Yellowstome living

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Permalink Reply by Kate on January 5, 2009 at 1:39pm

If you are working for Xanterra, I think Old Faithful is the place to be......but it does depend on if you like lots of crowds...and geysers. I loved the geysers and having lots of new people to meet. The scuttlebutt I heard from people who had worked at Canyon was the dorms there were REALLY old and decrepit.... there are older dorms at Old Faithful, too....if you're under 21 you'll probably be living in one of the older dorms that have down-the-hall bathrooms and multiple roommates (sometimes up to 3 people in a room) If you're Older And Bolder you may get lucky enough to get assigned to the quietest dorm. If you're somewhere in the middle, who knows. Sometimes it all comes down to when your work contract starts (if you start early enough you tend to get luckier. If you start mid-season you'll get assigned wherever they've got room. Grant Village has some of the nicer dorm rooms but then it is a tinier and quieter location. I have not been in the dorms at Lake, and all I know of Roosevelt is the employees there all live in cabins. (Roosevelt is the tiniest location with the shortest season). At Mammoth, the older dorms are antique, to say the least. Again with down-the-hall bathrooms....I know there are newer dorms that have private bathrooms... Hopefully, though, you won't be spending a lot of time in your room, I didn't. Get out and explore the park! :) Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Brenda on January 5, 2009 at 1:49pm

Kate, the way they ran it at Grant was all the 21 and under stayed in Grayling Dorm and 21 and over stayed in the cabins that were very antique. Grayling is very up to date and just a few years ago they added a whole new section so I don't know how they are placing people now.
Mammoth Hot springs dorms are actually not that bad. there not new but there not old and decrepit either. at Lake I only stayed in the house because I worked one summer for Hamiltons. At old Faithful there dorms aren't that bad. They have several like larkspur and spruce and one of the dorms we lovingly called the geriatric dorm for mainly 50 and older. I was one of the lucky once and got into that dorm, which is right next to the snow lodge.

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Permalink Reply by mike on January 15, 2009 at 2:14pm

you would get along with lake employees i think. they have the highest returning employee rate, plus there are 5 locations at lake, with 3 of them being run by xanterra. you have the fishing bridge which was run by delaware north while i was there, then the marina, lake hotel, and the lodge. then the whole park service thingie near the trailer parks is cool too. if you want money, the hotel is where you want to be, if you want to be outside, the marina is where it's at, if you want to have a "down home" feel, then the fishing bridge is for you, and the lodge is a little bit of everything, not to mention it is within sight of the hotel. then the trailer park obviously has a gov't worker feel to it since that is what it mostly is, but the parties there can get loud and crazy. i only worked at the hotel. we made awesome money as servers, but i also worked the gift shop, warehouse, and porter. i had the most fun as a server. our gang was always very close, and i still live in the same town and hang out with the same people i started working with in 2002. i honestly have found lake employees to be more content than employees at other locations. maybe it is just the lake itself? who knows.

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Permalink Reply by Wendy Dodd on January 5, 2009 at 1:42pm

All places are great. It depends on how long you can stay. Some places are open longer then others. If I had short dates I would love to live at Roosevelt. I have also lived at Lake and Old Faithful. Both places have their special qualities. Old Faithful is the largest location and you get to hike the geyser basin and hang out in the Old Faithful Inn. Lake is more low key as far as tourist and of course is beautiful. I am going to try and post some photos from employee residents.

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Permalink Reply by Brenda on January 5, 2009 at 2:07pm

When I was last there in 06 I was at old faithful and the oppurtunity to meet all kinds of folks from all over the world was very ample. Course Old faithful is busy busy busy especially when you have the geyser rush going on. Lake is very busy but from what I noticed it's a bit more eloquent. The Character of the place tends to draw in a more mature crowd, if you will.

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Permalink Reply by akscootr on January 5, 2009 at 2:14pm

No b.s? Just choose your company because you will have every type of person under the sun hang out there. Try hiking, photography, rafting, etc. Stay out of the drama's that go on and it will be all good... The dorms are just for sleeping anyway. There is too much beauty in the park to miss it... :0)

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Permalink Reply by akscootr on January 5, 2009 at 2:25pm

I worked @ Canyon. It was o.k., but it really depended on a person's attitude. Some were very negative, so they never gave it a chance. Some took full advantage and loved it. I have worked for better people, but I've also worked for much worse who bluntly lied to their employees. Yellowstone, on the other hand, just wants you to do your job as most employers do. I won't say Canyon wasn't on the wild side, but the key is to choose who you hang out with... I hope this helps. :0)

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Permalink Reply by Wendy Dodd on January 5, 2009 at 2:43pm

I just posted some photos I took of the employee areas in Yellowstone.

