08/21 - 08/24 - Lake Yellowstone, Wyoming

[El and Bill]

Jay and Jolee have been singing the praises of Yellowstone Lake for years. We met them on the ramp at Bridge Bay many years ago.

Now Jim and Joan are working out of Bridge Bay this summer -- Jim's skipper of the tour boat on the lake. Their messages and photos about the lake have been intriguing many of us.

SO -- we propose a C-Brat Gathering on Lake Yellowstone this summer any time in August. This is the largest high lake in North America and the second largest high altitude lake in the world (so says their website). It snowed up there the past few days (as many of you read on Jim's 'Wild Blue' messages). There are bears, wolves, moose, and GREAT geology. What could be better for a Gathering?? And we can do some driving around to see the hot springs, geysers, tourists, etc.

We have just contracted for a slip at Bridge Bay Marina for the month of August so plan to spend the latter part of summer on the lake. Anyone else interested in coming up to the high country and having a really cool Gathering?

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- TyBoo

[Hunkydory]

El and Bill

You can count on us being there. August is the toughest month for us to get away, but we're close and will make it. Will let others if interested from further away set dates. Even if just a few can show with you two and Jim and Joan already there it sounds like a winner to me.

Depending on inclination I can either entertain people thoroughly or bore them completely with tales about travels on and around the Lake and by then I'm sure Jim & Joan will have many to share too.

Last year the slip cost for a day on a 22 footer was $22 which included power.

Those considering this gathering must realize there's many restrictions on the lake and in August anchoring out for the night or docking at one of the designated campsites is pretty much out of the question. Those who have read our adventures know we love the really wild places and freedom from restrictions yet with all the people, restrictions and the Rangers enforcing them we still love Yellowstone and its still our favorite place to go to just relax and enjoy and this especially includes the Bridge Bay Marina.

Jay

[Hunkydory]

For any considering this gathering here's the boating regulations for Yellowstone Lake. Like I mentioned before they are heavy on restrictions.
http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/upload/boating_regs.pdf

And this is the phone number to the Bay Bridge Back Country office for reservations and permits or information there about. 307-242-2413
Doubt if there is any available now. I have always gone to the office in person for this, so don't know if they can be made by phone for the back county or not. Do know it cost I think $20 for the permit if reservations are made and its free if not.

Jay

[El and Bill]

Anyone interested in cruising Yellowstone Lake -- Trailerboats magazine had an article dated May 21, 2008 about the lake.

To read the article, go to http://www.trailerboats.com/output.cfm?id=1624753

Just to tantalize a little more, F. V. Hayden, the leader of an 1871 expedition to Yellowstone, described the lake as "a vast sheet of quiet water, of a most delicate ultramarine hue, one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever beheld. Such a vision is worth a lifetime."

[MikeMac]

Best of luck for a good time! My boat will be there in spirit. The original home of my old 84 Classic was Pinedale, Wyoming and she might have been the fist C-Dory on Yellowstone. I can't recall her first owner's last name, but Bill used to own the Chevron station in LaBarge (when there was a Chevron station in LaBarge) and he used her on Yellowstone Lake, Fremont Lake, Fontenelle, and Flaming Gorge. When I bought her from his son in Salt Lake City about 8 years ago she still had her Yellowstone Lake permit and Flaming Gorge marina stickers, which I now wish I'd not removed.

Have fun!

Mike

[Hunkydory]

Mike

Very interesting history on your boat. I thought we saw our first c-dory in l982 on Yellowstone Lake, but it very well could have been your boat in l984. Thats whats started our dream on someday owning a c-dory. Have a vivid picture in my mind of Jo-Lee and I and our three young boys checking the boat out in its slip at Bridge Bay Marina. When we returned home from Yellowstone on that trip Jo-Lee sent to the factory for information on c-dory's and we still had the brochure they sent us when we finally bought the Hunkydory in 2003. My youngest son who would have been seven years old at the time says He can still remember all of us looking at it and wishing it was ours.

We have spent time on all the lakes you mentioned, but expecially Fremont Lake by Pinedale. When we lived in Kemmerer, Wy would take our canoe up there or Yellowstone most weekends during the summer.

Rest assured your boat will always reside on Yellowstone Lake in spirit. Think of it everytime we are there. Sure would have been unbelievable special to see your boat on Yellowstone Lake again.

Jay

[JamesTXSD]

Well, of course, we're in! We will be sans C-Dory. As I mentioned to Bill, our days off are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and we will be there through all of August, and into mid-September.

Let's see how many have an intention of coming this way. The place is a geological wonderland, so Bill will be like a kid in a candy store. Bridge Bay Marina is a nice place - we had a great time here last summer with Wild Blue. The lake is 20 miles by 14 miles, so there is plenty of water to explore. Hiking trails to satisfy every level. Breath-taking scenery.

Keep us posted, and let us know what we can do to help coordinate.

Best wishes,
Jim

[rogerbum]

I've got the 7th - 16th of August booked for Neah Bay but if I can find a way to hop out there for a day or two in the first or 3rd week of August I will. I would be sans boat as that's the only way I could get there and back in short order. Otherwise, I'll have to visit when you return next summer ( I assume you will after a summer of fun this year).

