Yellowstone Hotspots

Let veteran Northern Rockies travel writer Michael McCoy guide you on a ride through Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding countryside, and you'll return home with an intimacy of the area that even few locals can claim.

It's no secret that Yellowstone is the world's first national park, that it's one of the great wildlife-viewing places on Earth, and that it's among the most popular travel destinations in the United States. For millions of Americans, a childhood visit to Yellowstone is, or was, a rite of passage. And for our foreign guests, it's the right place to go to get a real sense of what wilderness and landscape mean to those of us in the New World.

What's more of a secret is just what you should see and do once you get to Yellowstone. Watch Old Faithful spout off, sniff the sulfur-icity of a hot pot, and photograph a moose in a meadow? Sure. But then what--drive on to your next destination in Montana or Wyoming?

Not according to McCoy. He'll tell you how to enter Yellowstone through a back-door route so remote that it doesn't even qualify as an official entrance on park maps; where to track down a perfectly placed sitting bench to take a weight off when you've had enough sightseeing and feel more like sigh-seeing; and where to go to find yourself, somehow, alone in a national park that teems with some three million visitors over the span of just a few summer and fall months.

"This app is not meant to be a comprehensive guide to Yellowstone," McCoy says. "Rather, it's a compilation of some of my favorite places, activities, and wildlife. The list will grow as I discover new favorites and as users fill me in on some of theirs."

★ About the Author ★

Wyowa (that’s Wyoming and Iowa) native Michael McCoy has been exploring the byways and backcountry of the Northern Rockies for more than 40 years. He’s the author of several books and dozens of articles on travel, history, and the outdoors. In the late 1990s, McCoy mapped Adventure Cycling Association’s Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, a rugged bikepacking trail stretching 2,750 miles from Canada to Mexico (see entry in this app titled "Grassy Lake Road"). He has also worked as a field archaeologist in Montana and Wyoming, as a park ranger at Devils Tower National Monument, and as a wildlife researcher in Montana's Kootenai National Forest--where his duties ranged from counting piles of elk droppings to helping relocate orphaned grizzly-bear cubs.

Little Known Fact: In the 1960s, McCoy had a near miss with fame as lead guitarist for The Livin’ End, a central Iowa garage band. "Our brightest moment was playing the Coon Rapids High School prom," he says, adding: “I still love rock ’n’ roll, but I’m even crazier about Yellowstone."

★ About Sutro Media ★

This guide is published in partnership with Sutro Media. By enabling local writers to share their expertise on mobile phones, Sutro Media is making it easier and more fun to explore the world!

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