Episode Details

Wendy Corr:

Well, hey there, folks, welcome to The Roundup. We're a Cowboy State Daily podcast that focuses on interesting people in the Cowboy state. We've had so many wonderful guests over the past - oh my goodness, 10 months that we've been doing this podcast now - today, I promise, is going to be one of the most interesting.

First though, before we get into our conversation with Yellowstone expert, someone who's been immersed in the Yellowstone life for more than 40 years, I want to talk real quickly about the Wyoming Business Alliance's "Business From the Basement" podcast. If you're a business person, if you are an entrepreneur, anything that has to do with business in Wyoming, that podcast is going to give you great ideas and great tips. So we look forward to having you check them out.

But right now, I want to put the focus on this gentleman who is on the podcast with me today. This is Jeff Henry. And Jeff has been, well, he's been in Yellowstone since he was six months old. That was the first time that he went to Yellowstone, and then he has made it his life and his love to be in Yellowstone.

And so we're really glad to have Jeff Henry with us today. Jeff is an author. Jeff was a fishing guide. He's been a researcher, he's a photographer. He's done amazing things and brought some real life to Yellowstone. So hello, Jeff. We're so glad to have you on the podcast today.

Jeff Henry:

I'm glad to be with you. Wendy,

Wendy Corr:

Jeff, you have lived such an interesting life, and a life that we can't really imagine, because the life that you've had has been in so many ways lived in the hidden part of Yellowstone. You have been a winter keeper for so many years in Yellowstone, and you have immersed yourself in Yellowstone in ways that we just can't even understand.

Jeff, tell us a little bit about how you got to Yellowstone and why you decided that that was going to be your home away from home.

Jeff Henry:

Well, my mom and dad first brought me here when I was six months old. They had really cool pictures of me at iconic places in the park, like fishing bridge and Old Faithful geyser. And then mom and dad brought me here several more times as I was growing up.

And on top of that, for whatever reason, I was always drawn to this area. From the time I could first read, I read about this area, and I especially studied maps of this area. It had a special draw for me for whatever reason I can't necessarily explain, and then I came to work here on May 25, 1977. I still try to celebrate my anniversary every year.

And, I have to say right off the bat that all through my Yellowstone career, I've been very, very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time, to get what I consider to be awesome jobs that have allowed me to, first of all, stay in the park, and also allowed me, or enabled me, to learn a great deal about different aspects of the park.

Right out of the box, I got a job as a fishing guide on Yellowstone Lake, and I did that for four summers, and my first summer, I thought I died and gone to heaven, being a fishing guide on Yellowstone Lake. That's spectacular scenery. The fishing was, in those days, especially, was spectacular itself. I was only 24 years old, and it was about as good as it could get.

After that, I went on and worked, oh, a long list of jobs. I won't belabor the point, but the jobs included labor crew, truck driver, maintenance man, park ranger, grizzly bear researcher, many others. Starting very early in my career, I started working as a winter caretaker, or a winter keeper, as we say in Yellowstone, and I've done that for 46 winners, pretty much.

Now there were some winters that I didn't do that