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Yellowstone Treasures: The Traveler's Companion to the National Park
The first and oldest national park in the world can be enjoyed mile by mile with this complete travel guide. Along with fascinating facts and anecdotes, readers will learn of Yellowstone's geyser basins and the frequency of the geysers, out-of-the-way hikes, and flora and fauna. Easy-to-understand scientific explanations and diagrams complement an array of short walks, the right season for camping, and the park’s campgrounds and facilities. Updated road logs highlight more than 100 historical points of interest, including the often misidentified locale from which artist Thomas Moran painted his “Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone” masterpiece and where five stagecoach robberies occurred along the Grand Loop Road. New text examines areas that have changed in recent years, including the reconstructed Canyon-to-Dunraven Pass and the newly completed North Rim Drive at the Grand Canyon. Additionally, numerous new photographs feature historical and contemporary images.
392 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
52 people are currently reading
497 people want to read
About the author
Janet Chapple
6 books20 followersA lifetime love affair with Yellowstone National Park has developed into an obsession. Yellowstone has everything: incredible thermal features, mountains, lakes, rushing streams and lovely waterfalls, unusual wildlife, gorgeous wildflowers—I could go on and on with this list, but instead I took on a second career researching and writing books about this unique place.
My latest book is a historical anthology of very early writings about Yellowstone, with the title "Through Early Yellowstone: Adventuring by Bicycle, Covered Wagon, Foot, Horseback, and Skis." The book's centerpiece consists of nearly thirty delightful watercolor sketches by one of the authors (a horseback tourist), Thomas H. Thomas, who visited the park in 1884.
Starting as an effort to update the old-time best guide to Yellowstone Park (1890–1966) by the Haynes father and son, I began researching in 1995 for my best-selling guidebook, "Yellowstone Treasures." I formed my publishing company, Granite Peak Publications, with the generous help of my daughters five years later. Daughter Beth and I have now turned out four editions of the guidebook and plan to produce others. Since 2014, Beth is GPP's publisher, as well as editor and webmaster.
From information in "Yellowstone Treasures," I've also put together a very portable booklet, "Visiting Geyserland." It describes what you'll see as you visit the ten easily accessible thermal areas in the park.
Another project, with colleague Suzanne Cane, was translating "Yellowstone, Land of Wonders," published in 2013 by the University of Nebraska Press. This is an entertaining and well-written travelogue published in 1888 by Belgian judge Jules Leclercq, who traveled across the U.S. by train to visit Yellowstone.
Brought up in Billings, Montana, I attended Stanford and graduated from the U. of Southern California, with a couple of quarters at U. of Washington. I married Bill Chapple, with whom I had three daughters. My education and first career were in cello performance and teaching, and I earned a master's degree in cello performance at Indiana University after Bill died of cancer. We lived in Rhode Island, and I married geochemist Bruno Giletti there in 1984. We now enjoy our apartment overlooking Lake Merritt in Oakland, California.
My latest book is a historical anthology of very early writings about Yellowstone, with the title "Through Early Yellowstone: Adventuring by Bicycle, Covered Wagon, Foot, Horseback, and Skis." The book's centerpiece consists of nearly thirty delightful watercolor sketches by one of the authors (a horseback tourist), Thomas H. Thomas, who visited the park in 1884.
Starting as an effort to update the old-time best guide to Yellowstone Park (1890–1966) by the Haynes father and son, I began researching in 1995 for my best-selling guidebook, "Yellowstone Treasures." I formed my publishing company, Granite Peak Publications, with the generous help of my daughters five years later. Daughter Beth and I have now turned out four editions of the guidebook and plan to produce others. Since 2014, Beth is GPP's publisher, as well as editor and webmaster.
From information in "Yellowstone Treasures," I've also put together a very portable booklet, "Visiting Geyserland." It describes what you'll see as you visit the ten easily accessible thermal areas in the park.
