It is tempting to think of Yellowstone National Park as a huge drive-thru zoo, a sort of San Diego Wild Animal Park writ large. Park your vehicle and you’ll soon discover – as my wife, infant son, mom and dad did this past spring – that there is no better way to experience Greater Yellowstone than via self-propelled exploration.

Since less than one percent of Yellowstone visitors apply for a backcountry use permit, it’s easy to ditch the masses and discover your own private Wonderland, as early explorers dubbed the region. To enrich your experience even further, join a NPS Ranger-led Adventure hike.

What follows is a sampler of my family’s favorite kid-friendly Yellowstone excursions, arranged from easiest to most challenging. All these hikes feature easy access to Yellowstone’s most famous superlatives: the world’s greatest concentration of hyperactive thermal features and plenty of opportunities to spot some of the region’s abundant free-roaming wildlife.

[Follow the links below to related sections of my book.]

Historic Mammoth Hot Springs and boardwalk loops
Start your counterclockwise tour of Yellowstone’s Grand Loop Road in the parks’ top left corner, at the NPS headquarters, Mammoth Hot Springs. After a brief self-guided spin around the Fort Yellowstone Historic District – where you’ll learn about the US Army’s 1886-1918 stewardship of the world’s first national park – head for the adjacent hot spring terraces, steering clear of resident elk who blanket the lawns during the autumn rut.

A network of handicap-accessible boardwalks offers an intimate look at northern Yellowstone’s most approachable thermal area. While the park’s most famous geysers, like Old Faithful, wow audiences with their dramatic antics and instantly gratifying performances, the sculptural nature of Mammoth’s mercurial hot-spring terraces are impressive more for their development on a geologic time scale. Impatient kids love the steam, gurgling and Dr. Seuss-like sinter formations.

Old Faithful, bragging rights and a must-see icon
If you haven’t seen the most famous geyser in the world’s most active geyser basin, can you really say that you’ve visited Yellowstone?

Visit Old Faithful during the full moon or make the 1-mile climb to Observation Point for a unique perspective on the iconic grand dame and an expansive panorama of the steamy Upper Geyser Basin. Time your visit with an eruption (the average interval hovers around 90 minutes) by checking the predicted schedule at a Visitor Center. If you’ve got time to kill, grab a snack or drink, and check out the lobby and whimsical parkitecture of the Old Faithful Inn.

Old Faithful Tips: If you’re staying at the Inn, ask about joining the bellhops as they raise and lower the flags each morning and evening – two lucky guests get to climb into the Crow’s Nest most days, which is otherwise off limits. Even-numbered rooms in the east wing of the “Old House” face the geyser, but the views can be obscured on the lower level by lodgepole pine saplings.

One little-known way to score a last-minute room at the Inn is by calling to inquire if there are any handicap-accessible rooms – by law, they are released to the general public inside of two weeks of the check-in date.

Lone Star Geyser, the antithesis of Old Faithful experience
For the antithesis of the crowded Old Faithful geyser gazing experience, take a well-shaded stroll or 15-minute bike ride along a flat, abandoned road that traces the Firehole River to one of Yellowstone’s most dependable and impressive backcountry geysers.

You may hear Lone Star Geyser before you actually see its sparkling jet of skyward water. Between eruptions, during its noisy steam phase, the massive geyser cone can be heard more than a mile away. Regular eruptions, which usually last 20-30 minutes, begin about every 3 hours, with minor eruptions around 30 minutes prior to the main event. Splashing preplay starts up to an hour before eruptions. The Old Faithful Visitor Center posts eruption predictions. With kids in tow, pack a picnic and allow a couple of hours for a leisurely 2.5-mile hike in.

For an unforgettable first night in the wilderness, camp out just beyond – yet within earshot of – the geyser basin at one of the three nearby OA-series backcountry campsites (permit and reservation required) along the Shoshone Lake Trail. Moonlight hiking along the paved trail to Lone Star is another frisson-inducing option.

There’s something positively primeval about Yellowstone that energizes all ages and generations. Maybe it’s the strident bugles of mating elk that echo across the broad valleys in the fall, or the sulphurous, rotten-egg odors that pervade many thermal areas. In any case, the sense that the Earth’s superheated molten core is uniquely close to the park’s surface is always palpable.

In the early 1800s, when pioneering mountain men dispatched dramatic reports about the region’s “thundering volcanoes” and hyperactive hydrothermal features to their editors back East, the response was uniformly, “Sorry, we don’t publish fiction.”

Rambling around a small slice of this 2.2-million-acre park’s wild assortment of otherworldly attractions never fails to reveal that Yellowstone is indeed larger than life.

