Stranded in Gardiner!

On July 17, everyone who was in Gardiner had quite a bit of excitement!  That evening there was a major mudslide on US Highway 89 S, which effectively cut the town off from the rest of the world.  The mudslide occurred about four miles north from where I live, so I was pretty much isolated too.

We have two roads that run north/south along the river.  The highway is one of those roads, and other is Old Yellowstone Trail on the other side of the river.  Well, Old Yellowstone Trail was also closed because of the terrible weather and road conditions at the time.  The only way in and out of Gardiner was through Yellowstone Park.  So that meant that anyone who lived on the other side of the mudslide had to drive about four hours through West Yellowstone to get to their houses.

When I went home from Gardiner that evening, there was a traffic checkpoint at the edge of Gardiner where they would only allow residents between the mudslide and Gardiner through.  Fortunately they let me through because of my location.

Check out these links of the news story:
UPDATE: Crews clean up after mudslide wipes out Paradise Valley road 
Mudslide hits highway near Yellowstone National Park
Storm photos from mudslide near Gardiner  This one has a photo of Harry, one of the residents who lives right where the mudslide occurred.
Mudslide cleanup at Corwin Springs
Mudslide north of Gardiner closes highway