Ninety seconds on Yellowstone National Park
Do not save the geyser basins for midday. Give Yellowstone its edges instead: the basins in the quiet before mid-morning, and Lamar Valley at first light, when wolves and bears are most active.
Split your nights. West Yellowstone puts you closest to the geyser basins, while Gardiner at the North Entrance is within an hour of the heart of Lamar Valley. Rooms inside the park fill quickly, so book them as early as you can.
Start by 7am to clear the entrance queue, and see Old Faithful and the other big basins before 10am or after 4pm. Parking at the popular stops fills by mid-morning.
Keep to the boardwalks and marked trails in every thermal area. The ground beside a hot spring can be a thin crust over scalding water, and a fall through it can kill. Pets are banned from thermal areas and boardwalks, even when carried.
Stay at least 91 metres from bears, wolves and cougars, and 23 metres from bison, elk and every other animal. Your car is often the safest place to watch from, and binoculars or a scope show you more than walking closer would. Download your maps before you leave town, since Lamar Valley has no reliable cell service.
West Yellowstone, and further afield
Right on the Montana line at the park's west gate, a grid town of motels, diners and outfitters serves as the busiest way into Yellowstone.…
A single street of galleries, cafes and small hotels runs along the Virgin River at the south gate of Zion, with sandstone cliffs rising…
Four hundred and fifty kilometres of the Colorado River run through the park, in a gorge nearly thirty kilometres wide at its broadest and…