Major Public Agencies
National Park Service (NPS) nps.gov
Phone numbers for specific divisions are listed below. See tinyurl.com/national-parks-pass for details on buying a National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Annual Pass ($80).
National Park Foundation
888-467-2757, 202-354-6460, nationalparks.org
Yellowstone National Park nps.gov/yell
General visitor information: 307-344-7381, TTY 307-344-2386
Albright Visitor Center: 307-344-2263
Bechler Ranger Station: 406-581-7074
Canyon Visitor Center: 307-344-2550
Fishing Bridge Visitor Center: 307-344-2450
Grant Village Visitor Center: 307-344-2650
Madison Information and Junior Ranger Station: 307-344-2821
Norris Information Station: 307-344-2812
Old Faithful Visitor Center: 307-344-2751
West Yellowstone Multiagency Visitor Center: 307-344-2876
Central Backcountry Office: 307-344-2160, YELL_Backcountry_Office@nps.gov
Recorded camping and lodging report: 307-344-2114
Beartooth Highway road conditions: 888-285-4636
Yellowstone National Park road conditions: 307-344-2117
Lake Hospital: 307-242-7241
Mammoth Medical Clinic: 307-344-7965
Old Faithful Medical Clinic: 307-545-7325
Park lost and found: 307-344-2109; lodging lost and found: 307-344-5387
nps.gov/grte, facebook.com/grandtetonnps
P.O. Drawer 170, Moose, WY 83012-0170
General visitor information: 307-739-3300 or 307-739-3600, TDD 307-739-3400
Colter Bay Visitor Center: 307-739-3594
Craig Thomas Discovery & Visitor Center: 307-739-3399
Flagg Ranch Information Center: 307-543-2372
Jenny Lake Ranger Station: 307-739-3343
Jenny Lake Visitor Center: 307-739-3392
Backcountry Permits Office: 307-739-3602 or 307-739-3309, fax 307-739-3438
Camping and lodging information: 307-739-3603
Climbing information and permits: 307-739-3604
Grand Teton Medical Clinic: 307-543-2514, 307-733-8002 after hours
Lost and found: 307-739-3450
Park emergency dispatch: 307-739-3301
Report a bear in campground: 307-739-3301
River-flow information: 800-658-5771
Road conditions: 307-739-3614, 307-739-3682 in winter
Weather report: 307-739-3611
Lodging
In Yellowstone National Park
Xanterra (pronounced zan-TAIR-uh) Parks and Resorts: Yellowstone’s only in-park accommodations concessionaire runs four campgrounds, nine lodgings, and an RV park. See the regional introductions for details on specific lodges and campgrounds and visit yellowstonenationalpark lodges.com. Note: all rates are per night.
General information and same-day reservations: 307-344-7901
Camping, lodging, and dining reservations: 866-439-7375 or 307-344-7311, TDD 307-344-5395, fax 307-344-7456
American Alpine Club’s Grand Teton Climbers’ Ranch: Open early June– mid-September, the reservable four- to eight-bed dorm bunks ($16 for members, $25 for nonmembers) are the best budget-lodging deal inside the park. No pets are allowed. 307-733-7271, americanalpineclub.org/grand-teton-climbers-ranch.
Dornans: Runs the recommended Spur Ranch Cabins at Moose Junction in summer (May 16–October 15) for $225–$350 for one or two bedrooms and in the winter/shoulder season (October 16–May 15) for $125–$175. Open year-round. Hearty meals are served alfresco at picnic tables or around a fire inside tepees. 307-733-2522, dornans.com.
Grand Teton Lodge Company: Manages a wide variety of accommodations, most open late May–early October. Colter Bay Village offers basic canvas tent cabins with wood-burning stoves ($69) and better-value cabins (shared bathroom, $90; private bathroom, $165–$210). The well-situated Jackson Lake Lodge has standard hotel-style rooms (doubles $309–$419; suites $729–$809) and opens earlier than most other park accommodations. The chic Jenny Lake Lodge has finely appointed log cabins ($485) and exclusive suites ($669). Package rates at the lodge include breakfast, horseback riding, and a five-course dinner. 307-543-3100, 800-628-9988, gtlc.com.
Headwaters Lodge: Situated 6 miles north of Grand Teton National Park’s northern boundary and 2 miles south of Yellowstone National Park’s South Entrance at Flagg Ranch. Open mid-May–mid-September; call for winter availability, which varies from year to year depending on snowmobiling regulations. Camper cabin $74; doubles $220–$310; reservable tent site for one or two people $35; RV site $72. 307-543-2861, 800-443-2311, flaggranch.com.
