The Guidebook : The Fort Collins Coloradoan's Interview with the Author

Author loved Yellowstone as a child

Author Janet Chapple started her relationship with Yellowstone National Park in 1939.

Chapple's father worked during the summers of 1939 and 1942 as a transportation agent for the park, and the family lived in a bunkhouse behind Old Faithful Inn.

"My parents were music teachers and they didn't have enough income in the summer," Chapple said. "My mother played for tea at the Old Faithful Inn and they were in a dance band. . . . I really didn't know how lucky I was until later."

This childhood encounter with the park has blossomed into a lifelong fascination for Chapple, culminating in her new guidebook, "Yellowstone Treasures: The Traveler's Companion to the National Park" (Granite Peak Publications, $19.95).

Chapple used the Haynes Guides to Yellowstone, published from 1890 to 1996, as models for the guidebook, organizing it by park entrances and listing points of interest according to their mileage from major road junctions.

In addition to interesting sites and hiking trails ranging from a half mile to 6 miles, the book includes information about human and geological history, and flora and fauna, said Chapple, a former Billings, Mont., resident who now lives in Rhode Island.

"Even walking for short distances, you can see so much more than from the road," Chapple said.

The book, which has won numerous awards, is thorough enough to use to plan your trip and use while you are in the park, Chapple said.

"I hope that it will be used for many trips," she said.