Good article! WTF with all the other people in the bar?

Wonderful write-up. Your Montana content never lets me down. Thank you!

I agree with most of this, but it is ok to have food in your car. The NPS states:

Oh, and please do not feed the animals! And not just bears. Feeding any animal (squirrel, bird, raccoon, etc.) is bad for them, and possibly for you. That includes properly storing and disposing of food and food waste. From nps.gov:

Also, don’t neglect YNP in winter. Most of the park roads are closed, but you can cross country ski, snowmobile, or take a snow coach from most of the park entrances. Winter forces lots of wildlife down into the valleys for great viewing, and keeps lots of tourists away (for great viewing). The bears will be sleeping,…

Others have mentioned this as well, and they are correct: If possible, fly into Billings, MT, drive over the Beartooth Highway, and enter the park via Cooke City. The Beartooth Highway is a truly stunning drive that tops out at around 11,000 feet elevation! It should not be missed. (I recommend stopping near the top…

To be clear, Yellowstone Bear World is a for-profit zoo (and not affiliated with YNP at all). If you want to see bears in a zoo, you don’t need to travel to Idaho to do is.

Sounds like fun! But I do take umbrage with the description of Chef Martin’s sausages as being “nitrate free.” They contain celery powder, which is full of nitrates. Now, I love me some nitrates and nitrites, and they are necessary in sausages to prevent botulism, but the labeling requirements for “uncured” meats are …

Not basketball, but relevant: I spent a short time in Shanghai just before Didier Drogba was set to transfer to Shanghai Shenhua (Chinese Soccer League team), and some Chinese students told us his nickname translates to “Black Devil Beast.”

This.

Sounds like you were possibly not using enough oil and maybe not getting the pans/oil hot enough before use. But, whatever. Anyone who says someone *must* use cast iron is full of it. I love my cast iron, but there are lots of perfectly fine alternatives, and getting tasty food is the most important thing. The cult of…

This is correct. Gelatin is so key. Making your own stock with some good bones and stuff (add chicken feet!) will get you most of the way. If you’re looking to take it up a notch, this is what I do:

Done.

Done.

How do you feel about streetlamps? I’m against them except in large cities. In suburbs and neighborhoods all they do is add light pollution while sucking down electricity.

Burneko, when are you going to take another crack at getting that cookbook published?