With its turbulent thermal features, rock formations, sulfuric gases, volcanic events, and seismic activity, it’s no wonder some early visitors to the park fancied Yellowstone full of fire, brimstone, and bizarre creatures. Yellowstone is in many ways the ideal environment for dragons. Particularly in thermal areas, Yellowstone has a kind of dangerous beauty, and for many visitors the thermal features appear to be something out of a fantasy story.

Dragons do exist here in Yellowstone. Well, in spirit that is. Some of the thermal features near the Mud Volcano now bear names inspired by the fantastical early impressions of the park. Dragon’s Mouth Spring and Black Dragon’s Caldron are remarkably different kinds of thermal features.

Dragon’s Mouth Spring is located just down the boardwalk from Mud Volcano. Gases and steam are released deep in its cave, creating pressure bubbles that explode against the roof of the cavern. As this occurs, it creates a kind of booming and gurgling noise that is echoed through the cave and can be heard from the boardwalk. The sound resembles the growling of an animal. Due to the high temperature of the water, large amounts of steam rise from the mouth of the cave, giving the impression of smoke billowing from the mouth of a dragon. Dragon’s Mouth has captured the attention and imagination of travelers since the early days of the park and continues to do so today.

Black Dragon’s Cauldron is a boiling mud pot similar to Mud Volcano. While Mud Volcano is now just a pool, having blown away its volcano top in 1872, Black Dragon’s Caldron did not exist before 1948. It exploded into existence sometime before June of 1948, knocking trees down and showering the surrounding forest with mud.

Black Dragon’s Caldron, NPS / Addy Falgoust

I know what you’re thinking, those aren’t real dragons in Yellowstone. I concede, the only dragons with wings that exist in Yellowstone exist in works of fiction. One such story is a book by Kimberly Loth, titled Obsidian: The Dragon Kings. The story follows a young girl studying the dragons that live near her home in Yellowstone. In a world where all national parks are the homes of dragons, Yellowstone rises supreme.

Dragon’s Mouth Spring and Black Dragon’s Caldron can both be found along short boardwalk hikes near Mud Volcano. Obsidian: The Dragon Kings can be found at the Yellowstone Research Library housed in the Heritage and Research Center in Gardiner, Montana.

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1917 Touring Vehicle used in Yellowstone National Park in storage in Yellowstone’s Museum Collection, YELL106383

The vehicle pictured here is a 1917 touring car that was modified into a two-seat general-purpose utility vehicle. Several modifications have been made to this truck; the original body was removed, the chassis shortened, and several parts were cannibalized for use with a 11-passenger open touring bus while being operated by TW Services. One of our staff’s favorite details is the sticker on the windshield that reads “Talking to driver prohibited”.

From December to January 2023-24, our team worked tirelessly to clean the grease, dirt, and dust from the truck. We used a variety of products to carefully clean away excess grime, but not the history of the vehicle.

Starting out, the grille was already disconnected from the vehicle, so it was cleaned separately by one determined staff member. She spent several days working solely on cleaning each individual hole with a small cotton swab and some mineral spirits.

While the grille was being deep cleaned, other staff started cleaning the body of the vehicle with a vacuum and small attachments designed specifically for conservation cleaning. When addressing the dust on the seats and other areas with fabric/vinyl, a mesh mat was used to ensure the integrity of the material while still pulling dust particles. This part of the cleaning process is incredibly important, as these vehicles are comprised of more wood parts than one might imagine, and we were only treating the wood with the vacuums.

Once that was completed, we addressed the metal components. For most of the parts we used a two-step cleaning process; we gently rubbed away dirt and dust with a mixture of vulpex and mineral spirits, followed by a round of just mineral spirits to remove any residue and remaining dirt. The engine hood was removed to allow for internal cleaning of that piece and the engine itself. What the team found was a great deal of grease on the metal which required a different solution.

Engine hood laying open, halfway through cleaning, YELL 106383

We used small brushes, rags, and many rounds of simple green to remove as much grease as possible. This part of the project took several days to complete.

The tire area required a combination of cleaning materials. The rubber parts were scrubbed with a small brush, simple green, and a cloth, the wooden spokes were dusted with rags and gentle brushes, and the connecting metal bits were scrubbed with simple green.

We saved the glass for last, which was quickly cleaned with ethanol and a cloth.

