Your Yellowstone Guide
help for mapping out your YNP adventure
+ hope for navigating life by faith
You’re in the right place.
- Are you planning a visit to Yellowstone?
- Are you an armchair traveler who would enjoy trekking across Yellowstone through the pages of a book?
- Do you need answers for your Yellowstone questions?
- Are you overwhlemed by everything you don’t know and some of what you do?
- Do you need some guideance to help you map out your Yellowstone adventure?
- Do you need a little hope for navigating everyday life by faith?
If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, you’re in the right place.
I’m Natalie. I’m here to help and offer hope. I’m glad you’re here.
Let’s go to Yellowstone.
Recent Posts
It’s a Sign: Yellowstone
Most of Yellowstone’s signs are posted along roads, at trailheads, or in front of points of interest. Sometimes, though, they’re situated down the trail—a billboard of sorts in the woods. We once came upon such a sign on the gentle beginnings of Uncle Tom’s Trail, its...
How to Plan a Winter Trip to Yellowstone
Yellowstone in winter is an adventure in comparatives. It’s more majestic and less crowded than in other seasons. It’s more difficult to get around. (Even the animals take the road.) It’s also more difficult to do simple and necessary tasks. (Consider a visit...
One Surprising Reason to Visit Yellowstone
Leaning against the stone stairway of the historic Fort Yellowstone building, I watched the autumn scene unfold. A massive bull elk stood sentry over his painstakingly collected harem. His occasional bugles rang through the settlement—reminding the cows that he was a...
Yellowstone and the Waiting World
Yellowstone is quiet right now. Its hibernators have denned and many of its birds have flown away. Its roads, except for the one between the North and Northeast Entrance, are empty. The park and its visitors are waiting. They aren’t waiting for the traffic to unsnarl...
There’s No Guarantee of Your Safety in Bear Country
It wasn’t until the third hike of our week in Yellowstone that we found the dreaded bear frequenting area sign planted in the dirt at the trailhead. I sighed. Every time I see this sign I’m not only frustrated that it gives absolutely no useful information, I’m left...
Where to Stay in Yellowstone
Back when I worked in Yellowstone, I enjoyed desk duty at the Old Faithful Visitor’s Center (now the Visitor Education Center). Even back when park visitation was 2.5 million (as opposed to today’s approximately 4 million), the crowd pushing against the counter and...
Earned, not Bestowed
Seeing a three-way split in the trail ahead, I slowed, looking for a clue as to which one was ours. There was nothing—no sign, no discernible difference between the trails, no indication of which path was the one we wanted. Because my husband always knows where he is...
How to Be Prepared: Do Not Run
My youngest daughter was eight when my family and I found ourselves in the path of a bear at close range on the trail. (Read more here.) As kids are prone to do, her response to learning there was a bear heading down the trail in our direction was to make an...
Yellowstone Weather: What You Need to Know
Yellowstone can deliver extreme weather—in any season, without warning, and sometimes on the same day. That is the number one weather reality to keep in mind when packing for a trip to Yellowstone. Here are some others: For every season, prepare for it to be colder...
How to Plan Your Yellowstone Vacation
Planning a trip to Yellowstone? Consider these 10 things to help you plan your Yellowstone vacation. Make a plan--one that includes a plan A, and a plan B, and possibly a plan C. Bison choose their own crosswalks and cross the road slowly. In herds. Wildlife block the...
Don’t Walk Alone: How to Be Prepared
Tyson the Bison That, according to the signs in the Madison Campground bathroom, was the name of the bull hanging around in the campground. The signs prompted campground residents to be aware of his presence so as not to accidentally get too close. Even docile-looking...
How to Prepare for Your Yellowstone Vacation
After a season of working in Yellowstone, a lifetime of return weeklong visits, and years of talking with friends about their upcoming or completed trip to the park, I’ve figured something out: There is a difference between planning a trip and preparing for one. A...
“There is a great deal of good to be learned from what we see every day, if we would but consider it.”
~ Matthew Henry
