From Stevens Point to Yellowstone National Park and back, the 2016 “Words Are Roads” tour is planned as a 14-day, 13-night tour and class.  It will visit several sites important to the history of the meandering trail.  The three-credit interdisciplinary studies course, offered by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Division of Communication and UW-Stevens Point Continuing Education, is tentatively planned to depart Stevens Point on May 31 and return to Point on Monday, June 13.    Click here for the continuing education registration site.  Send me an e-mail (shill@uwsp.edu) to request permission to register once the course is listed.

Yellowstone Trail map by John Ridge

Nightly stops on the way should include these, which are based on our 2015 trip.  Some of these stops are still tentative, as they will require confirmation for 2016 from specific agencies or organizations:

• May 31, Chippewa Falls area (camping at the Fair Hill Campground, Northern Wisconsin State Fair grounds);
• June 1, Danube, Minnesota (camping in the municipal park next to the historic train depot and museum);
• June 2, Aberdeen, South Dakota (camping in either Mina Lake Recreation Area or Wylie Park);
• June 3, Reeder, North Dakota (Dakota Prairie Enhancement Center);
• June 4, Billings, Montana (Montana State University-Billings); and
• June 5-8, Gardiner, Montana, where the class will stay four nights at the North Yellowstone Hostel.

Planned stops on the return trip are:

• June 9, Custer National Forest near Ashland, Montana (camping)
• June 10, Mobridge, South Dakota (camping, Indian Creek Recreation Area), and
• June 11, Hudson, Wisconsin (camping, Willow River State Park).
• June 12: Greenville, Wisconsin
• June 13: Arrive back in Stevens Point around mid-afternoon.

Wireless will be available at several of our overnight stops, including the fairgrounds, Danube, Reeder, and Gardiner.  We’ll also have access at other times and places.

Potential trip highlights

• We hope to hear from Barry Prichard, grandson of Yellowstone Trail Association president Michael Dowling, during our stop in Danube.  Mr. Prichard will tell us about the first automobile trip to Yellowstone from Minneapolis — conducted by Dowling with his daughter (Barry Prichard’s mother) along for the ride.
• We hope to be front-and-center at Hudson’s Yellowstone Trail Heritage Days in June; dates not yet set.  We hope to do a presentation on our trip in the Hudson Public Library during the celebration.

For more information, please contact me (Steve Hill, associate professor of media studies and tour co-leader) by calling 715-346-3887 or by using the form below.  The tentative course syllabus can be found here (PDF).