Blue Ribbon stupid

This last weekend was road lottery, an annual event. After the buses stop, there are four days where private vehicles are allowed to drive the road. The Park gives 400 tickets for each day.

I was expecting massive chaos, but it wasn't all that bad. The most frequent violation I encountered were cars driving around with passengers standing up out of sunroofs. They reminded me of those gophers at Chuck-E-Cheese that you try to hit on the head with the big, fuzzy mallet. The second most frequent violation involved children running rampant inside moving vehicles. I don't think most of these people would normally drive down the street without belting in their children. What is it about national parks that drains intelligence right out of the average visitor?

But the prize goes to the guy who was standing in the back of a moving pickup truck as they chased (harassed) a grizzly sow with her cub. The poor bears were actually running down the street while the guy in the back of the truck was standing up with his camera on a tripod trying to get pictures.

It was a fun weekend. And luckily, only one vehicle rolled off the road. The people in that truck were all belted in and uninjured.

Now I'm packing up, cleaning, and soon I'll be headed east. I'll spend my winter working out of Park HQ. I'll miss the west end.