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John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints |
Although best known for Old Faithful geyser, Yellowstone has many other places of considerable interest to explore.
There are a quite a number of other geysers, although unlike Old Faithful most are highly irregular in their eruptions.
There are many other geothermal features such as hot springs, pools of boiling water and mud pools.
The seemingly endless forest in the park is most impressive. Photograph (127KB).
The roads which run alongside the various rivers in the park are very scenic and interesting, as are the roads alongside Yellowstone Lake. Photograph (130KB).
The views from the various overlooks of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River and its Upper and Lower Falls are most memorable.
During a visit to the park you are quite likely to encounter some wildlife such as elk, deer, moose, buffalo and maybe a bear. If you come across a group of cars stopped on the road for no obvious reason then they have probably seen some animals.
In the summer of 1999 we encountered a large herd of buffalo on and alongside the road between West Yellowstone and Madison Junction. It was a wonderful experience to see so many buffalo together, including youngsters. Some were enjoying wallowing in the dust. However, the buffalo roam freely within the park and I cannot guarantee that you will always see them in this area.
Don't expect Yellowstone to offer you many views of lofty snow-capped mountain peaks from far below or any views of valleys from high above. For the former the Grand Teton National Park (south of Yellowstone) will surely more than satisfy most people's desires and for the latter the Bear Tooth Highway (the northeastern approach road to Yellowstone), will do likewise.
The layout of the main roads in the park is roughly that of a figure-of-eight. There are various entrances around the perimeter of the park. A good road map marked with the location of the various places of interest, such as that provided on the leaflet which is given to visitors upon entering the park, is essential.
For a day trip based on Jackson, Wyoming we would advise starting by heading west over the short but scenic Teton Pass into Idaho, then going north via Ashton to West Yellowstone, then back to Jackson via Yellowstone Park and the Grand Teton National Park (although as stated on the Grand Teton page, that park deserves at least a couple of days in its own right).
There are two possible routes through the southern part of Yellowstone from West Yellowstone to the South Entrance:
The roads alongside both the Madison River and the Firehole River are scenic and interesting.
There is a short walk available at the Fountain Paint Pots, which are pools of boiling water with different colours.
At Old Faithful the expected time of the next eruption of the geyser is posted at the Old Faithful Lodge. The time between eruptions varies from around 35 minutes to about 95 minutes but is normally just over an hour. Viewing an eruption is an experience not to be forgotten.
At Norris Geyser Basin there is a short but fairly steep walk down into the basin itself, which is well worthwhile if only to experience the incredible chemistry lab smell! You can also walk to some other geysers in the opposite direction to the basin.
At Canyon Village's Visitor Centre there is a very interesting new exhibition entitled "Where The Buffalo Roam" which explains the history of the buffalo (technically called bison) and also provides details of the current controversy regarding whether Yellowstone's buffalo should be allowed to wander outside of the Park. Free entry.
At Canyon Village be sure to take the North Rim Drive one-way loop road. From the main crossroads head east past the Visitor Centre for this road - it isn't all that clearly marked. Along this loop road there are various lookout points over the most impressive canyon from its northern side. Some of these lookout points lie at the end of short spur roads; some involve short walks from their parking areas. There is also a separate two-way spur road on the southern side of the river, the South Rim Drive, which also has a number of excellent lookout points. At several of the lookout points on both sides of the river the Upper or Lower Falls can be clearly seen. It is essential to park and explore the lookout points on foot since you cannot see much if anything of the canyon from the roads. The sheer walls of the canyon are coloured yellow, however I seem to recollect reading somewhere that the river and hence the park actually derive their names not from these cliffs but from another area much further downstream. Due to the sheer drops, be sure to closely supervise children at the overlooks.
The road alongside the western shore of Yellowstone Lake from Lake Village to West Thumb is highly scenic. The lake itself is huge. There is also an excellent view of the lake from outside the Visitor Centre at Fishing Bridge (near Lake Village).
Although each of these above trips only covers a relatively small portion of the park, they are both still extremely worthwhile.
Because of the distances involved it is probably best to also explore Yellowstone on a journey through it from one overnight stopping place to another as well as on a round trip from a fixed base. Many of the roads in Yellowstone are slow and you need time to explore each stopping point on foot.
Take time to explore to get the most out of this park. Because of its size there is a tendency to want to drive through quickly without stopping which must be resisted. It will take several days just to drive round the park and see the famous sights; a more detailed visit could easily take a week or two.
The park closes with the first major snowfall of autumn, which normally occurs in October but occasionally can come as early as late September. When visiting in June we have only encountered problems with roads blocked by snow on one occasion and that was regarded as very unusual. During most of our other visits at the same time of the year we have had excellent, warm weather, although in 1998 it snowed hard and was quite cold in Jackson and the Tetons the day before.
The official park map contains the following information regarding winter road closures, which are presumably typical dates and subject to variation:
A few years ago wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone. One of the reasons for doing this was to help reduce the number of elk and buffalo. Nearby farmers and ranchers have raised objections to this scheme, claiming that the wolves might be attacking their livestock.
There is currently a controversy regarding whether Yellowstone's buffalo (bison) should be allowed to roam outside the park boundaries. There is a fear amongst local ranchers that they could pass brucellosis to cattle but so far there have been no recorded cases of this happening.
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Most recently modified 3-Aug-04