year, at least not in this neighborhood.
As many of you are aware, the northern portions of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem received a significant rain on snow event last weekend. Without going into all the graphic details, suffice it to say that all area streams and rivers were running at historic highs with substantial flooding throughout the region. Many roads, bridges, homes and other infrastructure were essentially flushed down the waterways….. but no one is really sure where all that stuff is going or getting hung up on.
Currently MFWP and the Stillwater County Commissioners have the Yellowstone and Stillwater Rivers closed to all recreation. These restrictions are to continue until further notice. I’d guess that the powers to be are still in the recon/evaluation phase, just trying to get a handle on how good/bad things are. The FWP website indicates that exposed power lines are a real possibility. I had a dream just the other night were I rounded a bend on the Stillwater only to find a house sitting in the middle of the river with no way around it….. then I woke up a little sweaty.
Thus far there has been no information related to restrictions for waters in Carbon County (Rock Creek and the Clark’s Fork) …. but really? Does there need to be restrictions? Do the right and smart thing, stay the hell away from the rivers for now. Currently we are seeing rising waters thru out the region with some waters again approaching flood stage.
Bottom line is that at this point not much information is known as it pertains to access and floating/fishing. There have been a number of helicopters flying about, up and down the rivers trying to collect information and recue the stranded. That’s a good thing. So stay tuned. As information is developed I’ll pass it along.
Again, Happy Fathers Day, might be time to take up golf for awhile.
Rocky Fork Journals 