Lots of Smoke

The smoke in the air was very bad again yesterday. We even had a few folks come into the lodge to cancel the last day of their stay in the area as a result of not being able to see the mountains in the park. We had one couple cancel because the smoke was causing her asthma to flare up and they had to get out. It is such a shame that so many people will not get the opportunity to see these majestic mountains and enjoy the beauty of this area. There are a couple new fires that have started south of Jackson and in eastern Idaho, and there are still problems with a fire just north of us and our own local Horsethief fire is still burning although it is now 46% contained. It doesn't matter which way the wind blows, there is smoke being brought into this area.

Last night we got slammed pretty good with walk-ins. When we started work at 3 PM we thought it would be a fairly easy night with only 50 check-ins scheduled. As the night wore on, the traffic increased to where we ended up with almost 40 walk-ins. That is really good for business as the goal is always to sell all of the rooms, but it creates more work at check-in as we need to process all of the information that is normally processed when a reservation is made. Sometimes, we get so busy entering personal information that the line grows too fast for us to handle quickly. Nobody has complained so far.

Hunting season has also started in this area - for elk and mule deer - and the few hunters that came in complained that the smoke has forced the game to settle in wherever they bed down and are tough to locate in this hazy area. We have a special rate for hunters which is a nice gesture. The one time I stayed in a hotel while hunting - in Flagstaff, AZ - we paid the same rate as everybody else.

We are looking forward to our one day trip on Thursday to West Yellowstone. It would be great if the smoke and haze would disappear up north so we can get some nice photos of the fall colors. However, it is always a beautiful trip through eastern Idaho and Yellowstone no matter what...