Guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton

Good reviews of The Rough Guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton have recently appeared Chicago’s two largest newspapers. Excerpts and links below:

Chicago Sun Times
“Rough Guide Remains Faithful to Yellowstone, Grand Teton”
By Mary Houlihan

“Rough Guide remains faithful to Yellowstone, Grand Teton… Guidebook stands out with its 40 best hikes, ‘22 things not to miss’ sections… Timblin has put everything he knows and loves about the parks into this comprehensive guide to two of this country’s natural wonderlands… All vital information for an informed, successful vacation… Stand-out sections included the best 40 hikes in the park, from day hikes to back country treks; a “22 Things Not To Miss” (Jenny Lake and Helen’s Corral Drive-Inn caught my eye), and a color insert on the hydrothermal aspects of Yellowstone that explains the mysteries of mudpots, fumaroles and travertine terraces.”

Chicago Tribune
“Yellowstone, Europe Travel Guides”
By June Sawyers

“Author Stephen Timblin describes both parks in great detail: what to see and do, from the bison-heavy Lamar Valley to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone to Old Faithful to Jenny Lake. He includes special sections — in color — on the wolves of Yellowstone and hydrothermal Yellowstone, and entire chapters on day hikes in the area (there are nearly 1,500 miles of trails in Yellowstone and Grand Teton), backcountry hiking and camping.”

Yellowstone Association Membership Update

I just received a call from a contact at the Yellowstone Association, letting me know that their lowest annual membership level has been bumped up from the $30 currently listed in the Guide to $35. The Yellowstone Association is an invaluable resource for all Yellowstone visitors, and you can be sure that any money that the non-profit receives will be funneled right back into the park. Their projects range from funding the exhibits in the new Canyon Visitor Center to helping publish Yellowstone Science magazine, and they also run the incomparable Yellowstone Institute, whose lengthy schedule of courses and seminars can be found by clicking here.

I also found out that the Association will be stocking my guide in their bookstores. The Association bookstores scattered throughout the park (including most visitor centers) are always worth a visit, whether to chat with whomever is manning the desk or to add another book to your Yellowstone collection. I’ll be adding a collection of my favorite Yellowstone books to look out for later this week.

How did Yellowstone get its name? Head over to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and you’re bound to hear a visitor explain that the park was named after the golden rocks lining the canyon walls. Indeed, a popular IMAX movie on Yellowstone states the same idea. That’s not the case, however, as the following aside – cut from the Guide’s color introduction at the last minute due to space constraints – explains.

It may make for the most popular explanation, but the name Yellowstone doesn’t derive from the yellowish tint on the rocks within the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Indeed, the name doesn’t stem from anything inside the park’s boundaries, but from the area around the eponymous river hundreds of miles downstream in eastern Montana. Here, close to where the Yellowstone River meets the Missouri along the Montana/North Dakota border, French fur trappers in the late 1700s asked the local Minnetaree tribe for the river’s name. They answered Mi tse a-da zi, meaning “River of Yellow Rock” – a name coming, it’s thought, from the color of the low-lying banks along the Missouri nearby. Converting from the French translation of Roche Jaune, Welsh mapmaker and explorer David Thompson of the Hudson Bay Company was the first to document the river “Yellow Stone” on a map in 1797, a name that soon gave way to the shorter Yellowstone. Incidentally, the Crows that lived closer to the modern day boundaries of Yellowstone when whites arrived called the river E-chee-dick-karsh-ah-shay, meaning Elk River, a more apt name for the river in the park as it forms part of migratory path for elk from their summer range high on the Yellowstone plateau to lower grounds come winter.

This update page offers more recent information, so your guidebook will be as current as possible. I’ll be making updates frequently myself, but am also relying on recent visitors, park enthusiasts and whoever else may be interested to send in thoughts and updates.