by 
This week in Yellowstone National Park, from August 14th through August 20th, I share with you the visitation numbers in July, try to convince you to wake up extremely early for a good reason, highlight the museums and visitor centers in the park, and give you a quick history lesson on Sheepeater Cliffs. I will also give you the complete weather forecast, wildlife report, a trail to hike, and everything else you need to have an incredible time, “This Week in Yellowstone.”
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Disclaimer: I might miss a few details, so feel free to reach out with questions! I also mention park locations casually—if you’re unfamiliar, a quick search can help.
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THIS WEEK’S YELLOWSTONE NEWS
July Visitation Numbers Were Released
Yellowstone National Park welcomed 975,109 visitors in July 2025. That’s about 2% fewer than the same month last year (992,352 visits). Compared to July 2021, the park saw a 10% decrease from the 1,080,767 visitors it had that year. For context, 2021 was Yellowstone’s busiest year ever, drawing more than 4.8 million visitors.
From January through July 2025, Yellowstone has had 2,666,031 visitors so far. That’s 1.5% more than the same period in 2024 (2,626,091), but just a touch below 2021’s pace, down about 0.1% from 2,668,765.
In case anyone was curious, the West Gate saw nearly 15,000 fewer cars in July of 2025 than in July of 2024. The North Gate saw an increase of about 1,000 vehicles, and the South Gate saw a decrease of around 5,000. The East Gate saw an increase of about 6,000, and the Northeast Gate saw an increase of a few thousand cars.
Fire Danger is Now Very High
Starting August 12, Yellowstone National Park will put Stage 1 fire restrictions in place because the fire danger level is now VERY HIGH. These rules are meant to reduce the risk of wildfires and keep visitors and the park safe.
In frontcountry and developed areas, smoking is only allowed in enclosed vehicles, single-family dwellings, developed campgrounds, day-use picnic areas, or within a 3-foot cleared, non-flammable space. Campfires are still allowed, but only in designated fire rings in developed campgrounds, like Madison, Mammoth, Slough Creek, Tower Fall, Canyon, Indian Creek, Lewis Lake, Grant Village, and Bridge Bay, and in day-use picnic areas. Fires must always be attended, and when it’s time to put them out, follow the “soak, stir, feel, repeat” rule to make sure ashes and charcoal are completely cold. Self-contained gas and charcoal grills, as well as stoves and lanterns that run on pressurized liquid, jellied petroleum, or gas fuel, are permitted. Sheep-herder type stoves with a ¼-inch spark-arrestor screen can also be used, but only in a cleared, non-flammable area at least 3 feet in all directions.
In the backcountry and on trails, charcoal and wood campfires are off-limits, even in established fire rings. Stoves and lanterns using approved fuels, and sheep-herder stoves with spark-arrestor screens, are still allowed in cleared areas. Smoking is permitted only next to a provided fire ring in designated campsites or within a 3-foot cleared, non-flammable space, and cigarette butts must be fully extinguished.
Some activities are always prohibited in Yellowstone: fireworks, firearms, explosives, pyrotechnics, leaving a campfire unattended, off-road driving, smoking in thermal areas or posted trails, and wood campfires in specific areas like the Fishing Bridge RV Park, Shoshone Lake backcountry sites, or any backcountry site without a proper rock or metal fire ring.
EXPERIENCE OF THE WEEK
While this should be an experience for every visitor to Yellowstone every week of the year, I wanted to highlight it this week, as the activity has been quite amazing. What am I suggesting this week, you ask? Go to Slough Creek, Lamar Valley, and out to the NE entrance at sunrise. Or, get to Hayden Valley for sunrise.
I can hear a few of you already, saying that you aren’t a morning person and/or you’d have to wake up extremely early to get to Lamar or Hayden for sunrise. Some of you will be traveling with kids, and kids can be rough to deal with in the morning. Some of you will be traveling with significant others, and significant others can be rough to deal with in the morning. I get that planning an early morning is not easy, but I am going to try to sell you on that now.
Over the last few weeks, wildlife watching in both Lamar and Hayden has been amazing in the early mornings. Not just good, not even great, but truly amazing. Wolves and grizzlies have been consistently spotted feeding on carcasses. Coyotes and foxes have been darting about. Out near Cooke City, moose have been visible in the early morning hours. Pretty much every animal one would hope to see in the park has been seen around dawn in Hayden and Lamar, and that could continue this coming week.
