You spent a few months there?...I would love to do that. We spent only two days, camped one night.....hated to leave.
The Dept. of the Interior turned the running of the park over to concessionaires. The National Park folks still oversee the place. The concessionaires hire over 3,000 seasonal employees every year. The employees work in the hotels, restaurants and stores in the park. A job offer comes with room & board. The rooms are similar to hotel rooms. If you have a motor home, they provide a spot with full hookups. Everyone that works in the park lives in the park. The border towns are too far away for people to commute on a daily basis. The park is in 3 states and is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined. There are 8 different locations in the park. Some locations like Mammoth and Old Faithful are open year round. The other spots open mostly for the summer and early fall.
I took a position managing an employee dining room. I was assigned to the Grant Village area. It was perfect for me as it was right on Lake Yellowstone and a short drive to Lewis Lake. Most of the summer hires are college age kids. A few are school teachers and the rest are retirees. The pay isn't great but the companies that do the hiring sell the experience of living in the park, not the job itself. The food they offer is pretty decent. It's all you can eat but you aren't allowed to remove food from the dining areas. They also offer an employee recreation program with river rafting, horseback riding, day trips, those sorts of activities. You can rent camping equipment and head out to the remote campsites scattered around the park.
About 1/4 of the summer employees are international students. They have to have a basic knowledge of English. They are very nice kids and extremely hard working. The only problem I saw was that they didn't interact with the other groups. During the meals they'd sit together and speak their native language. I guess no matter where you go people are comfortable being around people like themselves.
I took the job so I could stay in the park and explore it thoroughly. I took a small boat with me and did a lot of fishing. I had never caught a cutthroat trout until I fished there. These aren't stocked 12 inch fish but the really chunky 4-6 pound fish. There are plenty of lakes and rivers in the park to fish. Most days I didn't see another angler. I went fishing 24 times and caught 89 fish. I got skunked a few days. Most times on the water produced 3-4 fish. I did hike back to a few mountain lakes to try my luck back there.
Each sight in the park requires a bit of time to explore. Each time I'd pick a different area and go see the sights. I had a friend come out and visit so I got to revisit a few of the sights like Old Faithful. I did a lot of hiking and got in decent shape out there. The elevation is between 6,000 & 8,000 feet. We had a good snow storm on May 28th. When I got to the park in mid May there were lots of snow drifts still visible.
I saw lots of wildlife. After a while the sighting of a bison or an elk didn't even impress me anymore. I only saw 2 bears and 1 wolf. Some critters are more wary of people than others. Seeing over 100 bison on the Hayden Valley is a sight to behold.
If I do go there this year then it will probably be my last time going there. I want to take Vrai to all the amazing spots. But then there are so many more incredible sights in our county. Anyone that is looking for an adventure without all the uncertainty of having to set it up yourself, then this is a good route to take. You get a job, a place to live, they feed you, guaranteed 2 days off in a row and the entire park out your front door.