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Permalink Reply by Coly Hope on January 5, 2009 at 3:15pm

I lived at Grant Village and I enjoyed it. It is right on Yellowstone Lake and is quiet although you will have your people who like to party but that is everywhere. If there was one downside it is that you have to walk a ways to get to the employee dining room but it isn't that far.

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Permalink Reply by mike on January 15, 2009 at 2:06pm

i personally liked lake location the best. i worked at mammoth as well, and have friends from all locations. it's all about you honestly. lake, to me, is the most chill place, with good opportunity to make money (crowds). the lake itself is beautiful, and the hiking is awesome around it. some of my favorite trails are around lake. it's central location also worked for me, because i loved going to cody and jackson on weekends. i was never a fan of gardiner or west yellowstone. i would always have a blast in cody, going to the rodeo, then walking around walmart and realizing i forgot how to act in public after being in yellowstone for so long, and then hitting up the bars. jackson is similar. some of my fondest memories in my life are climbing grand teton with a few friends in one day, then being so tired and sore it literally hurt to sit down, and we would end up in teton thai off the boardwalk, and gettin ready for a really late night drive back to lake location. great memories. the beach at lake is also great. you can kayak to an isolated spot or take a boat from the marina with a few friends, get some blankets and binoculars and make a whole day of it. if you want to get away, it is very easy around lake. not so much around old faithful unless you like bushwhacking through swamps and thick brush filled with mosquitoes. canyon would be number two to me. i just like the area and the hikes around it. Roosevelt is cool, but too small for me. the people there are always very tight and stay friends after the season is over. old faithful would come in number 4 for me, almost entirely due to the crowds. i hate crowds, but hey, that is what tourism is all about. good money there, and cool things to see like the geysers of course, but the hikes in the southwest area are EXTREMELY buggy until about beginning of july, and sometimes into august (2009 was predicted to be a wet and mild year by the farmer's almanac so expect bugs all summer). grant and mammoth are at the bottom of my list. mostly because they seem neglected by xanterra and the park service. i am talking about 2005 and earlier, so things might have changed since then. i have seen the new prison (is that what it is?) they are building in mammoth. such a shame... i heard it cost 20 million to build? imagine the trails we could have had instead of that. and grant seems like a throwback to the mid 70's. i think it needs to be revamped and maybe some cool hikes could be developed around there. heart lake and mt sheridan would be my favorite hike around grant. anyways i hope this all helps. let us know what you want out of your summer job and we can help you more. it really is all about the person.

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Permalink Reply by Terrence Jackson on January 15, 2009 at 11:54pm

My only gripe with lake is that the lake employees I know tend to have a big head about their location, thinking it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I personally feel that if you want serious comraderie then you need to be at old faithful or canyon ( canyon was my first location years ago, and now I mostly spend my time at old faithful). And lake has no cell reception as of yet, but that may change. The old faithful area has some serious park veterans, those of us who reside there in the winter and spring as well. So I am indeed N old faithful addict, and unfortunately not the biggest fan of lake area, even though it is georgeous. That is my two cents.

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Permalink Reply by Brenda on January 17, 2009 at 11:20am

Terrence that is very true, the year I worked at Lake it was similar, The employees did brag about working at Lake. It is a beautiful location though. I don't have an actual favorite location, I worked at Mammoth, Lake, Grant, and Old Faithful and liked all of them for the uniqueness that each offered. At Grant they had some trouble there and it was a little harder to stay away from the BS because the location is very small but it was feasible to avoid. As I said earlier at Lake the crowd is a more mature group and yes they had there bs as well but easy enough to get away from up there. Mammoth is very small and much harder to get away from the crap however thats where the HR is so they won't tolerate to much and when anything does occur it is taken care of quickly. Old Faithful on the other hand is so big there is a whole lot that go's on, but it is big so you can just get out and away. Shelby I started in Yellowstone at 27/28 and last worked there is 06 I am now 37 so I know what ya feel with all the crap and so on, ya just don't need it any more. Any were ya go there is going to be some crazy stuff but just let the Hr know your not into that and they can probably work with you on a decent area.

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