About the Author
Andrew Dean Nystrom has contributed text and images to two dozen Fodor’s and Lonely Planet travel guidebooks, covering locales as varied as Antarctica, Alaska, Mexico, Bolivia, the US Southwest, and Argentine and Chilean Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. When not out rambling, he nests with his wife and son near a wild stretch of Los Angeles River. By day, he’s Senior Producer of the Los Angeles Times Travel website. Email him your Yellowstone and Grand Teton trip planning questions and feedback via yellowstonehiker @ gmail.com

By Andrew Dean Nystrom, author of the National Outdoor Book
Award-winning Top Trails Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks: Must-Do Hikes for Everyone (Wilderness Press; 2nd edition forthcoming Spring 2009)

[This story appeared in the July 2008 issue of the LongitudeBooks.com monthly e-newsletter. All photos in the post are courtesy of the National Park Service.]

On the heels of reports of a grizzly bear crawling into bed with campers just outside of Yellowstone National Park’s northeast entrance last week,  the second black bear within the past two weeks was put down by Yellowstone park rangers.

[Open a Google map of the incident location.]

After one of the harshest winters in a decade [link to my pre-Memorial Day 2008 family trip report], all this ravenous bear activity is far from unexpected. Here’s the National Park Service press release from today:

“Rangers in Yellowstone National Park removed a 130-pound sub-adult male black bear because it became conditioned to human food, posing a continuing threat to the safety of park visitors and employees.  This is the second conditioned black bear to be euthanized since July 10. [link to earlier NPS press release]

The bear had been getting food from hikers’ backpacks in the Hellroaring and Yellowstone River drainages in the north end of the park. There have been multiple incidents involving this bear damaging property and obtaining human foods in the Hellroaring and Yellowstone River drainages.  The bear could be identified by his distinct brown/black mixed coloring.

Repeated efforts to trap the bear were unsuccessful.  Late yesterday afternoon, however, park staff caught this bear in the act of ripping into the packs of a large group of backcountry hikers.  Based on his aggressive behavior, lack of fear of people, and its success at getting human food, the decision was made to immediately euthanize the bear.  The area was cleared of all visitors and the bear was shot.

Park regulations require you to stay a hundred yards – the length of a football field – away from black and grizzly bears at all times.  The best defense is to stay a safe distance from bears and use your binoculars, telescope, or telephoto lens to get a closer look.

If approached by a bear in a picnic area or campsite, gather all your food, cooking utensils and garbage and get inside your vehicle or hard-sided pick-up camper, trailer or recreational vehicle. When not in use, food, garbage, barbecue grills and other attractants must be stored in hard-sided vehicles or bear-proof food storage boxes or hung at least 10 feet above the ground and 4 feet out from the trunk of the tree.  These actions help keep bears from becoming conditioned to human foods and park visitors and their property safe.

Due to deep snows last winter, in combination with the very late spring we experienced this year, many bears are in poor shape making it more likely that they will seek human foods.  Once bears become conditioned to human foods they are much more likely to damage property and injure people in their efforts to obtain human foods.”

Have you ever had any close bear encounters? Share them below…

[Shoreline of Phelps Lake in LSR Preserve, Grand Teton NP / NPS photo]

A June 21 news update from the National Park Service (NPS). Stay tuned for more on the trails in this wonderful new addition to Grand Teton National Park, which I recently had the pleasure of exploring with my family while researching for the forthcoming Spring 2009 update of Top Trails Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks.

“Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott and the staff of Grand Teton National Park, the family and associates of Laurance S. Rockefeller, former Assistant Secretary of State John Turner, and approximately 175 guests joined together on Saturday, June 21st, for a dedication ceremony to mark the grand opening of the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve Center.

“The new interpretive center – the first platinum-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified building to be constructed in the National Park System – offers visitors a distinctive opportunity to learn about the natural world while exploring the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve property in Grand Teton National Park.

“Eight miles of woodland trails wind throughout the 1,106-acre preserve. These trails have been open since November of 2007, when the property transferred to the National Park Service. The trail system is accessible year-round, and the new 7,500-square-foot center will be open annually from May through September.

“The Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve is a reflection of Rockefeller’s life-long commitment to making areas of natural scenic beauty accessible to the public. He strongly believed that nature has the power to restore and sustain the human spirit. It was his hope that, by experiencing this spiritual and emotional renewal, visitors to the Preserve would become aware of the importance of nature in their own lives and acknowledge their roles in acting as good stewards of the land.

“During the Saturday ceremony, Lucy Rockefeller Waletzky said her father thought of “mind-body-spirit as one word,” because people would be “physically and emotionally renewed at the same time.” Clayton Wesley Frye, longtime senior associate of Rockefeller, stated that Laurance was the “intellectual father” of the preserve, and he prioritized “removing the hand of man” to return the preserve to its natural state. John Turner told of floating the Snake River with Laurance and Mary Rockefeller “on a beautiful fall day with blazing colors,” and having Rockefeller hint at his desire to return the JY Ranch to its natural condition. Turner went on to say that “Laurance hoped people would restore their spirits in the wilderness setting.”

“Rockefeller also believed that managing natural areas requires a careful balance between preservation and public access. This balance is consistent with the mission of the National Park Service, which will manage the Preserve in such a way as to allow for public enjoyment of the place while preventing overcrowding and overuse of the trails and rest areas. In this way, the opportunity for visitors to experience the extraordinary beauty of the area will be available to future generations.

