Luxe PLACES
AMERICAN BEAUTY
Yellowstone National Park offers once-in-a-lifetime wonders amid wide open spaces
BY ALISON BAILIN BATZ PHOTOS COURTESY OF YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
There are a host of wild characters in Paramount’s hit television drama Yellowstone. The first is Kevin Costner’s rugged John Dutton, patriarch of the show’s central family and the sixth-generation owner of the fictional Yellowstone Ranch. Then, there is Kelly Reilly’s Beth Dutton, arguably the fiercest female character on television right now, and Cole Hauser’s Rip Wheeler, the gritty ranch hand and Beth’s true love. But beyond the fictional characters, there is a very real and even wilder character that brings the show to vivid life: Yellowstone National Park. And it turns out that the drama only scrapes of the surface of what the more than 2.2 million-acre park has to offer. Established as the first national park in the United States in 1872 after President Ulysses S. Grant and Congress saw artist Thomas Moran and photographer William Henry Jackson’s paintings and photos of the region, Yellowstone National Park is primarily located in Wyoming, but it does cross the border into Montana and Idaho a bit as well. Given its sheer size, there are five entrances to the park. A best bet is to pick attractions and then choose the entrance closest to said attractions.
North The north entrance, which is located in Montana and open yearround, resembles the entrance to Jurassic Park thanks to its 50-foot Roosevelt Arch, which was dedicated by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1903. This particular entrance offers the fastest route to Mammoth Hot Springs, which features limestone and travertine formations as well as several dozen steaming hydrothermal wonders one may explore thanks to two sturdy boardwalks. It also happens to be the perfect place to start an American safari due to its relatively short distance to Lamar Valley, often nicknamed America’s Serengeti due to its large and visible populations of large animals. Lamar Valley is home to elk, bison, grizzly and black bears, several packs of wolves and a variety of bird species.
Northeast For those who have animal sightings high on their Yellowstone itinerary, there is also a northeast entrance that is even closer to Lamar Valley, open now through about mid-October. While it does not have an arch, the route to this entrance is dramatic in its own way. Called Beartooth Highway, the 68-mile National Scenic Byway climbs 5,000 feet through pine forests, alpine lakes and vibrant wildflowers and offers views of nearly two dozen mountain peaks.
108
So Scottsdale! June ‘21
