Yellowstone National Park

#7120 Celebrate the New Year at Old Faithful & Mammoth Hot Springs *
#2809 Greater Yellowstone: Heart of the Continent *
#1648 The Grand Loop: Tracing Yellowstne's History *

*these programs stay in park lodgings...most Montana Western programs explore Yellowstone National Park for 3 full field days, staying in a nearby community (Gardiner or West Yellowstone).
Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872 as America's first national park.  At 2.2 million acres, the park encompasses a variety of habitats from near-desert vegetation near the North Entrance to the lodgepole pine forests that cover 60 percent of the park, to marshy riparian areas, pothole lakes, broad meadows and the subalpine life zone found on Mount Washburn.  This environment supports a dynamic array of wildlife, thus providing one of the best wildlife viewing opportunities in North America.  See bison, elk, pronghorn antelope, waterfowl,  birds of prey, osprey, bear, moose, wolf, coyote, fox, pika, marmot and more.


Yellowstone's caldera is a 30 by 45 mile basin containing the thermal features Yellowstone is so well known for: geysers, hot springs, fumaroles and mud pots.  The park contains about 10,000, or almost half, of the world's hydrothermal features.

Yellowstone Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake in the U.S. that is above 7,000 feet, covers 136 square miles and is 20 miles long by 14 miles wide.  Birthed high in the Absaroka Mountain Range, beautiful Yellowstone River winds its way northward through the park, from the northern tip of Yellowstone Lake to a mighty grand canyon where its waters plunge 1,000 feet over the Lower Falls.  It continues north gathering wondrous waterways including Tower Creek, Lamar River, Hellroaring and Blacktail Deer Creeks and passes through yet another awesome gorge, the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Lodgings for some Yellowstone Park programs (i.e.Greater Yellowstone: Heart of the Continent, The Grand Loop: Tracing Yellowstone's History) are in historic hotels or lodges; meals in hotel and lodge restaurants, box lunches in the field. 

Check out the Yellowstone National Park Homepage at:

www.nps.gov/yell/