“The primary visitor experience at the preserve is hiking a network of trails that provides access to views of Phelps Lake and the Tetons, as well as other scenic and ecological features. This experience is supported by the newly opened Center, which orients visitors and provides a series of sensory exhibits designed to make visitors more aware of nature on many levels.

“The Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve Center is situated to capture views of the Teton Range, and the interpretive experience within the building has been carefully choreographed to make visitors more aware of natural elements found on the preserve. Visitors move through a series of sensory experiences linked with a poem by esteemed nature writer Terry Tempest Williams. These visual, auditory and tactile explorations include recordings of Rockefeller speaking about conservation, high definition nature videos, large-scale photography, and a soundscape room with nature recordings from the preserve. There is also a resource room that provides a place for visitors to relax and learn about the preserve. Comfortable seating, tables, chairs and a fireplace invite visitors to sit and explore books, albums and maps. The center and restroom buildings were designed and constructed to be a model National Park Service facility by using the latest environmental technologies and sustainable techniques. A brochure explaining these attributes is available at the centers orientation desk.

“The eight-mile trail network has been carefully designed to lead visitors on self-directed hikes to the most scenic and ecologically significant areas of the Preserve, including Lake Creek, Phelps Lake and the adjacent ridges. Visitors walking the 2.5-mile primary loop experience views of Phelps Lake and the Teton Range from a series of rest areas where they may sit and enjoy the views, observe wildlife and touch the water. Over five miles of secondary trails lead visitors through remote areas of the preserve and to a series of overlooks along the glacial ridges. The network also includes an accessible trail a third of a mile long that provides an opportunity for visitors with limited mobility to experience the Lake Creek riparian community.

“The Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve is the former JY Ranch and served as a longtime summer retreat for the Rockefeller family. Between July 2004 and May 2007, thirty buildings, as well as the roads, utilities and other structures were removed, and the developed areas were reclaimed to blend with the natural landscape. Approximately half of the structures, including the oldest residential cabins and dining and recreation buildings, were moved to a new family property outside Grand Teton National Park. The remaining structures were donated to the Park Service for housing and service facilities at several sites within the park. The extensive reclamation enhanced wildlife habitat, reduced non-native vegetation, and reconnected fragmented wetlands.

“The Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve is open to the public seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors can call 307.739.3654 for information on programs or facilities.”

“A 12-year-old Pennsylvania boy was flipped in the air by a bison near the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone this morning.

A mature bull bison, apparently annoyed at the close proximity of the boy, tossed him approximately 10 feet in the air. Witnesses said the boy was posing with members of his family within 1-2 feet of the animal despite repeated warnings from other visitors. The incident occurred just off the trail adjacent to the Uncle Tom’s Trail parking lot along the South Rim Drive of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

The bull’s horns did not puncture the boy. The only outward injuries he suffered were abrasions possibly received from hitting the ground after the fall.

Because the boy complained of abdominal pain, he was transported by ambulance to the Lake Clinic and then flown to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls. The name and hometown of the injured juvenile aren’t being released. His current condition is not available.

Visitors are urged to be very cautious around the park’s wildlife. Extremely serious injuries or death can result from approaching wild animals too closely even if they appear docile. Park regulations require that a minimum distance of 100 yards be maintained from bears and wolves, and 25 yards from all other animals.”

“Yellowstone’s 45th parallel sign, a popular tourist stop on the North Entrance Road, has been moved to a new location.

The 45th parallel is an imaginary line that circles the globe at the point halfway between the equator and the North Pole. This same line passes through Minneapolis-St. Paul; Ottawa, Canada; Venice, Italy; and the northern tip of the Japanese islands. In most of Yellowstone, it is slightly north of the Montana-Wyoming border.

For years, Yellowstone visitors have stopped on the road near the Boiling River parking area between Gardiner and Mammoth Hot Springs to have their picture taken with the landmark sign. The spot was so popular in the summer that vehicle and pedestrian congestion in the area became a safety issue. It prompted managers to look for an alternate location for the popular “photo op”.

Using GPS technology and keeping safety in mind, the sign has been moved nearly a mile north to a small parking area that will provide not only a much safer, but, as it turns out, also a more geographically accurate location. While placement on the exact site where the 45th crosses the road was not an option, it is now within approximately 1200 feet of the correct position.

Contrary to popular belief, the majority of the Montana/Wyoming state line does not follow the 45th parallel through the park. The “Entering Montana” and “Entering Wyoming” signs will stay in their current locations near the Boiling River parking area.” More Yellowstone National Park news.

For the first six months of the year, the park recorded 947,647 visitors. While that’s down slightly from last year’s record of 978,235 visitors, this is the second highest visitation level ever recorded for the first six months of the year. It remains well above the 889,234 visitors recorded for the first six months of 2006.

Yellowstone had a record 3,151,342 visitors in 2007. The previous record was set in 1992 at 3,144,405 visitors. The bulk of the park’s visitation occurs May through September.

Detailed visitor information figures are available online at http://www2.nature.nps.gov/mpur/logon.cfm“