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort: This year-round resort 12 miles northwest of Jackson is home to world-class skiing and myriad summer activities. There are 2,500 acres of in-bounds terrain and a vertical drop of 4,139 feet—the greatest continuous plunge in the United States. Half the runs traverse expert terrain, and the open backcountry gate system accesses more than 3,000 out-of-bounds acres. Accommodation options range from private, budget-sparing rooms at the family-friendly Hostel ($49– $129; 307-733-3415, thehostel.us) to studio condos and fully furnished, ski-in luxury chalets. 307-733-2292, jacksonhole.com.
Jackson Hole Central Reservations: 307-733-4005, 888-838-6606; jacksonholewy.com
Jackson Hole Resort Lodging: 800-443-8613, jhrl.com
Signal Mountain Lodge: Two miles southwest of Jackson Lake Junction on Teton Park Road. Open early May–mid-October. Options include log cabins (one or two rooms, $192–$217), motel rooms ($243–$353), kitchenette bungalows ($243–$394), lakefront suites ($353–$394), and one three-room cabin ($413). 307-543-2831, signalmtnlodge.com.
Other Grand Teton–Area Resources
Bridger-Teton National Forest
Grand Teton visitors often camp, hike, boat, or fish in this National Forest, which borders the park on three sides. All campsites except group sites are first come, first served. 307-739-5500, www.fs.usda.gov/btnf.
Caribou-Targhee National Forest
This national forest, which borders the park on its west side, is home to the Jedediah Smith and Winegar Hole Wilderness areas. 208-524-7500, www.fs.usda.gov/ctnf.
Jackson Hole and Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center
Jackson’s helpful interagency center is loaded with detailed information and has extensive wildlife-related videos and exhibits. The bookstore is well stocked, and there are public phones for making free calls for local lodging reservations. Sells all passes and permits. 307-733-3316; 532 N. Cache Drive, Jackson, WY. Open 8 a.m.–7 p.m. in summer, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. in winter; closed Thanksgiving and Christmas. tinyurl.com/jhgyvisitorcenter.
Upwards of 5,000 elk and 1,000 bison overwinter October–May at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s 25,000-acre National Elk Refuge, between Grand Teton National Park and Jackson. Other inhabitants include 47 types of mammals and 175 bird species. 307-733-9212, fws.gov/refuge/national_elk_refuge.
Wyoming Game & Fish Department issues hunting, fishing, and trapping licenses. 420 N. Cache Drive, Jackson, WY; 307-733-2321; poaching hotline in Wyoming 800-442-4331; wgfd.wyo.gov.
Major Nonprofit Organizations
The Conservation Alliance: 541-389-2424, conservationalliance.com
Continental Divide Trail Coalition: 303-996-2759, continentaldividetrail.org
Grand Teton Association: 307-739-3606, grandtetonpark.org
Grand Teton National Park Foundation: 307-732-0629, gtnpf.org
Greater Yellowstone Coalition: 800-775-1834, greateryellowstone.org
The Murie Center: 307-739-2246, muriecenter.org
National Parks Conservation Association: 800-628-7275, npca.org
Teton Science Schools: 307-733-1313, tetonscience.org
Yellowstone Association: 406-848-2400, store orders 406-848-2400, yellowstoneassociation.org
Yellowstone Park Foundation: 406-586-6303, ypf.org
Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) Conservation Initiative: 403-609-2666, 800-966-7920 in Canada, y2y.net
Outfitters, Guides, and Tour Operators
Yellowstone: Contact the NPS (nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm) for a current list of outfitters permitted to lead guided day-hiking, backpacking, fishing, bicycling, llama- and horse-packing, cross-country-skiing, wildlife-watching, and photo-safari trips inside Yellowstone National Park.
Grand Teton: Contact the NPS (nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/concessions. htm) for a current list of outfitters authorized to lead guided day-hiking, backpacking, climbing, fishing, rafting, kayaking, cross-country-skiing, snowshoeing, and equestrian trips within Grand Teton National Park.
