Yellowstone: Best Places to See

Why is Old Faithful so famous? Will I see a grizzly bear? Are there any yellow stones in the park? How are the wolves doing? What is a mud pot?

Yellowstone National Park, the first National Park my family visited, is a 2.2 million acre natural wonderland, where for every question answered, a handful of new inquiries seem to arise. It’s a place where bald eagles soar, the buffalo roam and a very special geyser spews forth, seemingly on cue.

Spend a day, spend a week or spend a month: you will always be thirsting for more in Yellowstone. There is simply so much to see and do. The most difficult question of all: where to start?

• Steam rises from the hot spring at Yellowstone National Park.
• Rick McCharles

Perhaps the best place to begin your research is on the National Park Service Web site. It is comprehensive and chock-full of practical information, photos, videos and checklists for individuals or families, backcountry adventurers or day-trippers.

Study the maps. Determine what intrigues you. Most visitors, particularly those traveling with children, will be interested in seeing the highlights and then delving deeper into the areas and aspects of the park that strike their fancy.

What’s New at the Park

Yellowstone’s new Canyon Visitor Education Center opens this month (Aug. 25, 2008) and coincides with the 90th anniversary of the National Park Service. It’s the first major center development at the park in 30 years. The center’s focus will be on the park's geology and underlying “supervolcano.”

The exhibits will include a large globe which rotates on a film of water showing the location of volcanic hot spots around the world; a room-sized, fiber optic and LED animated topographic relief map of the geologic history of the park, programmed to illustrate eruptions, glacier movements and lava flows; and life-size dioramas of wildlife found in Hayden Valley.

Another new education center is currently in the works for Old Faithful, set to open later this year.

Grand Geysers and Hot Springs

Speaking of Old Faithful, there are more geysers in Yellowstone than anywhere else on the planet, and this American icon is the most famous of them all. Add to her glory numerous others, big and small, and there are plenty of ‘hot spots’ you won’t want to miss.

• Buffalos roam Yellowstone.
• Shellie Raney

The Upper Geyser Basin is home to the largest numbers of these fragile features in the park. Within one square mile there are at least 150 hydrothermal wonders.

Old Faithful

They say Old Faithful has been earning her name since 1870. Few visitors are willing to visit the park without at least stopping by to see her spew her stuff. You can expect to witness the world-famous eruption about every hour and a half. When she blows, the crowd cheers and cameras pop. To learn more about Old Faithful, watch these videos prepared by Park Service guides.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Visitors are awed by the beauty of this canyon, carved by the mighty Yellowstone River. Twenty miles long, the river plunges over two waterfalls in the first mile. The Upper Falls is 109 feet high and the Lower Falls, sometime called Yellowstone Falls, plunges 308 feet. This is a popular spot among park visitors, and its magnificence helped convince Congress to protect Yellowstone as the world’s first national park. Keep an extra eye on children in this area. The trails are narrow, the soil is soft and crumbly and the drop offs are dramatic.