Lastly, as with all vehicles in this project, a newly sewn Tyvek cover was placed on top with a layer of plastic sheet over that to help protect the car.

Thank you to the Jane Learner Fund from Yellowstone Forever for making this project possible.

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The park’s museum collection houses over 40 vehicles, both horse-drawn and motorized. Currently, the majority reside in off-site storage, and were recently treated under our cyclical cleaning program. Visitors are encouraged to come see two of our historic vehicles on display in the Heritage and Research Center; a 1974 Vespa Model 125 Primavera Scooter and a 1964 Cushman Model 765 Eagle Motor scooter.

In the early days of the park, people arrived by train and would ride up and through the park on stagecoaches. The crossover between horse-drawn vehicles and automobiles was short, as the horses would get spooked by vehicles. This safety concern led to a ban on horse-drawn vehicles in 1917. Motorized vehicles were welcomed, and allowed both employees and visitors to get around more difficult terrain or areas where horses and coaches couldn’t go.

Heritage & Research Center just north of the Roosevelt Arch at Yellowstone’s north entrance

Although they were used in the park earlier, it was around the 1950s that smaller vehicles such as motorcycles and scooters gained popularity. They were incredibly useful in traveling short distances quickly, like campground to campground or underdeveloped areas unfit for cars.

These scooters are on display at the Heritage and Research Center as part of the museum’s new in-person exhibit, Yellowstone National Park: Travel Through Time. Visitors are also welcome to explore the transportation exhibit virtually.

This exhibit was developed by Yellowstone National Park staff and made possible by the generous support of the Jane Lerner Fund of Yellowstone Forever, Yellowstone National Park’s official non-profit partner.

Yellowstone Forever supports various aspects of the Heritage & Research Center. With several million items, HRC has one of the largest collections in the National Park Service, housed within an archive, a library, and numerous museum collections. Find out how you can support and get involved at www.yellowstone.org/hrc. 

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From its earliest days, Yellowstone National Park has been a favorite destination for artists and photographers alike, helping bring to life its natural beauty. Famed artist Thomas Moran and photographer William H. Jackson captured this fabled wonderland on an early expedition in 1871 and brought their images back to Congress in an effort to protect and preserve this special place for all time. Photographer Frank J. Haynes, with artistic vision and an entrepreneurial spirit, carried on the tradition of Moran and Jackson, playing a vital role in documenting Yellowstone National Park and disseminating imagery of its natural wonders to park visitors and to the world.

In 1884, Haynes opened a photography store and studio at Mammoth Hot Springs. This would be the first of numerous such photo shops to be erected throughout the park. Haynes was, for all intents and purposes, the official photographer of Yellowstone National Park for years to come. His dedication to the park and to photography was carried on by his son, Jack Ellis Haynes. Millions of photographs, postcards, guidebooks, and souvenirs later, the Haynes family came to have a great impact in bringing Yellowstone to the world.

History & Online Resources

See below for a number of resources on the history of the Haynes family and to view historic Haynes photographs and postcards.

Yellowstone Forever articles about the Haynes family

Yellowstone’s First Winter Photographer:
Story of F. J. Haynes’ winter expedition to the park to take the first known photos of the park in winter.

Haynes online photo resources

MSU Photo Archives, Collection 1507, Haynes Family Photographs, 1866-1969
This is a huge collection of photos from the Haynes family, gifted to Montana State University by Isabel Haynes, wife of Jack E. Haynes. Many of these images are personal family photos of the Haynes family and friends.

YNP Photo Archives, Postcards
A collection of dated and undated postcards ranging widely in subject matter.

Other articles and resources on the Haynes family

Wikipedia, Frank Jay Haynes
Article spans the history of F. J. Haynes’ life from 1853 to 1921, and also includes photographs.

Haynes Guide, The Complete Handbook, Yellowstone National Park
by Jack Ellis Haynes, 1916

Photos, top to bottom:  F.J. Haynes postcard, Roosevelt Arch and train depot in Gardiner, MT; F.J. Haynes postcard, Mammoth Hot Springs; Haynes Photo Shop, Old Faithful. All images courtesy of Yellowstone National Park photo archives, dates unknown.

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Marguerite Lindsley

In 1925, Marguerite Lindsley became first full-time permanent female park ranger not only in Yellowstone, but in the National Park System. Lindsley had a unique childhood — she was actually born and raised in Yellowstone! Lindsley grew up in Mammoth where her father first worked for the Army and then as interim Superintendent of Yellowstone.