[Yellowstone]

Folks, If I'm still alive this August, the Far West II will be at Yellowstone for the rendezvous. Went there last year twice (met Jay and Jolee on one of those trips) to fish for lake trout. Edna and I drove to the Lake a week ago (we live 175 miles from the lake)- the ice was just coming off - and no boating was allowed. But we have reserved a slip this coming Saturday, the 14th - fishing opens the 15th - for four nights. Jay, the rates have gone up this year by a couple of bucks per night, (but that includes electricity & water, and arguably one of the nicest marinas is the U.S.A.) Count me in. Yellowstone

[Sea Wolf]

[El and Bill]

What a great connection, Jay, with Mike's boat that started your C-Dory sojourn. It's a long way from Texas to Wyoming, but wouldn't it be great if MikeMac and Mike could be back up to Yellowstone this summer -- perhaps, Mike, sans boat you could take a holiday to Wyoming this summer ... or, if not, as you and Jay say, you and your boat will surely be there in spirit.

Roger -- it would be great to have you up there for a visit this summer. You don't need a boat -- Jim has one big enough for a whole herd of C-Brat owners (and friends), and he could probably get us all signed up together for one (or more) of his tours.

There's a campground at Bridge Bay, a hotel (and cabins) down the road, room for a guest on the cabin sole in Halcyon and for another on a cot in the cockpit. Folks, you don't need to bring your boat unless you want to -- this is a great opportunity to take that Yellowstone trip (maybe the trip you've been putting off for years).

What a great opportunity -- Capt. Jim, a C-Brat, at the helm of the tour boat, Jay and Jolee who might suggest spots to visit on the water (for folks who bring a boat and may not be familiar with the lake), good fellowship around a campfire in the campground (with Jay, Jim, Yellowstone, and perhaps others spinning yarns), a chance to see Old Faithful, hot springs, (lions, tigers and) bears (oh my), and some plain good times.

Here's a suggested time frame: meet Thursday, Aug 21 at Bridge Bay. Shared campfire evening and Jim's day off. Friday, boat tour of the lake with Jim (he's skipper that day), evening together (maybe dinner at the nearby hotel, if Jim thinks that's a good spot [or any alternative he suggests]), weekend checking out the park's attractions. Seems this would be a good time for Roger (SeaDNA) -- how about others?

Jim has volunteered to be the group moderator, and being on site can help with any details. How does the time Aug 21-24 look for you, Jim?

[MikeMac]

I lived in Evanston for about 8 years in the 90's and just returned from western Wyoming last Thursday (still calling for snow above 8000 feet, and the high pass roads in the Uintas and the Wasatch range were still closed).

There was another C-Dory in that area in the early 90's. An older gentleman in LaBarge ran a place called Valley Service where he could weld, machine, or repair just about anything. I'd often see a 16 (I didn't know it was a 16 at the time) peeking out of a garage bay at his shop when I'd drive through town on my way to Birch Creek gas field. Several years later, after I'd moved to Houston and bought my boat, I stopped one time to chat with him and he told me the story of my boat and his boat. He often went fishing with Bill, the original owner of my old Classic, and shortly thereafter bought his 16 which he mostly used on Fontenelle, just south of town. I'm not sure when the 16 model was first produced but I suspect he had a very early one. At that time there was a C-Dory dealer in Salt Lake City and they must have sold at least two boats! Those are they only boats I knew of in the area in those days and the dealer in Salt Lake City is long closed.

Best wishes for your Yellowstone adventures!

Mike

[Pat Anderson]

Well, we'll enjoy the pictures! Our August time off willl be spent at the Bellingham CBGT followed by a week of cruising the Gulf Islands...

[Yellowstone]

Hi Sea Wolf Joe - have been reading and enjoying your numerous and informative comments for years. Perhaps you can have one last hurrah and join us in Yellowstone? El and Bill, as immodest as the following will sound, I have a number of "yarns" relating to Yellowstone Lake beginning in 1948 (my first exposure) that would fill a book. In 1953, I pumped gas at Fishing Bridge for the summer and then joined the Marine Corps. The fishng in the Lake then was unbelievable - seven (7) fish limit per person per day! Then after service, college, and returning to Montana for my career in education, I made Yellowstone Lake my special paradise for my growing family. I still have one 19' Grumman canoe with 23 consecutive Lake stickers on the port side. In fact with family and friends, I have canoe camped at every campsite on the lake (some no longer exist), many, dozens of times, since I visited the lake 3-4 times a year from 1960 to 1988. Even when I moved to Oregon, I returned to the lake at least once a year. Also, Lewis and Shoshone Lakes were explored numerous times. In 1996 I purchased my first CD-22, the Far West II, and berthed it the entire 1997 summer at Bridge Bay. We were at Bridge Bay in July of 1997 where my first wife of 38 years, Ursla, collapsed and went into a diabetic coma and died five days later. Returning to Montana in 2005 to permanently live, sans the Far West II sold to a Washington couple, the yearning to return to Yellowstone Lake in style befitting a 70 year old became unbearable, and Ken McCollough from Alberquerque sold me his cherry 1999 CD-22, which I remaned the Far West III, but then changed back to Far West II. My second wife, Edna, loves to boat and be around water . In fact we spent part of our honey moon in August of 2000, with the 19' Grumman, which we sailed down the east shore of Yellowstone Lake from Sedge Bay to Trail Point campsite in the Southeast Arm. Enough. Come to the rendezvous in August for more tales (all true) because as Mark Twain once said, "the older I get the better I can remember the past, whether it happened or not." Yellowstone

[B~C]

scenery be damned, it would be worth going to this event just to listen to the campfire talk......sheesh, El & Bill, Edna & John....wish we could go