Two full-time seasonal workers have had their livelihoods upended after a bison totaled their truck in Yellowstone National Park.
Marie Ann and Jason Jaskula were driving through the park Thursday night when they hit a 2,000-pound bull bison at 40 mph. Their Dodge Ram was totaled.
“We're a little banged up and sore, and our dog is traumatized, but thankfully the airbag did its job,” Marie Jaskula told Cowboy State Daily.
Now the Jaskulas have a week to get their fifth-wheel from Fishing Bridge to West Yellowstone, Montana. It’s not a traveling luxury – it’s their home.
“Our location closes in a week, and the park as a whole closes a couple of weeks after that,” she said. “Our home could be sitting in a parking lot for months if we don’t find someone heading to Moab, Utah, with a kingpin hitch.”
Danger In The Dark
On Thursday night, the Jaskulas joined a convoy of vehicles heading to Mary Bay, along the northern edge of Yellowstone Lake, to go bear watching. Rather than taking their usual vehicle, they hopped in their Dodge for the short trek.
“That’s our towing vehicle,” Jaskula said. “I don’t know why we got in it that night. We haven’t been driving it, but it had a fresh battery and was fueled up, ready for departure, so we thought we’d run it down the road quick.”
The Jaskulas were passing Storm Point on their way back to Fishing Bridge when they hit the bison on the road around 7:18 p.m. They hit it without braking.
“The noise was deafening,” she said. “My husband was driving, and I had my head down, texting a co-worker. The next thing I knew, my head was in the dash, and the airbag exploded at the same time. I didn't even know what happened.”
The bison, hit head-on, died instantly. Its body swung around and hit the right side, totaling the vehicle.
The Jaskulas had some bumps and bruises but weren’t seriously injured. Their dog was cajoled from the backseat into the front but was more traumatized than injured.
No other vehicles were involved.
For Marie, the death of the bison spoke to the severity of the incident.
“I've witnessed bison-car strikes before, and the bison generally walks away,” she said. “Had we hit it in the rear end, it probably would have walked away, but unfortunately, we caught it in its front end. That was it for that poor guy.”
The Best Of Bad Options
Jaskula said Storm Point isn’t a spot where drivers have problems with bison, but a small herd has been lingering there for several weeks, which was “kind of unusual.”
“As a park employee, you're always watching for bison, elk, mule deer, and things like that in that area,” she said. “It’s definitely not like some of the areas of the park that are really populated with bison.”
Ironically, she said hitting the bison at 40 mph, without braking, was the best option under the circumstances. Given their truck and the traffic, the alternative could have been much worse.
“That truck has a 50-gallon auxiliary diesel tank in the back,” she said. “There was a semi-sized motorhome on our rear end, and a trail of cars behind them,” she said. “Had we slammed our brakes on, we would have been hit, and it would have been a lot worse than what we’re dealing with now.”
To add insult to injury, Jaskula said they spent the day teasing a friend and co-worker whose truck got hit by a bison that morning.
Kyle Weber was leaving Yellowstone when he encountered a bull bison on the road near Mud Volcano. He stopped to avoid hitting the bison, but it charged at his Ford Ranger anyway, denting the left side of the hood and bumper.
“We had razzed him about that Thursday afternoon,” Jaskula said. “As our luck has it, we were the next bison victim.”
Full-Time Seasonal
Losing their Dodge Ram has put the Jaskulas in a difficult position. They were going to use it to haul their fifth-wheel out of Yellowstone and onto their next seasonal gig.
Marie, who spent the summer managing the Fishing Bridge General Store, said she and her husband rotate between seasonal jobs. As such, their fifth-wheel serves as their primary residence.
“A majority of seasonal workers like us have sold our homes,” she said. “Everything we own is in our RVs. It’s your home on wheels.”
The Jaskulas already have winter work waiting for them in Moab, Utah. Without their pickup truck, they’re effectively homeless unless they can secure some housing.
“Worst-case scenario, we have my small vehicle to get our bodies where they need to go,” she said. “Our home and goods will be left behind.”
It’d be one thing if they had enough time to rent or arrange a pick-up once they are settled in Moab. In mid-October, time and traffic are against them.
The RV park where their fifth-wheel sits will close Oct. 17. Yellowstone’s East, West, and South entrances will close Oct. 31, unless winter weather forces them to close earlier.
That means the Jaskulas have less than three weeks to get their fifth-wheel out of Yellowstone. Otherwise, they won’t be able to access it until Yellowstone’s interior roads reopen in May 2027.
That’s less than ideal, especially because their entire livelihood is in their fifth-wheel.
“It's becoming a little more of a logistical challenge than I imagined it was going to be,” Marie said. “It's not a predicament where you can leave your RV and come back for it when you're ready. When the gates close, we lose access.”
One Haul At A Time
One thing the Jaskulas are putting off for now is what to do with their truck, which, in another ironic twist, probably won’t be covered by insurance.
“We had dropped our insurance down to liability for the summer while it sat around,” she said. “Thursday night was the first time we’d driven in all summer.”
Their primary concern, though, is getting their fifth-wheel to West Yellowstone, where they can safely store it for the next several months.
“Delaware North, my employer, said it can sit at their corporate warehouse indefinitely,” Marie said. “They’ve been wonderful.”
Now they just need a willing someone with a kingpin hitch system. In this instance, towing isn’t an option.
“We would be saddled with a very large towing bill,” Marie said. “Our one-mile tow the other night was $700. I can't imagine what the 70-mile tow to West Yellowstone would be, except far out of our budget.”
If someone is willing to haul it all the way to Moab, all the better, but that’s a bit much to hope for. The Jaskulas are locating seasonal employee housing while preparing to go without their home for a while.
“Needless to say, we are in a huge jam right now,” Marie said. “Life in the park may look like all sunshine and bears and rainbows, but being isolated and remote definitely presents more challenges. Our home will probably be sitting in a parking lot indefinitely.”
Cautionary Tale
For all their size and visibility, people consistently underestimate the dangers Yellowstone’s bison pose. Even experienced Yellowstone drivers like the Jaskulas can be caught off-guard, especially at night.
“They are huge,” Marie said. “They are dark. Their eyes do not reflect. And it’s an animal. It's not going to watch for its opening across the road. It goes when it wants to go.”
She hopes her ordeal, and the photos of what hitting a 2,000-pound bull bison did to her truck, will serve as a cautionary tale for anyone driving through Yellowstone at night.
“It is so dark down here right now,” she said. “There’s no artificial light in the park. Once the moon is out, there is no light down here.”
The day after their ordeal, the Jaskulas went to West Yellowstone for dinner and groceries.
Even their fortune cookie couldn’t help but point out the irony: “A surprising encounter will leave a lasting impact.”
“Isn’t that ironic? A little too late,” Marie said.
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
