Around the 307
News, commentary, and other items of interest from the greater Wyoming landscape.
[Want to modify the number of weekly emails you receive? Find out how at the end of this post.]
For the week of May 19th, 2024, here are Cowboy State news items of interest:
Last Sunday, May 19th news first broke of a man being mauled by a Grizzly Bear in Grand Teton National Park. Additional information took a few days to emerge, however, by Wednesday May 22nd, Cowboy State Daily published this article detailing the attack. It seems the victim (who will recover) did everything right and also had a little luck on his side as during the encounter the bear chomped down on his can of bear spray causing the bruin to break off its assault and flee.
Thursday, May 23rd, Yellowstone National Park issued this press release advising the opening of its northeast entrance, the Beartooth Highway (US 212) from Red Lodge to Cooke City Montana, would be delayed due to heavy snowfall. Highway 212 was scheduled to open on Friday, May 24th, just in time for the holiday weekend, however, Mother Nature put a kibosh on that plan by dropping significant snow during a massive winter storm that impacted the area at week’s end. Ah, Wyoming, how I love your meteorological spring! The Beartooth Highway will remain closed all weekend due to hazardous driving conditions.
Also on Thursday we learned Casper Wyoming will not host the National Championship Air Races—the honor going instead to Roswell New Mexico. I reported on Casper being named as one of three final locations being considered by the Reno Air Racing Association (RARA) in my Around the 307 post from March 2nd. You can read the RARA press release announcing their selection here.
Lastly—the publication of this post occurs as many of us are enjoying time with family and friends over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. First observed as Decoration Day in 1868 in the aftermath of the Civil War, Memorial Day was signed into law as a federal holiday by President Lyndon B. Johnson on June 28th, 1968 (and was first observed as a national holiday in 1971). Memorial Day is observed the last Monday in May and serves as an annual day of remembrance to honor American veterans who gave their lives in sacrifice to our nation. You can read more about the history of Memorial Day at the National Archives website.
That’s all for today cowpokes! Thanks for reading and have a great week!
Want to customize your Close to Home 307 subscription and the number of emails you receive each week? Please click this About page link and scroll midway down the page to learn how to update your settings.