Guided Hikes and Backpacking Trips
If you are nervous about organizing your own backpacking adventure, don’t have the time, or just enjoy the companionship of other hikers in a group setting, the following regional companies specialize in guided hiking and backpacking trips in Yellowstone and Grand Teton:
Big Wild Adventures (bigwildadventures.com) Backpacking trips in Yellowstone and around, from Emigrant, Montana
The Hole Hiking Experience (holehike.com) Guided hiking and backpacking tours and winter snowshoeing, in Jackson, Wyoming
Llama Trips in Yellowstone (yellowstonellamatrips.com) Backpacking trips in Yellowstone with llamas, from Bozeman, Montana
Off the Beaten Path (offthebeatenpath.com) Top-end guided tours in the Yellowstone region, from Bozeman, Montana
Trail Guides Yellowstone (trailguidesyellowstone.com) Well-run operation in Bozeman, Montana
Wildland Trekking (wildlandtrekking.com) Treks throughout Greater Yellowstone, with an office in Bozeman, Montana
The Wild Side (wolftracker.com) Biologists Nathan Varley and Linda Thurston run spring wolf-watching hikes from Gardiner, Montana
Yellowstone Hiking Guides (yellowstonehikingguides.com) Guided nature hikes from Gardiner, Montana
Internet Resources
Visitor Information and Chambers of Commerce
Big Sky Chamber of Commerce (Montana): 406-995-3000, bigskychamber.com
Cody Country Chamber of Commerce (Wyoming): 307-587-2777, codychamber.org
Colter Pass, Cooke City & Silver Gate Chamber of Commerce (Montana): 406-838-2495, cookecitychamber.org
Destination Dubois (Wyoming): 307-455-2556, duboiswyoming.org
Gardiner, Montana, Chamber of Commerce: 406-848-7971, gardinerchamber.com
Jackson Hole Chamber (Wyoming): 307-733-3316, jacksonholechamber.com
Red Lodge Area Chamber of Commerce (Montana): 888-281-0625, redlodgechamber.org
Visit Idaho: 208-334-2470, visitidaho.org
West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce (Montana): 406-646-7701, destinationyellowstone.com
Wyoming Office of Tourism: 800-225-5996, travelwyoming.com
Yellowstone Country Montana: 800-736-5276, yellowstonecountry.net
Miscellaneous
For hiking tips, visit hike734.com, trailguidesyellowstone.com, and teton hikingtrails.com. General hiking websites such as backpacker.com and alltrails.com also have excellent Yellowstone-related trail reports.
General websites such as yellowstonegeotourism.com, yellowstonepark.com, and yellowstone.net can answer most travel-related questions.
The website yellowstonereports.com is the best source of the latest wildlife-spotting data and reports, and is well worth the subscription price of $20 per year.
For a useful rundown of the park’s main thermal features, visit geyser watch.com.
For up-to-date news on Yellowstone, visit the Yellowstone Insider (yellowstoneinsider.com), The Yellowstone Daily (theyellowstonedaily.com), and Yellowstone Gate (yellowstonegate.com).
For Grand Teton information, see Jackson Hole News & Guide (jhnews andguide.com) and Teton Valley News (tetonvalleynews.net).
Other sites include:
Old Faithful Geyser Streaming Webcam: tinyurl.com/oldfaithfulcam
Old Faithful Virtual Visitor Center: nps.gov/features/yell/ofvec/index2.htm
USGS Yellowstone Volcano Observatory: http: //volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo
Yellowstone’s Webcams: tinyurl.com/yellowstonewebcams
Useful Books
Guidebooks
Adkison, Ron. Exploring Beyond Yellowstone: Hiking, Camping, and Vacationing in the National Forests Surrounding Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Out of print. Berkeley, CA: Wilderness Press, 1996.
Henry, Jeff. Yellowstone Winter Guide. Boulder, CO: Roberts Rinehart, 1998.
Mayhew, Bradley, and Carolyn McCarthy. Lonely Planet Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks. Oakland, CA: Lonely Planet, 2016.
Woods, Rebecca. Jackson Hole Hikes. Alpenbooks, 1999.
Geology
Bryan, Scott T. The Geysers of Yellowstone. Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado, 2008.
Fritz, William J. Roadside Geology of the Yellowstone Country. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing, 1985.
Good, John M. and Kenneth L. Pierce. Interpreting the Landscape: Recent and Ongoing Geology of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Jackson, WY: Grand Teton Natural History Association, 2016.
Love, David D., and John C. Reed, et al. Creation of the Teton Landscape, Grand Teton Association, 2016.
Smith, Robert B., and Lee J. Siegel. Windows into the Earth: The Geologic Story of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Natural History
Craighead Jr., Frank C. For Everything There Is a Season: The Sequence of Natural Events in the Grand Teton–Yellowstone Area. Helena, MT: Falcon Press, 1994.
Halfpenny, James C. Yellowstone Wolves in the Wild. Helena, MT: Riverbend Publishing, 2003.
———. Yellowstone Bears in the Wild. Helena, MT: Riverbend Publishing, 2012.
———. Tracks, Scats & Signs of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Quick Reference Publishing, 2012.
McEneaney, Terry. Birds of Yellowstone: A Practical Habitat Guide to the Birds of Yellowstone National Park, and Where to Find Them. Boulder, CO: Roberts Rinehart, 1988.
McNamee, Thomas. The Return of the Wolf to Yellowstone. New York: Owl Books, 1998.
Schreier, Carl. A Field Guide to Wildflowers of the Rocky Mountains. Moose, WY: Homestead Publishing, 1996.
Schullery, Paul. The Bears of Yellowstone. Worland, WY: High Plains Publishing, 1992.