Another project, with colleague Suzanne Cane, was translating "Yellowstone, Land of Wonders," published in 2013 by the University of Nebraska Press. This is an entertaining and well-written travelogue published in 1888 by Belgian judge Jules Leclercq, who traveled across the U.S. by train to visit Yellowstone.
Brought up in Billings, Montana, I attended Stanford and graduated from the U. of Southern California, with a couple of quarters at U. of Washington. I married Bill Chapple, with whom I had three daughters. My education and first career were in cello performance and teaching, and I earned a master's degree in cello performance at Indiana University after Bill died of cancer. We lived in Rhode Island, and I married geochemist Bruno Giletti there in 1984. We now enjoy our apartment overlooking Lake Merritt in Oakland, California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
July 1, 2018
I've been reading The Traveler's Companion as I've been preparing for my trip to Yellowstone National Park. This paperback provides maps, park history, geography and geology of the area as well as helpful hints. I've now traveled to YNP, spending five days there. Yes, the book was helpful, but not perfect. What I was really looking forward to putting into use were the various maps that included mile markers (or mileage) from a park entrance to various must sees along the route. Unfortunately, since Yellowstone's main loop is a figure eight, and there are five major entrances to the park, I had to constantly turn from section to section. That being said, the traveler's companion is definitely more detailed and more helpful that the map the park provides at entry. I'm sure I had a better travel experience due to the help of Ms. Chapple's resource.
July 11, 2021
Super specific guidebook with information organized by mileage in the park and useful trail maps. Imagine an old school AAA Triptik on steroids - "mile 6.8/12.6 - Congress Lake (named because it 'just sits there and does nothing') to the South." Lots of cool infographics like if you're sitting on Yellowstone Lodge's porch, what mountains you're looking at.
Way more info than we needed, which I like!
Way more info than we needed, which I like!
July 15, 2021
We leave for Yellowstone next week and this was a great guidebook! I will definitely be putting this in our suitcase and will use the detailed maps and lists of sights to see in each section of the park.
May 20, 2016
I won this guide book in a terrific giveaway from Goodreads.
This is a wonderful guide to Yellowstone! It's packed with maps, photos, travel tips, history about the park, guides to flowers and animals, and even a chronology of the park, a chart of driving distances, a cool glossary, and a helpful index. This is the only Yellowstone book anyone will ever need, and after reading this book, I want to leave on a trip tomorrow or maybe tonight, right now!
This is a wonderful guide to Yellowstone! It's packed with maps, photos, travel tips, history about the park, guides to flowers and animals, and even a chronology of the park, a chart of driving distances, a cool glossary, and a helpful index. This is the only Yellowstone book anyone will ever need, and after reading this book, I want to leave on a trip tomorrow or maybe tonight, right now!
April 14, 2015
This book is amazing! She put together such a great comprehensive guide to Yellowstone National Park. I love Yellowstone and this book has maps of all the different areas of the park, sectioned out by junctions. All the hiking and biking trails, swimming spots, horse trails, and must sees. If you want to explore Yellowstone thoroughly, this is the book that will help you do that!
September 23, 2014
This book is proving to be invaluable for my days in Yellowstone. Every side trip, drive, hike, and boardwalk is mentioned by mileage, and the author provides tidbits of information on each. For many sights, she is more expansive, and I found myself taking the book along with me on hikes and boardwalk walks, because her information is so much fuller than the park signage.
September 4, 2019
Hands down the most thorough overall guide to Yellowstone. As the forward indicates, this is not for the traveler spending 24 hours in the park. This is for more in-depth touring and for those who ask, “I wonder how that got there?” I’ve actually bought two versions of this book, including the most recently updated one. Its information was useful even on repeat trips.
August 18, 2017
Wow! Comprehensive and well organized with every mile of the grand loop detailed as well as the approaches to the park and trails. Highly, highly, highly recommended!
August 27, 2015
Loved reading it while experiencing Yellowstone.
October 27, 2020
Of The travel guides I checked out for our recent trip, this was by far my favorite for detailing a little history of description of the main attractions in Yellowstone. For wilderness hikes there are probably better ones. My only complaint was wishing it showed distances for the different boardwalks.
