Planting the seed

“Hidden” Crystal Falls on Cascade Creek. Photo: Kathleen O’Brien, October 2023.

My husband and I live in Plainfield, Connecticut. We made two quick trips to Yellowstone before retiring; the first was in 1973 as newlyweds and the second in 1987 with our three sons. We saw little during those trips, but the seed was planted.

Start of an addiction

Thank you to both

Received April 25, 2024, from Kathleen O’Brien.

IN THE GUIDEBOOK

The place to spot Crystal Falls is described on page 175, the hike to see it much closer up, on page 178, Yellowstone Treasures 6th edition.

Editor Beth Chapple at Artist Point, one of the best views of Lower Falls, August 10, 2022.

News about YellowstoneTreasures.com

Sprucing up the website provokes wonderful memories. As I was working today to update the nuggets of content and the informative blog posts on YellowstoneTreasures.com for this year’s visitors, I discovered that the “Six Hikes Near Yellowstone Lake” nugget was written exactly ten years ago to the day. That’s almost half the time since the first edition of the guidebook came out in 2002!

Trip Report

Allow me to take a trip down memory lane. Ten years ago this month my husband Niklas and I got to take a trip to Yellowstone because I was attending the annual conference of the Ninety-Nines (international women pilots), held in Bozeman, MT. A highlight of the trip was flying over Yellowstone Park for the bird’s-eye view! We did an early morning pre-brief at friendly Summit Aviation at the Bozeman International Airport in Belgrade. And then Niklas and I got to ride as passengers on Lewie Wiese’s airplane. It’s the best way to see Grand Prismatic Spring. But the flight was over all too soon.

At Country Bookshelf in Bozeman I snapped a photo of their staff pick: Yellowstone Treasures! And here I am at Artist Point on August 10, 2013. The conference only included a one-day bus trip but that was still fun. By chance our guide was Orville Bach, Jr., former ranger extraordinaire and author of Exploring the Yellowstone Backcountry, among other books.

Book Review

Since I’m sure it’s too small for you to read, here is the text on the Staff Pick card.

“Yellowstone Treasures” by Janet Chapple. Absolutely the best guide to Yellowstone available today. Excellent maps of each road section. Good descriptions of sights and things to see. Lots of background information on history and national history. I live here and I carry it whenever I go to the Park. Excellent!!
Nick

ON THIS WEBSITE: Our website is really chock full of hike ideas and geyser descriptions. If you haven’t been here before, you might want to start by sifting through the Nuggets, short articles about park features, animals, geysers, and plants.

Copyright Beth Chapple. Photos by Beth Chapple and Niklas Dellby.

Sixth edition (May 15, 2020). ISBN: 9781733103206

Special features of the sixth edition:

• Cover photo by Janet Jones of SnowMoon Ink, Cody, Wyoming
• Extensive text and diagram updates by editor Beth Chapple and geologist Jo-Ann Sherwin
• Descriptions of the new overlooks on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the new trail to the Grand Prismatic Spring overlook, Steamboat Geyser’s resurgence in March 2018, and the surprise eruption of Ear Spring in September 2018
• Map updates and one new map by Jennifer Johnston of Inspirit Cartographics.

Fifth edition (2017, reprinted 2018). ISBN: 9780985818272

Special to the fifth edition:

• Cover designed by Vicky Vaughn Shea of Ponderosa Pine Design with a photo by Stephen Michael Gryc, composer and geyser gazer, chosen as part of our summer 2016 photo contest
• Won Silver in Independent Book Publishing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards in 2018
• 65 new photos, many resulting from our photo contest or from Suzanne and David Cane
• Revisions to the glossary of geological and other scientific terms by Jo-Ann Sherwin

Fourth edition (2013, repr. 2015). ISBN: 9780970687388

Special to the fourth edition:

• Cover photo of Old Faithful Geyser by geologist and family friend Don Forsyth, continuing the theme inspired by the old Haynes guides
• Text updates by author Janet Chapple
• A dozen new pictures
• 37 maps fully revised by mapmaker extraordinaire Linton Brown
• Thorough update of the geological information and a new glossary by geologist Jo-Ann Sherwin
• Book expanded to 400 pages
• Color tabs to indicate the six sections of the park

Third edition (2009, repr. 2011, 2012). ISBN: 9780970687333

• Cover focuses on Don Forsyth’s Old Faithful Geyser photo to evoke the covers of the old Haynes guides, published almost every year from 1890 to 1966
• Won Silver in IBPA’s Benjamin Franklin Awards in 2010. One judge wrote: “The third edition is a charm. I can’t think of any way to improve this book; it is well-researched, easily accessible and shows great love of place.”

Second edition (2005, repr. 2007, 2008). ISBN: 0970687311

Special to the second edition:

• Cover features the photo of Old Faithful Geyser by geologist and family friend Don Forsyth, along with insets of black bear cubs and Tower Falls
• Author Janet Chapple updated campground information and geyser activity
• Expanded section on wolves
• Book expanded to 392 pages
• Colors for each road log section added to the tops of pages to aid in navigation

First edition (2002). ISBN: 0970687303

Special features of the first edition:

• Cover designed by Elizabeth Watson with photos of Old Faithful Geyser, fireweed, sandbar and lagoon near Yellowstone Lake, mule deer. Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, bison, and Mammoth Hot Springs
• Won Gold in Foreword Reviews’ Book of the Year Awards, 2002
• Author Janet Chapple wrote the 384-page book, from recommendations on the best sights and organizing the six road logs to the chapters on natural and human history
• Geologist and husband Dr. Bruno Giletti wrote the geology chapter and took most of the original photographs during their many years of trips to the Park
• Family friend Linton Brown creates 37 maps
• Informational sidebars are tinted according to their topic: geology and geography, human history, natural history, and park information

We sympathize with what you’re going through, whether you’re sheltering in place or working at an essential job in these risky times. So we’re happy to report that our distributor, Independent Publishers Group, has a 30% off sale on all orders via their website through April 2020. Use the code KEEPCALMANDREADON to get the discount on any of our books on IPG’s store as well as their wide selection, from children’s activities to cookbooks to escapist fiction. IPG supplies you with print or e-books, whichever you prefer.