Shaw, Richard J. Plants of Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks. Salt Lake City: Wheelwright Press, 2008.
Simpson, Ann, and Rob Simpson. Yellowstone Wildlife: Nature Guide to Yellowstone National Park. Falcon Press, 2015.
Smith, Douglas and Gary Ferguson. Decade of the Wolf, Revised and Updated: Returning the Wild to Yellowstone. Lyons Press, 2012.
Snow, Kathleen. Taken by Bear in Yellowstone: More Than a Century of Harrowing Encounters between Grizzlies and Humans. Lyons Press, 2016.
Varley, John D., and Paul Schullery. Yellowstone Fishes: Ecology, History and Angling in the Park. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1998.
Black, George. Empire of Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone. St. Martin’s Press, 2012.
Haines, Aubrey L. The Yellowstone Story: A History of Our First National Park: Vols. 1 & 2. Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado, 1996.
Henry, Jeff, and Bob Barbee. The Year Yellowstone Burned: A Twenty-Five-Year Perspective. Taylor Trade Publishing, 2015.
Janetski, Joel C. Indians in Yellowstone National Park. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2002.
Miller, Mark M. Adventures in Yellowstone: Early Travelers Tell Their Tales. TwoDot, 2009.
Russell, Osborne. Journal of a Trapper. Crabtree, OR: Narrative Press, 2001.
Schullery, Paul. Searching for Yellowstone: Ecology and Wonder in the Last Wilderness. Helena, MT: Montana Historical Society Press, 2004.
Whittlesey, Lee H. Yellowstone Place Names. Yellowstone, WY: Wonderland Publishing Company, 2006.
Literature
Box, C.J. Free Fire. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2007.
Cahill, Tim. Lost in My Own Backyard: A Walk in Yellowstone National Park. New York: Crown, 2004.
Ferguson, Gary. Hawks Rest: A Season in the Remote Heart of Yellowstone. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Adventure Press, 2003.
Hoagland, Bill, ed. Ring of Fire: Writers of the Yellowstone Region. Cody, WY: Rocky Mountain Press, 2000.
Mernin, Jerry. Yellowstone Ranger. Riverbend Publishing, 2016.
Schullery, Paul. Mountain Time: A Yellowstone Portrait. Boulder, CO: Roberts Rinehart, 1995.
Turner, Jack. Travels in the Greater Yellowstone. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2009.
———. Teewinot: Climbing and Contemplating the Teton Range. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2001.
Yochim, Michael J. A Week in Yellowstone’s Thorofare: A Journey through the Remotest Place. Oregon State University Press, 2016.
Adams, Ansel. The Tetons and the Yellowstone. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1970.
Holdsworth, Henry H. Yellowstone & Grand Teton Wildlife Portfolio. Helena, MT: Farcountry Press, 2003.
Lange, Joseph K. Photographer’s Guide to Yellowstone & the Tetons. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2009.
Murphy, Tom. The Light of Spring: The Seasons of Yellowstone. Livingston, MT: Crystal Creek Press, 2003.
Quammen, David. Yellowstone: A Journey through America’s Wild Heart. National Geographic, 2016.
Maps
The maps included in this book will be sufficient for on-trail navigation and following the hikes as they are described in this book. If you’re planning off-trail exploration or longer overnight trips, you should pick up some of the following maps.
National Geographic’s frequently revised Trails Illustrated topographic series are the most detailed and user-friendly maps of Yellowstone. The series covers the entire park with four waterproof, tear-resistant maps ($9.95 each) at a scale of 1: 63,360, with a contour interval of 50 feet and selected GPS waypoints. The Grand Teton National Park map (no. 202) covers the entire park at 1: 80,000 on one side, with UTM data for use with GPS units and a more detailed 1: 31,680 inset covering many of the most popular backcountry camping zones on the reverse. 303-670-3457 or 800-962-1643, natgeomaps.com.
Bozeman’s Beartooth Publishing also produces an excellent series of topo maps for both parks. The general 1: 113,730 Yellowstone National Park map is a good overview; for more detail get the separate 1: 80,000 Yellowstone North and Yellowstone South maps. The 2016 1: 31,680 Teton Range Core Trails map is perfect for the most popular trails in the central Tetons and, unlike the Nat Geo map, has mileage distances between hiking junctions. Their Bozeman, Big Sky, West Yellowstone, and Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness maps are essential for explorations north of Yellowstone. All maps are $11.95. Visit beartoothpublishing.com.
The National Geographic Maps website also offers the 1:24,000 topographic quadrangle series published by the United States Geological Survey. The series covers all of Greater Yellowstone with 80 maps, but the level of detail (and number of maps required for a multiday hike) is a bit of overkill unless you plan to do some serious off-trail exploring.