The first National Park commissioned in 1872 by Congress and President Grant has… some space and some history. Today the name Yellowstone has been popularized by the TV series Yellowstone and the Montana based Dutton Ranch where the series is based. Few reality checks, there is a real ranch used for the filming and it’s the Chief Joseph Ranch in Darby, Montana. Darby is about 4 hours west of Yellowstone National Park and it’s closer to Idaho than Wyoming and Yellowstone. While Kosner and the rest of the cast might have the modern day corner on the Montana life it came as a surprise to see where the state lines really are and to process just how BIG Yellowstone really is. It covers 3,472 sq miles and since that’s hard to put to scale, it is 3x time the size of the state of Rhode Island and bigger than Chicago, LA and NY combined. Other than size, there were some quirky aspects of the park we wanted to research.

The “Train Station” referenced in the Yellowstone TV series is the location where bodies are disposed of and enemies dealt with due to its location in a geographical dead zone of the legal system where no crime can be prosecuted. While this makes for good TV drama it’s not accurate… yet it’s also partially true. The actual “Zone of Death” does exist in the Idaho portion of Yellowstone. This space is only approximately 1% of the federal park land that extends into the sparsely populated eastern Idaho mountains. The legal loophole is called the Vicinage Clause and is related to how a jury of peers would/could be gathered to try a murder case. In this portion of Idaho there simply aren’t enough people to be called to serve on a jury so the zone is a legal conundrum for a capital crime. The Montana portion of Yellowstone is similar and accounts for about 3% of Yellowstone Park but it has a higher population census and a jury could be convened for a capital crime trial by peers in the strip of Yellowstone that is in Montana. You may also be curious why such a border crossing issue would occur for the National Park. It isn’t because the state lines were established after the park, it’s actually a zoning of the park land based on the Congressional Commission of the park and its natural resources to be protected. Bit of legal and geographic history for the countries oldest park and North America’s largest volcano!

We were fortunate to get 6 days due to a cancellation in West Yellowstone KOA (Montana) so we benefited from multiple trips into the park, despite the significant amount of driving time invested in driving into Yellowstone. West Yellowstone is great for offsite stays and in our case last minute reservations. We were also fortunate to land a spot near our RV friends from NJ… Congratulations Rick for retiring and for your first month stretching out those retirement miles! There are a number of parks with good amenities and you can get into West Yellowstone for dinner and other entertainment but you are going to end up driving at least 30 minutes to get to any of the major Yellowstone sites minimum. This park is BIG and a 2 hr drive is normal to most of the 5 major hubs in the park. That doesn’t account for traffic and/or animal delays due to road blockage, both are common during August. In 5 days of Yellowstone exploration we put over 490 miles and more than 12 hours of drive-time. August 3-5th were Disney level busy with lines at all the major hubs and parking lots, as well as some absolutely nutty driving in the park. We had a motorcycle come at us head-on down a 1 way street and passed a 4 car wreck at a 3 ways stop with one car landing in the forest… how, at a stop sign? For Mom/Dad and our friends Elizabeth and Rick it was worth it but for the kids it was… less than desirable. Good thing Mom/Dad are in charge 🤪

Major sites visited are marked with the photos and listed below. This is some truly unique landscape and unlike the volcanic parks visited on the west coast. The land is lush and full of rivers and animals despite the vast number of thermal geysers and hot sulfur smelling springs, over 500 across the park. Some parts look like you’re in outer space but then a bunny hops by or you step in a Bison patty. So there were numerous stops not noted on our targeted location list but we recommend all listed and shown! We had good weather for most mornings and afternoons, with late afternoon storms the norm so plan to be back to camp for dinner if you want to avoid the rains.

Yellowstone Sites

Day 1 (west) Madison, Gibbons Meadows, Elk Park, & Norris Geyser Basin

Day 2 (north east) Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Mount Washburn, & Lamar Valley

Day 3 (north west) Mammoth Hot Springs Upper Terrace, Albright Visitor Center-Fort Yellowstone, Obsidian Cliff, Galatin Range, Roaring Mountain & revisited Norris Basin.

Day 4 (southwest) Old Faithful and Visitor Center, Midway Geyser Basin, Grande Prismatic Spring & Firehole Canyon

Day 5 (south) South Grand Loop Dr and the Continental Divide, West Thumb, Lewis Lake and Lewis Canyon

Missed the Southeast Lake Yellowstone and Hayden valley areas… driving fatigue and we needed some downtime for Peyton’s 15th birthday!