Yellowstone National Park History

Yellowstone National Park is probably the most popular park in America, if not, it is certainly one of the most well known. There are two million visitors each year that visit Yellowstone. The park during the summer months will have 3700 concessionaire employees to handle the massive flood of tourists. These concessionaires have 2,238 hotel rooms/cabins between the nine hotels and lodges to take care of and keep clean. These concessionaires are also responsible for overseeing convenience stores and a lot of the camp grounds. The National Park Service has another 800 employees that work permanently or seasonally.

There are several temporary road closures due to road construction, many of which that lead to the major features within the park. Due to a short repair season, they struggle to complete long term road construction projects in a timely manner. In the winter season, there is only one single road open, all others are closed to general vehicles. You should not expect to be able to get into the park from November to April. Some of the roads stay closed all the way until May. With over 310 miles worth of paved roads, five entrances to the park, there is bound to be quite a bit of maintenance. Tour companies are responsible for providing the public with transportation through the park. You can find that in the winter the concessionaires will offer guided snow coach or snowmobile tours. There are facilities in the park that become extremely busy during the summer months, including those near Old Faithful, Mammoth Hot Springs, and the Canyon. There are frequent traffic jams due to the road construction or potentially caused by those wanting to do sight-seeing of the wildlife. You are encouraged to use designated areas for this.

There are nine museums and visitor centers that are managed by the National Park Service. The employees are responsible for maintaining 2,000 buildings, many of which are historical to the park. Some of these include Old Faithful Inn which started its construction in 1903 and was finished in 1904. There is also a large Historic District within Yellowstone / Mammoth Hot Springs that requires employee maintenance. There are several places in the summer that you can receive campfire programs, guided walks, or other general interpretive presentations. There are limited programs during other seasons as well.

There is an astonishing 2,000 beautiful campsites across 12 campgrounds at the Yellowstone National Park. There are other campgrounds in other National Forests surrounding the park. The backcountry campsites can only be accessed via foot or horseback and also requires a specific permit. With over 1100 miles worth of hiking trails, you want to be careful not to get lost. Volcanic rocks instability prevents people from doing much mountaineering within the park. You are allowed to bring pets to the park as long as they remain on a leash and must be kept to designated areas. A lot of the most popular features are handicapped accessible. There are also emergency services that are provided year around.

The park itself does not allow any form of hunting, however, it is permitted in some of the other National Parks in the area during specific seasons. Fishing on the other hand is allowed and is quite popular among the visitors. You are required to have a fishing permit. You are not allowed to do any boating on the rivers or creeks in the park except for a five mile stretch on the Lewis River. It however does not allow any type of motorized boat. Yellowstone Lake is by far the most popular place to do any boating. It has boat ramps as well as a marina on the lake.

There are several protected regions within the park, including Gallatin, Shoshone, Bridger-Teton, Custer, and Caribou-Targhee National Forests. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway is a popular road that heads toward Grand Teton National Park. A great place to view high altitude scenery is the Beartooth Highway which is on the northeast side of the park. There are several residential communities in the area, including Cody, West Yellowstone, Ashton, and Gardiner. The closest airport to the park is in Billings, Montana. Salt Lake City may be the closest large airport which is 320 miles south of the park.