Essential Yellowstone: A Landscape Pf Memory and Wonder

by Michael Yochim

Few people have experienced Yellowstone National Park as thoroughly as Michael Yochim, a former Yellowstone ranger and guide. From visits to the park as a young boy to a career with the National Park Service, Yochim savored Yellowstone in all seasons and hiked and skied to its wildest reaches. In Essential Yellowstone , Yochim recounts his most vivid experiences in the park while deftly describing the park's natural and human history. The result is a remarkable book that combines adventure and science to provide one of the most perceptive and engaging portraits of Yellowstone in years.
“This book is an immersion of experience in Yellowstone National Park's backcountry ….Written with a soul and spirit that intimately resonates with Yellowstone, Michael Yochim's extraordinary encounters will delight anyone who savors adventure, from armchair travelers to Yellowstone aficionados.” Elizabeth Watry, Women in Lives, Legends, and Legacies of Yellowstone National Park “Michael Yochim is an entertaining writer, a keen observer of Yellowstone, and a top-drawer historian/geographer. All of that makes this book a pleasure to absorb, and a work guaranteed to please both the casual reader and the Yellowstone expert.” Lee Whittlesey, Park Historian, Retired National Park Service, Yellowstone National Park

296 pages, Paperback

Published August 7, 2019

Reviews

[Jimgosailing · Rating 5 out of 5]

We first traveled to Yellowstone in 2008 and found it to be a magical place - and really, between the geysers (we hiked three (?) miles into to wait and watch for Lone Star to erupt- which, after three hours of some chilly waiting, it did - and there were only 17 people there to see it, as opposed to the hundreds on the boardwalk to watch Old Faithful); the wildlife (a late afternoon hiking in to take pictures and on an outcropping overlooking a small lake when we espied a grizzly coming down the slope ahead of us, we promptly 180’d only to encounter a full grown bison on the trail between us and our car (fortunately there was a copse of trees to the left that allowed us to detour around him); we also witnessed a bull elk shepherding his harem through the buildings at Mammoth; hearing elk bugling is something else); our first morning there, my wife urging me to hurry up and shower so we could head out to see wildlife, then to see from our window in the Yellowstone Hotel, a herd of bison ambling through the parking lot; and who at Yellowstone hasn’t experienced the end of day traffic jam with bison crowded on the road (they know exactly what they are doing); hiking Mt Washburn and rounding the switchback encountering wind so strong my wife had to hold onto my backpack to avoid being blow away; and snow - which we weren’t completely prepared for - in September.

We talked for years about being able to visit in winter and we were able to do so in December 2021; and found it to be even more magical! Snowshoeing for the first time, seeing the snow and rime on trees, and the fortunate experience to see a pack of 9 wolves feeding on a bison carcass close enough (but not too close) to get some great photos!

And reading Essential Yellowstone was preparation for this winter trip. (I was able to read the section on Winter Experiences before the trip.) I like Michael’s conversational writing style. I felt like we were sitting side by side at the bar exchanging hiking and camping stories.

And his book is chock full of history, geology, and his encounters with nature. I really like his sense of communing with nature, especially being in remote areas far from the madding crowd, something I’ve experienced on hikes but even more so at night in deserted places doing astrophotography.

A good read for anyone interested in Yellowstone or in hiking stories.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always enjoy reading tales of adventures in the back country of Yellowstone. The author worked in Yellowstone as both a ranger and a guide and shares his experiences and insights. I thought this book was well written- especially given that the author passed away from ALS and wrote this book before his death "using only his eyes and assistive technology that tracks their movements on a computer screen." I kept thinking that writing the book must have taking the same painstaking persistence that his winter treks in the park did.

https://mountainjournal.org/author-wi...

[Isla Pohl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers some amazing insight about hiking/ backpacking in Yellowstone. Especially during winter.

First off, the way this book was organized is great. I loved the way he formatted the chapters and sections. All the photos were great too.

The way the author told the stories made them all so interesting and memorable. The way he described winter in particular made was perfect. He’s succeeded at giving the reader a sense of how magical Yellowstone really is in the winter.

Other than that, I don’t have much to say about this book. It was pretty good!