Among other duties, Lindsley worked as a seasonal naturalist while completing her undergraduate studies at Montana State University. When she graduated with her master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, she was hired on full-time. As the first permanent female ranger, Lindsley faced adversity.

Not everyone felt that women should hold positions in the park. As Lindsley wrote, “many still think that women’s work should be inside and it is a problem sometimes to satisfy everyone even tho [sic] I may be qualified for the work in the field.” As the first female ranger, Lindsley also had to design her own uniform!

Read more about Lindsley on the National Park Service blog.

Herma Albertson Baggley

Herma Albertson Baggley worked as Yellowstone National Park’s first female permanent naturalist in the 1930s. Baggley left an extensive legacy when she passed away in 1981. She co-wrote the still-referenced guide Plants of Yellowstone National Park and was the first person to identify the rubber boa snake!

Baggley was born in Iowa and received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Idaho, graduating with a masters in botany. Baggley first came to Yellowstone as a seasonal employee in 1929 and 1930. In 1931 she became the park’s first female full-time naturalist ranger.

As Baggley wrote in her Plants of Yellowstone National Park guide: “Indeed, it is difficult to imagine what a drab place this world would be, were it not beautified by the infinite variety of forms of plant life.”

Read more about Baggley on the National Park Service blog.

Book: Women in Wonderland: Lives, Legends, and Legacies of Yellowstone National Park

In her one-of-a-kind book, author Elizabeth Watry shares stories of the female legends of Yellowstone. Women in Wonderland highlights the experiences of 12 women who, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, elected not to be bound by tradition and pursued adventure in Yellowstone. A published author with several books on Yellowstone National Park, Women in Wonderland won the 2013 WILLA Literary Award for Scholarly Non-fiction.

“For so long, Yellowstone National Park has needed a book about the women who stood and today stand tall in its history. At long last, Elizabeth Watry has produced it” – Lee Whittlesey, Park Historian, National Park Service, Yellowstone National Park.

“Betsy Watry tells the tales of a dozen women, some of whom had short-lived adventures in Yellowstone National Park, but most of whom spent decades as rangers, scientists, interpreters, and entrepreneurs, shaping the ark’s physical and cultural landscape. This is a wonderful ‘hidden’ history, full of surprising stories, grounded in intensive research and written with charm.” —Dr. Mary Murphy, historian and author of Hope in Hard Times

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This August marks the 66th anniversary of the most famous earthquake in the greater Yellowstone area, the strongest ever recorded in the Rocky Mountains, which tragically took 28 lives.

On August 17, 1959, the Hebgen Lake Earthquake, measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale, triggered a massive landslide that moved at 100 miles per hour. In less than 1 minute, more than 80 million tons of rock crashed into a narrow canyon, blocking the Madison River and forming Earthquake Lake.

The U.S. Forest Service’s Earthquake Lake Visitor Center, located 27 miles northwest of Yellowstone’s West Entrance, tells the story of that infamous event. It not only features excellent exhibits, but visitors can also easily see the effects of the earthquake surrounding them: the visitor center itself sits atop the landslide debris and overlooks the lake formed by the quake.

The visitor center’s exhibits illustrate the magnitude of an earthquake’s power and the devastation it leaves behind. They include displays on earthquake science and a kid-friendly, interactive 3-D model of the Earthquake Lake area.

Book | Earthquake Lake: Images of America

Be sure to check out the working seismograph that monitors earthquakes worldwide. If you’re lucky, you’ll even experience how an earthquake registers on the Richter scale, in real time, whether it is close by or far away. Greater Yellowstone is one of the most seismically active areas in the United States, with a combination of tectonic and volcanic activity resulting in 1,000 to 3,000 earthquakes each year. Most of these quakes are too small to be felt.

Also within the visitor center, a Yellowstone Forever Park Store, operated in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, offers a variety of educational items. Outside, a walking path leads to the Memorial Boulder that honors the 28 victims of the quake.

When you arrive, pick up a Visitor Guide to the Earthquake Lake Geologic Area and check the upcoming times for scheduled movies and talks.

The Earthquake Lake Visitor Center is open daily from late May through mid-September, and admission is free. Check the Custer Gallatin National Forest website for exact dates and hours of operation and directions.

