It’s still open!!
I thought this money-wasting imaginary benefit to a few Cody businesses died when Dick Cheney went away.
Sylvan Pass opens for winter travel. Billings Gazette.
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is past President of the Western Watersheds Project.
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Last year it cost something like $4,000.00 per visitor. And Something like 56 visitors all winter. Most were in snowcoaches.
I didn’t think that swine/pork was allowed in a national park?
And all the concessionaires are bitching about the reduced entry limit. Cody doesn’t seem to have much park business in the winter so their loud complaints aren’t truly valid and certainly don’t warrant that much of hard earned, taxpayers subsidies ~ which is what funds the park.
Once incorporated into an agency budget it will get spent…
What a waste of money…
Anyone know if the grooming of the trail enables them to open the roadways more efficiently in the spring?
What would the added cost of the deeper snow removal be if the road was not groomed? certainly no where near the total cost to maintain this trail for 44 visitors.
More than any other gateway town, even though it is hardly on the Park boundary, Cody has always gotten its way with the Park due to its connection with Wyoming politicians.
Grooming the road/trail does not make plowing in spring any easier. Grooming involves packing the snow down hard, removes all the oxygen from the snow and basically turns it into ice pack of a sort. Usually spring cleanup can involve raking the ice pack off the surface, takes several passes using large, claw-like attachments to heavy equipment, then plowing which requires several passes for each traffic lane. Snow plows are only one lane wide.
All I know is that I’ll never go bushwhacking near the Eastern boundary; too much unexploded ordnance.