June 14, 2017
If you need a guide to Yellowstone National Park, this is it. Very detailed. Very useful. Was so valuable on our trip to Yellowstone! Highly recommend.
July 3, 2017
Excellent guide book for Yellowstone, in fact the best travel guide book I have come across.
September 7, 2017
Great to hear from a local but not as detailed as I was hoping.
March 21, 2021
Good guide to Yellowstone. Would be particularly useful for a first time visitor to the park.
May 26, 2021
Good information. But a glorified compendium of trail brochures.
July 28, 2021
best guide I found for our trip. maps are wonderful
July 3, 2024
Required reading for anyone traveling to Yellowstone.
August 9, 2024
An excellent resource for the park (plus a little on Grand Tetons) with odometer readings along all the paved roads and measurements for hikes. It also includes a lot of geology and some history.
June 29, 2009
In its third edition, Yellowstone Treasures is a comprehensive guide to Yellowstone National Park, written by Janet Chapple. Janet's father worked in Old Faithful Inn for four summers, giving his daughter a lifelong love of the park.
That love has translated into this guidebook.
I purchased the book in anticipation of a trip to Yellowstone, and on our recent trip to the west, my friends and I quickly discovered this book was illuminating, enlightening, and above all, essential to our travels.
My friend's daughter needed a bathroom, and quickly? Janet's system of describing everything along the roads of the park, down to mileposts, allowed me to easily tell them exactly where we were, and exactly how far it was to the nearest toilet. What's the name of that mountain? A quick look at the mileposts, drawing and maps almost always told us the answer.
In addition to the comprehensive and painstaking detail on the sights at each mile of the road, Janet provides opinions on the best things to see, cross references things by subjects, and provides a lot of the background on the park in asides in the book.
I found myself, as we were traveling along, reading aloud on subjects that Janet mentions. Where did the Firehole River get its name? Just who was Norris that Norris Geyser Basin is named for? Which of the sights in Mammoth are worth stopping to take a look at?
I had purchased an additional guide to Yellowstone, but everything my traveling companions and I could want to know or need to know about the area within Yellowstone was within the nearly 400 pages of this book. The next time my friends and I go back to the park, we certainly will be making use of Ms. Chapple's work.
If you are planning to visit Yellowstone National Park, I strongly advise you to get a copy of this book beforehand yourself and keep it on hand as you traverse the park. You will be extremely glad that you did.
This is the way to write a travel book on a National Park.
Highly Recommended.
That love has translated into this guidebook.
I purchased the book in anticipation of a trip to Yellowstone, and on our recent trip to the west, my friends and I quickly discovered this book was illuminating, enlightening, and above all, essential to our travels.
My friend's daughter needed a bathroom, and quickly? Janet's system of describing everything along the roads of the park, down to mileposts, allowed me to easily tell them exactly where we were, and exactly how far it was to the nearest toilet. What's the name of that mountain? A quick look at the mileposts, drawing and maps almost always told us the answer.
In addition to the comprehensive and painstaking detail on the sights at each mile of the road, Janet provides opinions on the best things to see, cross references things by subjects, and provides a lot of the background on the park in asides in the book.
I found myself, as we were traveling along, reading aloud on subjects that Janet mentions. Where did the Firehole River get its name? Just who was Norris that Norris Geyser Basin is named for? Which of the sights in Mammoth are worth stopping to take a look at?
I had purchased an additional guide to Yellowstone, but everything my traveling companions and I could want to know or need to know about the area within Yellowstone was within the nearly 400 pages of this book. The next time my friends and I go back to the park, we certainly will be making use of Ms. Chapple's work.
If you are planning to visit Yellowstone National Park, I strongly advise you to get a copy of this book beforehand yourself and keep it on hand as you traverse the park. You will be extremely glad that you did.
This is the way to write a travel book on a National Park.
Highly Recommended.
