UNDER-THE-RADAR EXPERIENCES
Guided scenic/fishing charter boat tours allow you to explore Yellowstone Lake at your leisure. “You tell the captain what you’re interested in seeing, and doing,” says Hoeninghausen. If you opt to fish and you catch lake trout, fish cleaning is included, and many dining rooms in the park will then cook your fish for you. From $103/hour for up to six people, with a two-hour minimum, yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/adventures/water-adventures/
Two hikes that start at the Bunsen Peak Trailhead five miles south of Mammoth offer very different sights. The four-mile (out-andback) hike to the 8,564-foot summit of Bunsen Peak offers a bird’s-eye view of the entire complex of white mineral terraces at Mammoth, the Gallatin Mountains, Yellowstone River Valley, Swan Lake Flats, and the Blacktail Deer Plateau. The hike to Osprey Falls, a 150-foot-tall waterfall, is twice as long as the hike to Bunsen’s summit. The first three miles are easy walking on the former Bunsen Peak Road; the last 1.4 miles are steep and narrow as the trail drops 800 feet down into Sheepeater Canyon. In the park, only the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is deeper than Sheepeater Canyon. Even if Osprey Falls wasn’t waiting for you at the end of the trail, the walk into Sheepeater Canyon is worth the effort.
Yellowstone’s southwest corner is the least-visited frontcountry area of the park because it is difficult to get to. Although only about 30 miles as the crow flies from Old Faithful, the drive is almost 100 miles and takes four hours. We think it’s worth it though. The southwest corner is known as “Cascade Corner” for its density of waterfalls, and you can drive to one of the biggest, Cave Falls, which stretches more than 200 feet across the Falls River.
Check out an Inspired by Yellowstone workshop at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, Lake Hotel, or Old Faithful Inn. Over several hours, meet local artists and makers including a distiller from Bozeman Spirits Distillery, Yellowstone Agate Jewelry, Native American fine artist DG House, or Tom Murphy, the first photographer to lead photo safaris in the park (he did his first photo tour in the mid-1980s). Workshop leaders also teach you how to do what they do. “The workshops are a step beyond just being a visitor to Yellowstone,” says Karen Tryman, Yellowstone National Park Lodges’ director of retail. “There is something about Yellowstone that is transformative, and this is a way to help people experience it through that lens.” From $35, yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/workshops/
“As hard as it is to get a cabin at Roosevelt Lodge, it’s harder to get a rocking chair,” jokes Hoeninghausen, who, in 1987 was the manager at Roosevelt. The rocking chairs he refers to are those on the covered front porch of the main lodge, which was built in 1920. “Rocking on the front porch of Roosevelt with a cocktail and looking out on the Lamar Valley and maybe seeing some wildlife—that’s classic Yellowstone,” he says. Roosevelt is the smallest property in the park, with only 80 cabins, and is pretty much full all summer. But you don’t need to be a lodge guest to eat at its dining room or enjoy the front porch rockers, both of which are first-come, first-served. “People will drive to Roosevelt from Gardiner, Montana, just to have dinner,” Hoeninghausen says. “It’s that good.” The lodge is known for its ribs and baked beans. yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/restaurant/roosevelt-lodge-dining-room/
Yellowstone once had 98 1936 Model 706 touring buses from the White Motor Company. Eight of them, refurbished to the tune of about $250,000 each, are still around and used for tours today. Their roll-back canvas tops make them ideal for wildlife watching and photography tours, and it is possible for private groups (or families) to rent one. The driver doubles as a guide. Each holds 13 passengers; $991 for eight hours, yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/ adventures/custom-guided-tours-rentals/
Until 2018, the eruptions of Steamboat Geyser, the tallest active geyser in the world, were as irregular as they were infrequent. At one point, it was 50 years between eruptions. Steamboat, which is in the Norris Geyser Basin, reactivated in 2018, though, and since then has erupted more than 150 times. Eruptions can last up to 40 minutes and shoot water 345 feet into the air.