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Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872 as the world’s first national park, spans about 3,500 square miles across Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho atop a vast active volcanic caldera. Renowned for having roughly half of the planet’s geysers and more than 10,000 hydrothermal features, it showcases iconic sights such as Old Faithful, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and the vivid Grand Prismatic Spring. The park protects one of the largest nearly intact temperate ecosystems on Earth, with extensive forests, high plateaus, rivers, and lakes that support grizzly bears, wolves, large free-ranging bison and elk herds, and hundreds of other wildlife species. Recognized as both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and biosphere reserve, Yellowstone offers visitors exceptional opportunities for hiking, with various hiking guides available, camping, wildlife watching, and experiencing dramatic geothermal and geological processes in a largely wild landscape. For those looking to deepen their knowledge, there are many national park books that detail the park's wonders. Yellowstone Forever is the park's conservation partner.

Link to Yellowstone NPS page

General Travel Guides

Stylized Yellowstone poster featuring a hot spring and pine trees.

Wildsam Yellowstone

Another great entry in the Wildsam National Park Guides, this book leans more towards being a reading experience than a traditional guide. While it offers some useful tidbits, such as the best coffee spots in the gateway towns, it provides a high-level overview of national park information. Additionally, it includes engaging interviews, stories, and interesting sidebars, making it a valuable addition to any collection of hiking guides and national park books.

Scenic waterfall and forest view in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

Fodor's Yellowstone and Grand Teton NP

While this guide covers both parks, it is primarily dedicated to Yellowstone, featuring at least 200 pages of detailed information about the park. Although this guide is light on dining and lodging options, similar to many national park books, it provides extensive insights into the history and ecology of the area, making it a valuable resource for those interested in hiking guides.


Hiking Guides and Maps

Hiking Yellowstone National Park with a rainbow over a scenic landscape.

Hiking Yellowstone National Park

With more hikes than you could complete in a weeklong trip, you'll have plenty of options to choose from. These hiking guides feature over a hundred detailed hikes across every corner of the park, ranging from short half-hour walks to challenging overnight trips. Additionally, you'll find great information on preparedness and hazards in these national park books.

National Geographic Yellowstone National Park topographic trail map with bison and geothermal features.

Trails Illustrated Map Yellowstone

A good map is essential for navigating around Yellowstone and discovering its major attractions. Given that Yellowstone spans over 3,500 square miles, the scale of the map may not provide much detail on individual hikes. For more specific information, you would want to consider the hiking guides available in the map pack that divides the park into quadrants at a much reduced scale, which can also be found in various national park books.

National Geographic guide for Yellowstone National Park day hikes with maps and trail details.

Trails Illustrated Yellowstone Day Hikes

This guide covers eighteen day hikes, which are scattered throughout the park and vary in distance and difficulty levels. Each hike includes a highlighted map and elevation profiles to aid your exploration. For those particularly interested in the Old Faithful area, there is a dedicated section in the hiking guides and a separate national park book that focuses exclusively on day hikes in that region.


Nature Guides and Natural History

Field guide cover for Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks with wildlife and nature photos.

The Farcountry Field Guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton

This is a fantastic general field guide, ideal for any outdoor enthusiast. It begins with a brief introduction to the ecology and geology of the area, complete with a pictorial guide to the region's rocks and minerals. Following this, the guide features sections on mushrooms, plants, insects, animals, and tracks, as well as a look at the night sky. It's an essential resource among hiking guides and national park books for those looking to explore nature.

Watching Yellowstone & Grand Teton Wildlife

This guidebook shows the most likely areas to see wildlife.  There is a map of both parks, with specific locations and the species one is likely to see.  Covering sixteen larger mammals, a dozen birds, and a gallery of smaller animals, this book will help find the bears, wolves, bison, and swans that make the trip memorable.


Geology

Cover of 'Roadside Geology of Yellowstone Country' with a colorful geological map.

The Farcountry Field Guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton

The Roadside Geology series serves as an excellent guide to the geology of a region, making it a valuable addition to national park books. While these books often focus on a specific state, the unique features of Yellowstone and its caldera offer enough fascinating material for a dedicated volume. This particular guide includes 84 pages of background information on the geological history of the area before exploring the sights that hikers can enjoy along the roadside.


Conservation, History, and Archeology

Cover of "Before Yellowstone" featuring Native American archaeology and horse hoofprints.

Before Yellowstone

Mountain men and explorers were not the first humans to experience Yellowstone. This book, a valuable addition to national park books, covers Native American history of the region from the Clovis people to the tribes that were displaced at the end of the 19th century to make way for the park. It also serves as a great resource for hiking guides, highlighting the rich cultural heritage of this stunning area.

Book cover of A Place Called Yellowstone by Randall K. Wilson, featuring a thermal pool landscape.

A Place Called Yellowstone

A good general history book focused on 1800 to the present, it covers the discovery of the area by American explorers, the creation of the park, early days, and modern era events like the wolf reintroduction. This book is a great addition to any collection of national park books and can serve as an excellent resource alongside popular hiking guides.

Book cover of Empire of Shadows by George Black about Yellowstone's epic history.

Empire of Shados

This self-described 'revisionist' history of the park offers a compelling perspective, focusing not just on its natural beauty but also on the darker aspects of its past, such as the violence of the Indian Wars, human greed, and the drive to 'civilize' the frontier. For those interested in exploring this alternate viewpoint, it complements various national park books and hiking guides that delve into the complexities of the area.

Scenic view of Yellowstone waterfall and forest on book cover.

Travels in Greater Yellowstone

Part travelogue of the author's adventures in the area and part advocacy, this book serves as one of the essential national park books. It highlights the ongoing conflict between nature and development in the region, while also addressing important topics such as fire management and wolf reintroduction, making it a valuable resource for those interested in hiking guides.


Art and Photography

Cover of a book on Yellowstone photography

Capturing Yellowstone

This guide will help visitors capture images of Yellowstone's natural beauty, geological wonders, and wildlife.  It provides very specific advice on where and how to get those memorable shots.


See full review on Recent Reads.

Cover of a natural history field guide to Yellowstone featuring wildlife illustrations.

The Artist's Field Guide to Yellowstone

This isn't just another guide to making art; it's a collection where artists and their art explore various aspects of Yellowstone's natural environment, covering everything from birds to mammals to plants. The prose is diverse due to the numerous co-authors contributing to the book, offering a unique perspective that complements other national park books and provides insights valuable for those who enjoy hiking guides.

Affiliate links to the hiking guides and national park books above earn a small commission to help support my reading habit.

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