July 17, 2010
I have to say, Megan and I probably had 5 different guides to yellowstone between the two of us, and this one was the best. We also had a pocket guide, which was tiny and great, but this one was organized so nicely, so that the different sights, walks and hikes were were all in order, lots of background info (love the history and geological stuff) and she gave stars to her favorites, so it was easy to pick if you found yourself lacking for time (or hauling around 4 kids like we were). I'm hoping there is more in this series for other National Parks.
September 13, 2011
If you're interested in doing backpacking or hiking trips, this is not the right book. This book is really for the car tourist, but then, Yellowstone is a pretty car-oriented park.
The organization is strange - it's not that easy to just look something up, you have to know where it is. It took me a couple-three tries every time I wanted to find something. Definitely read the introduction. That'll also give you some ideas of stuff you may want to go see.
That said - this is an extremely thorough guidebook. My recent trip to Yellowstone wouldn't have been as fun without this book.
The organization is strange - it's not that easy to just look something up, you have to know where it is. It took me a couple-three tries every time I wanted to find something. Definitely read the introduction. That'll also give you some ideas of stuff you may want to go see.
That said - this is an extremely thorough guidebook. My recent trip to Yellowstone wouldn't have been as fun without this book.
May 12, 2013
I bought a different book in preparation of an upcoming trip to Yellowstone, then found this one in a used book store. I am glad I did. This book is organized based on mileage between the major intersections in Yellowstone's figure 8 road system. It shows miles to each attraction. Then has expanded sections on the major sites with expanded descriptions of these sites.
The author's love of the park is clear. THe book I purchased has prettier pictures and is flashier, but this is the book I will be taking to guide my trip to Yellowstone.
The author's love of the park is clear. THe book I purchased has prettier pictures and is flashier, but this is the book I will be taking to guide my trip to Yellowstone.
June 18, 2016
I like Ms. Chapple's traveler's companion to Yellowstone better than most travel books because she has lived in and loves the park; so her perspective is that of an insider describing a place she loves, not a "paid consultant" critiquing a place for a particular audience. Much good inside information to be gleaned and enjoyed. But like any travel guide, it becomes dated and inaccurate over time, and this updated second edition is over 10 years old. So things have changed. No fault of the author; and still worth the price.
August 13, 2013
Highly useful book on Yellowstone. The details in the maps and descriptions were a great help to us as we toured the park with four children, ages 9 and under. It helped us select the things we knew we could see with the kids and which were not going to be appropriate. Very useful. Will be using it again on our next trip to the park.
January 31, 2017
I was skeptical because I didn't think a travel book would be very helpful but it was and is a great resource. It takes you through the park mile by mile, it's split into regions, and tells you interesting facts about things off the beaten path. I highly recommend this book if you're going to Yellowstone and it will be great to reference trip after trip.
July 15, 2009
Perfect guide if you want a mile-by-mile description of everything in the park. It pretty much walks you through every road, overlook, and turnout in the park. Could have had more pictures, but overall I think it's a must if you're visiting Yellowstone.
July 19, 2011
Excellent guide to Yellowstone - it is the only book we used on our trip. Sights/trails/picnic areas/etc are noted on a mile-by-mile basis. Also has a good section on the geography/fauna/flora of the area.
December 31, 2012
Wonderful book for Park visitors. Details not only wonders inside the Park, but on all major roads leading to it. I especially liked the special chapters on geology, wildlife, plants, and accommodations in the Park. Many great photos, well-organize.
January 18, 2016
This is a comprehensive guide to the sites and points of interest in Yellowstone, one of America's most favorite parks. My favorite places in the park were the Lower Geyser Basin, West Thumb/Yellowstone Lake (Otters), and Lamar Valley (Wolves).
May 20, 2016
I love the details of this book, from the list of contents, key to symbols, glossary, and index. Suggestions as to when to go and what to see, and a reminder of how to stay safe in the park are all covered. Now I can't wait to visit Yellowstone National Park with this handy book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews