Seniors Enjoy Tiny Gardiner

 Senior travelers will find Gardiner in Park County, Montana with a population just under 1,000. Gardiner was officially founded in 1880, but the area has served as a main entrance to Yellowstone National Park since its creation in 1872.

Parks’ Fly Shop, one of the oldest fly shops and guiding operations in the Yellowstone area, was started by Merton Parks in 1953.

Yellowstone National Park Heritage and Research Center, which opened May 18, 2005 is located in Gardiner and houses National Park Service archives, Yellowstone museum collections and reference libraries.

The local Chamber of Commerce welcomes senior visitors from across the country to Gardiner.

They note that the entire area is home to the most diverse herds of large wildlife species in the lower 48 states including bison, bighorn sheep, elk, pronghorn, grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, and deer.

Seniors See The Roosevelt Arch

Wondering where the town’s name originated? I always do. The name Gardiner derives from Johnson Gardner, a fur trapper who operated in the area in 1830-31. He named the lush headwaters valley of today’s Gardner River Gardner’s Hole. Originally, named Gardner’s Fork, the river took on Gardner’s name although prospectors and explorers who visited the area later in the century were unaware of the trapper Johnson Gardner.

In 1870, when the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition passed through the area they began calling the river Gardiner. On February 9, 1880, a territorial post office was established just outside the park boundary and the beginning of Gardiner, Montana took place.

Today, the Roosevelt Arch is the most famous structure in Gardiner. This Yellowstone Entrance, Gateway or Arch was dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt on April 24, 1903. The impressive arch can be visited just two miles north of Gardiner on Highway 89.

Senior Anglers Flock To Yellowstone’s Rivers

The North Entrance Road Historic District comprises Yellowstone National Park’s North Entrance Road from Gardiner, Montana to the park headquarters at Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, a distance of a little over five miles.

The North Entrance Road was the first major road in the park, necessary to join the U.S. Army station at Fort Yellowstone to the Northern Pacific Railroad at Gardiner.

Bring along your best fishing rod as angling in Yellowstone National Park is a major reason many senior visitors come to the park. In 2006, over 50,000 park fishing permits were issued to visitors. How about that?

The park contains hundreds of miles of accessible, high-quality trout rivers containing wild trout populations—over 200 creeks, streams and rivers are fishable.

Get brave and take on a rafting expedition. Lots of fun and you are guaranteed to get wet.

Take in a quick view of the village and note the beautiful mountains in the background. Seniors, set your GPS for Gardiner and enjoy great clean mountain air and blue Montana skies. -jeb