Destination Guidebook for Yellowstone Natl Park, Wyoming
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Yellowstone is the oldest national park in the world—and still the most famous. It has gorgeous mountains, abundant wildlife and placid lakes set within a multicolored land of steam and waterfalls. The unique qualities of the area were recognized when Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872, 18 years before Wyoming became a state.
Yellowstone is best known for its large number of geothermal features—steaming mud pots, fumaroles, hot springs and active geysers, including Old Faithful. The park contains more than 10,000 thermal sites, more than in all the rest of the world, and new geysers and other features emerge constantly. Yellowstone Park also contains fossil forests, a volcanic-glass mountain and several spectacular waterfalls.
The breathtaking scenery and the possibilities of unforgettable wildlife encounters (moose, elk, trout, bears, wolves) make this a must-see area. Hike one of the many trails to an isolated waterfall or geyser and enjoy the wildflowers, landscape features and wildlife along the way.
With so much to see, Yellowstone now has problems of overcrowding. There are crowds of people and crowds of cars, but most visitors never stray far from the road. Try to plan your travel for an off time or a "shoulder" season. Many visitors find a trip in late spring or early fall gives them a great Yellowstone experience without the crowds.
Adventurous travelers visit in winter, when access is limited and most travel is by skis and snowmobile. Consider spending a few days at one end of the park and a few at the opposite end. This will reduce your point-to-point driving time, leaving you more time for sightseeing, hiking and soaking up the scenery.
When planning your trip, keep in mind that all Yellowstone restaurants, retail outlets and accommodations (hotels, cabins and campsites) are managed by concessionaire Xanterra Parks & Resorts. You can make reservations for lodging and some restaurants in the park with one phone call to Xanterra. Phone 307-344-7311. Toll-free 866-439-7375. http://www.travelyellowstone.com.
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Sights—Old Faithful; Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone; Tower Falls.
Museums—The Buffalo Bill Historical Center; the Yellowstone Art Museum and its "Montana Collection."
Memorable Meals—The Lake Yellowstone Hotel Dining Room for delicious appetizers; Maxwell's in Cody for its turkey-bacon-provolone sandwich; the Old Faithful Inn Dining Room for its scrumptious dinner buffet.
Walks—A ranger-led hike; trails at Upper Geyser Basin and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Especially for Kids—Yellowstone Park's Junior Ranger Program. Yellowstone covers an area the size of the states of Rhode Island and Delaware. Most of the park lies in the state of Wyoming, with thin strips to the north and west that are part of Montana or Idaho. Despite its concentration of thermal wonders, the park is more than geysers and mud pots. Surprisingly, it contains several vegetation zones, ranging from the northern desert found between Gardiner and Mammoth to the alpine tundra of Mount Washburn. In between are grasslands, forests, marshy riverbanks and alpine lakes.
The North Entrance from Gardiner, Montana, and the West Entrance from West Yellowstone, Montana, are the most accessible. The East Entrance from the Wapiti Valley and the Northeast Entrance from Cooke City and Red Lodge are more isolated and see less traffic. The South Entrance connects Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. Getting your bearings within the park is fairly easy. The park's main road—called the Grand Loop—is a figure eight that can be accessed at several points. The park is divided into five basic areas: Mammoth, Roosevelt, Canyon, Lake and Old Faithful, and services are situated at various junctions that are designated as "villages."
Dubbed "the most beautiful roadway in America" by On the Road correspondent Charles Kuralt, the Beartooth Highway, between Cooke City and Red Lodge, climbs to an astounding 10,947 ft/3400 m above sea level. Driving its dramatic switchbacks is a "must do" for Yellowstone visitors.
When traveling to, from and within the park, it's always smart to check for closures and delays. The roads going into and out of the park may be closed for construction, weather or safety reasons; before driving to the park, call ahead to confirm that the entrance you plan to use is open. The roads within the park were not built for the volume, speed and weight of today's traffic. Harsh winters and short construction seasons make road construction in Yellowstone a perennial effort. For current road information, call 307-344-7381. The geothermal activity at Yellowstone began more than 600,000 years ago with a cataclysmic volcanic eruption that deposited a layer of ash across much of North America. What remained was a caldera, 30 mi/48 km wide by 45 mi/72 km long, and a treasure trove of thermal anomalies that continue to be fueled by subterranean volcanic activity. Evidence of human habitation in the area can be traced back as far as 6000-9000 BC. Archaeological research indicates that groups of Shoshone lived within the park during the past 1,500 years and that they were present in the area when white explorers first visited.
In the early 1800s, explorers and adventurers pushed west across the plains into the Rocky Mountains. In 1807, the Missouri Fur Trading Company sent John Colter, a former member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, on a solo expedition of the Yellowstone area. With this journey, Colter became the first of many white men to tell vibrant tales of boiling rivers and holes in the earth that spewed water and steam. When the explorers' accounts appeared in newspapers, the public treated them as the tall tales of men who had spent too much time alone in the woods. Even in the 1830s, when well-known mountain man Jim Bridger told of waterfalls that spouted up, there were not many believers. In 1870, a group led by Henry Washburn, surveyor-general of the Montana Territory, documented the wonders of Yellowstone; in 1871, Congress appointed the U.S. Geological Survey head, Ferdinand Hayden, to officially explore the area. He was accompanied by artist Thomas Moran and photographer William Jackson, who produced the first pictorial renderings of Yellowstone's geologic wonders. In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant established Yellowstone as the world's first national park.
By 1895, annual visitation was more than 5,000. A railway spur came to the north side of the park in 1883, which connected to stagecoaches that carried visitors around the Grand Loop, stopping at notable sights and staying at grand hotels, including Old Faithful Inn and Lake Yellowstone Hotel, constructed for the purpose. By 1915, the first automobiles appeared, and road construction increased.
Throughout the ensuing decades, Yellowstone has been designated a Biosphere Reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park hit the headlines in 1988 when three months of drought set the stage for the worst fire season ever: More than one-third of the park's acreage was damaged by fire until September snowfalls finally snuffed the inferno. Yellowstone was in the spotlight in 1995 over the reintroduction of wolves and in 2000 over the controversy about snowmobile restrictions. Today, the snowmobile controversy continues. The earth's crust at Yellowstone is thinner than anywhere else on earth, only 1 mi/1.6 km, compared to 5 mi/8 km at most points on the earth's mantle.
Hot pools are not designed for a relaxing soak—their average temperature is 160 F/70 C. Far from being barren, they are inhabited by thermophiles, bacterial life-forms that thrive in the hot water.
The explosion of the Yellowstone volcano deposited more ash than any volcano at any time in history. Traces of ash from the eruption can be found from the Midwest to the Pacific, from Canada to Mexico.
You'll hear the words bison and buffalo used interchangeably. Both are correct: Bison is the species name for the animal that is native to Europe and America. Buffalo is a term for American bison.
Bison congregate around the hot, smelly sulfur pits, even in hot weather. Why? The odor repels biting insects, something you'll appreciate, too.
When visiting communities near Yellowstone, watch for celebrities. Jeff Bridges, Peter Fonda and Dennis Quaid all own a piece of the area of Montana known as Paradise Valley, an aptly named vale that stretches north from Gardiner to Livingston. Harrison Ford calls Jackson Hole, Wyoming, home.
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Editor's Choice of Luxury, Deluxe, and Value priced hotels in Yellowstone Natl Park, Wyoming:
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