Earthquake Lake Souvenirs

Earthquake Lake Sticker

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Earthquake Lake Pottery Mug

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Earthquake Lake Collectible Patch

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Guess who’s celebrating a birthday? Yellowstone National Park turns 148 years old today. Yellowstone was established as the world’s first national park by an act of Congress and signed into law on March 1, 1872, by President Ulysses S. Grant. In honor of this special day, here’s a brief look back at Yellowstone’s beginning.

NPS / Jacob W. Frank

1800s

In the early 1800s, European American trappers brought back stories from the west of a place where the earth hissed and bubbled, where multi-colored hot springs and spouting geysers filled the landscape. These reports were largely dismissed as delusions or tall tales until formal expeditions commenced in 1869. Resulting descriptions of the hydrothermal features, along with huge waterfalls, canyons, and herds of wildlife, fueled curiosity in Washington, DC.

Hayden Expedition camp by a small lake near Yellowstone Lake, 1871. NPS Archives/William Henry Jackson

Further proof in the form of Thomas Moran’s artwork and William H. Jackson’s photographs from the Hayden Expedition of 1871 are said to have helped convince Congress that the Yellowstone landscape was exceptionally beautiful and valuable.

Yellowstone National Park was named for one of its most prominent features: the Yellowstone River, reportedly called “Mi tse a-da-zi” by the Minnetaree tribe, which translates to “Rock Yellow River.” Canadian trappers translated the name into French as “Roche Jaune,” which eventually appeared on maps in English as “Yellow Stone,” and explorers began referring to the entire region as Yellowstone.

The park’s early promoters envisioned Yellowstone National Park would exist at no expense to the government. This didn’t work out so well when the first, unpaid superintendent did not have any funds to protect park wildlife and other resources. Poachers, vandals, and squatters ran rampant in the newly formed park. Congress appropriated funds to protect it in 1878, but efforts to safeguard the park were largely unsuccessful until the U.S. Army took charge in 1886. The National Park Service was later formed in 1916.

1900s

Soldiers drilling in front of Fort Yellowstone, C. 1910. NPS Archives

The Yellowstone boundaries we are familiar with today differ from the straight, rectangular-shaped boundaries in place when the park was established. In 1929, President Hoover signed a bill changing the borders to better conform to natural land and water features. Three years later, Hoover issued an executive order adding around 7,000 acres above the original north boundary near Gardiner, Montana, to provide winter range for ungulates.

In retrospect, setting aside Yellowstone for preservation was a brilliant move. The protection afforded by its national park status has prevented the 2.2-million-acre wilderness from falling victim to development and the human-caused loss of geysers and large-mammal habitat. The park’s establishment also led to a lasting concept—the national park idea.

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Osman, a cultural resource specialist and landscape architect for Yellowstone, says that nominating these eight historic properties to National Historic Landmark status required a long and painstaking process on the road to achieving the prestigious designation. “Though it can take months, it usually takes years to do the required in-depth research and documentation, and to usher a nomination through the rigorous evaluation process.”

Yellowstone National Park’s National Historic Landmarks include the Old Faithful Inn, Obsidian Cliff, Fort Yellowstone, Lake Hotel, the Northeast Entrance Station, and the trailside museums at Norris Geyser Basin, Fishing Bridge, and Madison.

National Historic Landmarks are nationally significant historic places that possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or commemorating US heritage. These properties constitute nearly 2,600 of the more than 90,000 entries in the broader National Register of Historic Places. Examples include Pearl Harbor, the Apollo Mission Control Center, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthplace.

The historic properties that make it through multiple layers of review at the national level have a chance to achieve recommendation to the Secretary of the Interior—the final step before designation. The Yellowstone National Historic Landmarks that eventually earned this honor, says Osman, are considered especially significant in American history and culture.

So what types of characteristics make Yellowstone’s eight landmarks stand out? Extraordinary architecture is a common theme among many of the landmarks. Osman says that the trailside museums at Fishing Bridge, Norris Geyser Basin, and Madison, built between 1929 and 1931, are considered the best examples of National Park Service rustic style design in the country.

“Their exaggerated architectural features, large scale timbers and boulders, and organic forms served as models for hundreds of other buildings constructed throughout the nation during the work relief programs of the 1930s,” explains Osman. “Architect Herbert Maier designed them in such a way that they appear to be growing out of the ground. The buildings are subordinate to and served as portals to the landscape.”

