Wildlife of the Rockies
This enormous mammal is particularly associated with Yellowstone and is one of North America's most famous symbols of wildness. Also, Rick is obsessed with seeing it.
Who is the grizzly bear?
This famous 50-mile road crosses the Continental Divide at Logan Pass and is one of the park's signature attractions.
What is Going-to-the-Sun Road?
These two Army officers led the famous 1803–1806 expedition from the Missouri River to the Pacific and back.
Who are Meriwether Lewis and William Clark?
This famous lake lies beneath the dramatic peaks of the Teton Range and is one of the park's best-known scenic destinations and a launching point for hikes in the Cascade Canyon.
What is Jenny Lake?
This Montana city is home to Montana State University, nicknamed “Zoo Town”.
What is Missoula?
This imaginary line generally running north-south through the Rocky Mountains determines whether precipitation eventually drains toward the Atlantic or Pacific side of the continent.
What is the Continental Divide?
This famous Yellowstone geyser is known for its relatively predictable eruptions and has become one of the park's most recognizable symbols.
What is Old Faithful?
This animal's reintroduction to Yellowstone in the 1990s became one of the most famous wildlife restoration stories in North American conservation.
Who is the gray wolf?
At 6,646 feet, this is the highest point on the road that can be reached by vehicle.
What is Logan Pass?
This Native American woman traveled with the expedition and played an important role in communication, diplomacy and helping the explorers navigate the unfamiliar West.
Who is Sacagawea?
This man is responsible for purchasing up land throughout the region to preserve what we enjoy today. The highway between Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks are named after him.
Who is John D. Rockefeller, Jr.?
Helena began as a mining town after prospectors discovered gold in this gulch in 1864.
What is Last Chance Gulch?
This process, involving the movement of massive ice sheets and mountain glaciers, helped carve valleys, lakes and U-shaped landscapes throughout the northern Rockies.
What is glaciation?
This enormous lake sits at an elevation of about 7,733 feet and covers more than 130 square miles.
What is Yellowstone Lake?
These animals are especially famous in Jackson, Wyoming, where their antlers are used to create the four arches surrounding the town's central square.
What are elk?
The nickname for the drivers of the red bus.
Who are Jammers?
Lewis first encountered these spectacular waterfalls on June 13, 1805, after hearing what he called the "agreeable sound of a fall of water."
What are the Great Falls of the Missouri?
The name of the broad valley in which the town of Jackson and Grand Teton National Park are located.
What is Jackson Hole?
Wheat Montana Bakery is headquartered here, just down the hill from the Blue Horses sculpture set.
Where is Three Forks?
These are the three broad geologic stories that help explain much of the scenery we have seen: ancient rocks and mountain building due to plate tectonics, volcanic activity, and this process that continually wears mountains down. (Remember Billy Blue Hair!)
What is erosion?
One of the four geothermal features to be found in Yellowstone National Park. It is like a geyser, but no water will come out of its vent. . only steam.
What is a Fumarole?
This large mountain animal, recognizable by its impressive horns, can be seen in rocky terrain at places such as the Gates of the Mountains.
What is the bighorn sheep?
This is the largest lake in Glacier National Park, stretching for about 9.4 miles and reaching a depth of 464 feet.
What is Lake McDonald?
As they began their travels, they were excited to encounter this animal that they had never seen before.
What is the grizzly bear?
This natural process helped carve and shape much of the spectacular landscape of Grand Teton National Park during and after the last Ice Age.
What is glaciation?
This famous railroad helped transform Whitefish from a small settlement into an important transportation center in the Flathead Valley.
What is the Great Northern Railway?
This Yellowstone feature is actually a huge volcanic depression, roughly 45 by 30 miles, created when a massive eruption caused the ground above the emptied magma reservoir to collapse.
What is the Yellowstone Caldera?
This area’s boardwalk was blown up in an explosion in the summer of 2024. Thankfully no one was hurt.
Where is Biscuit Basin?
This animal is particularly associated with Glacier National Park's rugged high country and is sometimes called the "ghost of the mountains."
What is the mountain goat?
This movie’s opening scene contained views of St Mary’s Lake, the last photo stop on our tour.
What is “The Shining”
The Newfoundland Dog the Corps of Discovery had with them in their travels.
Who was Butler?
During prohibition, it was believed to contain underground tunnels. These days you can enjoy “saddling” up to the bar here.
What is the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar?
Helena's transformation from mining camp to major city was helped by gold discoveries, eventually beating out this city to become the state capital.
What is Anaconda?
This Yellowstone geological phenomenon is not a conventional volcano sitting at the edge of a tectonic plate.
Instead, the North American Plate has been moving over this unusually hot region of the mantle, in the same way that the Hawaiian Islands were formed.
What is a hotspot?
These colorful microscopic organisms, known as "heat lovers," thrive in Yellowstone's extreme thermal environments and help create some of the brilliant colors visitors see.
What are thermophiles?