Our books [link to IPG’s store] work as escapist armchair travel, but with a practical bent, since you can apply what you learn to a future trip. Become the tour guide for your family or other group! As Janet Jones, the cover photographer for the new edition of Yellowstone Treasures wrote me recently:

“Yellowstone Treasures is a great way to virtually visit the place Yellowstone fans love.”

See our new E-book page to buy! You can get the new book in Kindle, ePub, or PDF formats for a variety of e-readers. If you’d rather borrow the book, you can ask your library to acquire this new version. (The ePub ISBN is 9781733103213.)

The print book will ship on May 15, but you can preorder it now, such as via Bookshop, a new online bookstore with a mission to financially support independent bookstores and give back to the book community. Buy local, indie first! Or see other places to buy the print version.

While waiting, I strolled over to Veteran Geyser, “which probably derived its name from the very old sinter deposits all around,” as author Janet Chapple says in the fifth edition of the guidebook on page 238.

Veteran Geyser, morning of June 28, 2019

But behind the main pool of Veteran Geyser is a vent that has become more active in recent years. So we will be adding the phrase “recently getting a beautiful light coating of geyserite” to the description. Below you can see a more detailed view.
—Editor Beth

Fresh geyserite deposited by Veteran Geyser, June 2019

I realize that now, in my mid eighties, it is unlikely that I’ll go again in winter. As it happened, we were in the middle of the government shut-down, but, thanks to the concessionaire Xanterra, which covered the cost of grooming the roads as well as furnishing their usual pleasant rooms and good meals, we had no trouble getting around.

For potential visitors a little or a lot younger, I would still highly recommend that you go! The friends who joined me were able to handle the snowy trails around Upper Geyser Basin and Fountain Paint Pots.

Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel with snowcoaches in winter

You need to leave your car in Mammoth. That’s where you cease to encounter plowed roads, since the park has a policy of simply grooming the other snowy roads, making them suitable only for snowcoaches, snowmobiles, and a few cross-country skiers. If you don’t know what a snowcoach is, take a look at this picture from 2012. Rather than the triangular tracks we used to ride on, the coaches now have very large, low pressure tires. The ride is quite smooth.

Phone numbers for Xanterra are (866) 439-7375 and (307) 344-7311. You would have to be extra lucky to find available rooms between now and winter closure, this year on March 3rd, but think about planning way ahead for next winter.
Keep in mind that you can’t see all the park in winter—except maybe on skis. The groomed roads are limited to Mammoth to Old Faithful, Norris to Canyon, and West Yellowstone to Norris. They do try to keep the road from Mammoth out the Northeast Entrance to Cooke City plowed. Here is the link to the map showing what roads are plowed, groomed, and closed: https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/parkroads.htm.

I can’t resist crowing a bit: the snowcoach drivers and other Xanterra personnel were quick to let me know that they use and treasure my guidebook, Yellowstone Treasures, now in its fifth edition. In fact, when I sat behind the driver in one coach, he admitted to being a little nervous that he might get something wrong in his commentary. (He was superbly capable.) At the end of our trip, but before I left the snowcoach, he asked a colleague to pass the bound copy of the book (the one that Xanterra drivers share and use regularly), through the driver’s window for me to sign. I had never before seen a copy with a library-type binding!

—Author Janet Chapple

Photo credit: Jim Peaco, National Park Service, December 12, 2012.

Also, Amazon is having problems this week with distribution. Alhough they recently placed a large order from our distributor, yesterday the print book listing at Amazon read “Temporarily out of stock,” and today the message was “In stock on July 10, 2018.” (If you’d like the Kindle version, you can still buy that.) This Publishers Weekly article explains that Amazon is having trouble managing the truck deliveries from suppliers to their warehouses. And one reason for that might be their preparations for “Prime Day,” which is when Amazon Prime members see lower prices on many products. Prime Day is supposed to start at midday on July 16 this year.

Our advice to you is to buy a copy before you go. If you want it right away you have plenty of options:

1. Find an independent bookstore (see Indiebound) and shop locally, buy from them online, or find one on your way to the park. One charming store is Country Bookshelf in Bozeman, Montana.
2. Try Barnes & Noble, again either in person at a store convenient to you, or online. They often discount the price.
3. Order right from this website at our bookstore. Our service is quite fast, and of course then you are supporting the publisher directly. We also offer 20% off when you buy two or more.
4. Contact our distributor Independent Publishers Group, either online or by calling 1-800-888-4741. Best for trade buyers or when you want multiple copies.

I’ll leave you with a thought from reader Robert D. Rice, who wrote in his 5-star Amazon review on May 15, 2018: “Best guidebook I have ever read. No ambiguities, the descriptions and directions are very detailed. So many options available at every location I wish I had time to do it all. I love the focus on geology and I will enter Yellowstone almost like an old hand having studied this amazing book.”

Enjoy the park!
—Beth Chapple, Editor and Publisher

Reviewing just now the “Bibliographic Essay” of this book, I am proud to come across these sentences: “Yellowstone guidebooks (the first one appeared in 1873) are legion. Janet Chapple’s Yellowstone Treasures (Providence: Granite Peak Publications, 2002) is my recent favorite in this category.