While an entrance station may seem like an unusual choice for a National Historic Landmark, the rustic log Northeast Entrance Station built in 1935 is considered the best of its type remaining in the National Park Service. According to its listing as a National Historic Landmark, it “subconsciously reinforced the visitor’s sense of the western frontier and the wilderness he was about to enter.”

One of two hotels among the park’s National Historic Landmarks, the Lake Yellowstone Hotel opened in 1891 as a modest frame lodge with 51 rooms. In 1903–1904 it was reimagined and redesigned by celebrated architect Robert C. Reamer as an elegant, Colonial Revival-style hotel. “The Lake Hotel brought civilization to the wilderness and is one of few remaining representatives of the style and era,” says Osman.

The log-style Old Faithful Inn was completed in 1903 by the same architect. “A masterpiece of rustic architecture, it used natural materials such as gnarled log brackets, allusions to pioneer building techniques, and has a strong connection with its site—Old Faithful Geyser,” reads the National Register nomination of the inn. “Its influence on American architecture, particularly park architecture, was immeasurable.”

The final two landmarks played important roles in American history separated in time by thousands of years.

Fort Yellowstone, listed as a “district,” also includes Norris and Bechler River soldier stations and the Roosevelt Arch at the park’s North Entrance. Fort Yellowstone was built by the US Army in Mammoth Hot Springs to serve as their park headquarters when they administered Yellowstone from 1886 to 1918. They erected many structures including a hospital, a chapel, housing, and horse stables; 40 of the original fort buildings remain, with a row of officers’ quarters opposite an open parade ground to the west.

“As a special subset of our 895 historic structures, most of our National Historic Landmark buildings, including dozens that are a part of the Fort Yellowstone district, continue to be used as they were historically,” says Osman.

In contrast to the buildings comprising the other seven National Historic Landmarks in Yellowstone, Obsidian Cliff is a geologically distinctive, natural feature that also has great significance as a prehistoric quarry and tool workshop. For at least 11,000 years, people obtained obsidian—a shiny, black rock also known as “volcanic glass”—from the area for tool production and for use as trade materials. This site represents the most widely dispersed source of obsidian by hunter-gatherers in North America; artifacts from Obsidian Cliff have been found from western Canada to Ohio.

Osman says that although park staff serve as stewards for all historic properties, the National Historic Landmarks are treated with extra care. “We go to great lengths to make sure these treasured landmarks are protected for future generations.”

Yellowstone Forever recently granted funds to the park to replace deteriorating exhibits and make other improvements at the Norris Geyser Basin Museum in 2020. New, colorful exhibits interpreting the geyser basin will be installed, historic windows that were previously covered will be revealed, and a new ADA ramp will be added to enhance accessibility for visitors of all ages.

This article was originally published in the Winter 2019 issue of Yellowstone Quarterly.

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His lustrous and sweeping landscapes created from the Hayden Expedition of 1871 offered idyllic views of places like the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. Sketches and photographs made from vantages around the Canyon are among the artist’s most familiar and beloved images.

Nearly 150 years after Moran and photographer William Henry Jackson prowled the rims above the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, the Canyon area’s busiest and most scenic overlooks are getting some much-needed repairs and upgrades. Improvements are making it easier and safer than ever for modern-day Morans and Jacksons to create their own masterpieces.

Construction is wrapping up this fall on upgrades to the Brink of the Upper Falls overlook, one of six major overlook overhauls either completed, underway, or in planning since Artist Point was revamped in 2007.

Improvements made at Artist Point included a new approach to viewing areas that complied with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The makeover proved popular with visitors, particularly those who use wheelchairs or otherwise prefer an accessible, sloped path over stairs or steeper approaches.

Visitors at Artist Point

The Artist Point project set a standard for offering new accessible routes that is part of the design narrative for other overlook upgrades made since, and in the works, said Eric Ackley, a Yellowstone landscape architect.

“The idea is to provide an accessible route that offers an equal or comparable experience for visitors as a non-accessible one,” Ackley said.

Geothermic, acidic soils, and heavy erosion around Canyon’s viewpoints have degraded overlook infrastructure over the years, Ackley said. Safety issues arose as visitors went off paved surfaces to use social trails, or backed up along aging barriers to take selfies of the canyon views.

