Park Information : Recommended Sights
If you'd like, open the Park Map
in a new window as you read this.
On your first or second visit to Yellowstone Park, you'll want to see the most important features. Here are some essentials: hot springs and geysers, scenic places, a historic building, waterfalls. The must-sees are mostly clustered around the Old Faithful Village and Canyon Junction areas, but that's not to say that the rest of the park isn't wonderful, too. I could rhapsodize about the Mammoth Hot Springs area, the Lamar Valley (left), Norris Geyser Basin. But the park is so varied and so large that you simply have to choose unless you have the whole summer.
Within walking distance of Old Faithful Geyser are Grand Geyser, Beauty and Chromatic pools, Riverside Geyser (below), Castle Geyser (right), and nearby Crested Pool. All the geysers mentioned here erupt predictably. Many others are fascinating when they erupt, but you can't count on them.
Within a few miles of Old Faithful are still more interesting hydrothermal features. They're along Firehole Lake Drive, in Midway Geyser Basin, in Biscuit Basin, and in Black Sand Basin. The photo on this postcard (right) of Emerald Pool in Black Sand Basin was taken circa 1920.
Two advantages to taking the one-way Firehole Lake Drive are that its features are visible from your car or on very short walkways and that superb Great Fountain Geyser (left) will erupt for you if you're patient. Take books, games, and good company with you to wait for this one! The other big geysers to see along this drive are White Dome and Pink Cone.
There is nothing in the world quite like Old Faithful Inn, dating from 1904, with its 80-foot-high (25 m) central lobby roof ridge and its native stone and gnarled and twisted pine interior and exterior details. There are about 325 rooms available in the center section (shown at right) and the east and west wings. Look inside even if you don't plan to stay there.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River is another must-see. There are no fewer than seven lookouts for viewing this incomparably colorful canyon and its waterfalls. Of these, the most awe-inspiring have got to be Artist Point, Inspiration Point (at right), and Grand View.
If waterfalls are your thing, then besides Upper and Lower falls (pictured at left, below) at Canyon, you'll want to be sure to stop at Tower Fall (below right) and small but lovely Moose Falls just inside the South Entrance.
This is only an introduction to the wonders of Yellowstone. For much more, see Yellowstone Treasures: The Traveler's Companion to the National Park.
Copyright 2002–2007. All Rights Reserved.
The postcards of Emerald Pool and Great Fountain Geyser were published by the Detroit Publishing Co. The photos of Castle Geyser and Old Faithful Inn are by Leslie Kilduff, the photo showing the view from Inspiration Point is by Janet Chapple, and the other three photos on this page are by Bruno Giletti.