Planners held a design contest to develop a consistent, overall approach for all of the overlooks and began construction in 2016 on viewpoints at Uncle Tom’s Point and Inspiration Point. Those projects were concluded in 2018.

The total budget for the series of overlook upgrades is approximately $14 million, much of which has been raised by Yellowstone Forever and its partners. The projects are costly because of the challenges of construction in Yellowstone.

“We’re constructing these overlooks on the side of a canyon in soil that is weak, to say the least,” Ackley said. “Extra measures are taken to stabilize the rock structures and the pathways, and that costs quite a bit.”

Early construction at Inspiration Point

Additional costs come from working in an environmentally sensitive area with specialized equipment, finding housing for workers, and operating in a short construction season.

Designs for the new overlooks reflect the rustic, natural aesthetic of when many of the sites were initially built as Civilian Conservation Corps projects in the 1930s. The goal is to have overlooks that blend into the landscape as much as possible, Ackley said.

That wasn’t always a guiding principle for development around Canyon, said Yellowstone historian Alicia Murphy. “There used to be a lot of development all around the rims, with buildings almost hanging off the edge,” Murphy said.

In 1898, “Uncle Tom” Richardson built a trail that used ladders and ropes to help visitors climb to the bottom of the canyon. “They did this wearing slick-soled shoes, the men wearing three-piece suits, and the women in heavy skirts,” Murphy said. “They just went for it, which is pretty amazing, but that’s just how climbing was at the time.”

In the 1940s, an idea was floated to construct an elevator to the canyon floor. It wasn’t built for a number of reasons, but the National Park Service and concessioners did build an array of buildings close to the edge of the rims, Murphy said, including stores, camps, cafeterias, and ranger stations. As part of the National Park Service’s 50th anniversary modernization efforts in 1966, the structures were removed to restore a more natural view.

Visitors at Brink of the Lower Falls

New construction around Canyon is designed to maintain those natural views, which often means excavating into hillsides to give overlooks a lower profile, Ackley said.  “It’s a delicate design balance, providing safe views that are still accessible for all,” he said. “We approach each area individually and try to maximize what we can get in the way of historic views and accessibility. But it has to relate to the context of the surrounding landscape.”

Funding from Yellowstone Forever has been critical in helping the National Park Service realize the best results possible on the overlook projects, starting with $1.5 million in contributions raised toward Artist Point.

“The Canyon overlooks and trails are the second most visited area in the park after Old Faithful. It’s obviously a magical place,” said Jeff Augustin, senior director of park projects for Yellowstone Forever.

Some overlook infrastructure around the Canyon area hasn’t seen major work for decades, Augustin said. “We had safety concerns, as well as about the overall impacts to the visitor experience,” he said. “This was something that was on the superintendent’s list of funding priorities, and we were able to bring a matching component where private philanthropy would match public funds at a 1:1 ratio.”

So far, Yellowstone Forever has raised over $6.5 million toward repairs, improvements, and structural makeovers at six overlooks. Artist Point, Uncle Tom’s Point, Inspiration Point, and Brink of the Upper Falls have been completed. As funds become available, Brink of the Lower Falls and Red Rock Point are next on the list.

For most visitors, the changes will amount to safer, more convenient, and less congested access. But for visitors who use wheelchairs or otherwise have additional accessibility needs, the new overlooks mean the difference between being able to take in some of the same views that inspired Moran and Jackson, or being excluded from those spots entirely.

Inspiration Point now accessible to all visitors. NPS / Jacob W. Frank

Getting to overlooks using the older, less accessible trails has proven difficult in the past for frequent park visitor Kristin L. Blevins, who doesn’t normally use a wheelchair, but whose injuries make it difficult to stand or walk much without pain and spasms.

“When I visited Yellowstone last year with an Army buddy (with similar injuries), there were many places we didn’t visit,” Blevins said. “Even in a few locations it was difficult to do the number of stairs, the length of the walk, or the steep terrain.”

Blevins said any improvements in accessibility at popular attractions are always a welcome benefit for a wide range of people who deal with mobility issues.

“It will help us see more of the park,” she said, “which is always good.”

This article was originally published in the Fall 2019 issue of Yellowstone Quarterly.

Photos: Taken by YF / Matt Ludin unless credited otherwise.
Painting: The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Thomas Moran, 1872

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