I understand that waking up early is a commitment, but instead of dwelling on the tiredness you will have later in the day, and struggle it may be to get up and moving with a 4 am alarm, think about the experience you may have. After a drive through the park in the dawn light, you emerge into one of the park’s famous valleys. You see a group of cars parked and people looking through binoculars and spotting scopes. You park at a pullout and exit the car, walking in the chilled morning air, breathing in the smell of sage and dew. A howl breaks the morning silence, followed by more howls, and soon you spot where they are coming from. A pack of wolves on a hillside, taking turns feeding on a bison carcass. Up on a hillside, a grizzly is spotted, roaming down toward the carcass. Everyone watching stands in silence, waiting to see how this wildlife encounter will play out.
This isn’t some dream or hope; this is a reality in Yellowstone and one you can have if you wake up early and get to Slough and Lamar, or Hayden, early in the morning. I want you to have this experience because you deserve it, and once you have it, you will forever remember the sights, smells, and sounds of that morning.
Now, what if you see nothing? Send me an angry email. Ok, don’t do that. Instead, just remember that while you didn’t see any wildlife, you did experience a sunrise in a stunning section of America’s first National Park.
I know the following statement may sound callous, but if witnessing a sunrise in Slough and Lamar, or Hayden, as a few bison meander in the prairie isn’t something that brings even the slightest bit of joy to your soul, you may want to rethink your Yellowstone trip. Moments like these are extremely rare, not just because bison were once nearly eliminated from the planet, but because you are in a wild, beautiful, and wonderful place, seeing the first rays of sunlight warm the cool ground.
TIP OF THE WEEK
Yellowstone’s Visitor Centers and Museums You Shouldn’t Miss
Yellowstone’s visitor centers and museums are so much more than places to grab a map or use the restroom; they’re gateways into the park’s stories. Each one offers a different perspective, from wildlife and geology to history and culture. Here’s what you can look forward to at each stop:
Albright Visitor Center (Mammoth Hot Springs)
Step inside a beautifully restored 1909 Army officers’ quarters and you’ll find yourself face-to-face with Yellowstone’s history and wildlife. Touch real antlers, compare them to horns, check out a life-size bison, and watch short films about the park. Rangers are on hand with the latest road updates and wildlife alerts, and the Yellowstone Forever store is perfect for souvenirs. Oh, and yes, there’s Wi-Fi and restrooms.
Canyon Visitor Education Center (Canyon Village)
If you’ve ever wanted to understand Yellowstone’s volcanic past, this is the place. Interactive exhibits explain how geysers form, why hot springs are colorful, and how geology shapes everything around you. There’s also a bookstore, permit desk, and real-time scientific data, great for planning your adventures with some extra insight.
Fishing Bridge, Madison, and Norris Museums
These charming “trailside museums” date back to 1929 and still have that classic National Park Service rustic style. Each one has its own focus: Fishing Bridge shows off preserved birds and animals with big views of Yellowstone Lake; Madison tells the park’s history; and Norris dives into the science of geothermal features. They’re small, historic, and full of character.
Old Faithful Visitor Education Center
Watch a film about Yellowstone’s geysers, get the inside scoop on the next eruption, and then walk outside to see Old Faithful go off in person. Inside, exhibits break down volcanic forces and the fascinating life that thrives in extreme heat. Kids will love the “Young Scientist” area, complete with hands-on experiments.
West Thumb Information Station
Right next to the West Thumb Geyser Basin, this little stop gives you quick, useful facts about the nearby thermal features. It’s the perfect short visit before or after walking the boardwalks along the lake.
Grant Visitor Center (Grant Village)
This center has a peaceful lakeside location and focuses on fire ecology, how wildfires affect Yellowstone, and why they’re part of the park’s natural cycle. It’s a quieter place to pick up park info before heading deeper in.
Madison Information Station
Perched where the Gibbon and Firehole Rivers meet, this cozy stop has ranger talks, a meadow view, and exhibits about Yellowstone’s history. It’s a nice breather before heading toward the geyser basins.
Museum of the National Park Ranger (Norris Area)
Here’s your chance to see how the ranger role has changed over the decades, from patrolling on horseback to modern resource management. The exhibits tell stories straight from the people who’ve protected Yellowstone over the years.
Norris Geyser Basin Museum
A rustic building with a front-row view of the Norris Geyser Basin, this museum explains the science behind Yellowstone’s hottest and most changeable thermal area. Recently updated displays make it easier than ever to understand the geology at work.
Yellowstone National Park Heritage & Research Center
While it’s not a typical visitor stop, this is where Yellowstone keeps its archives, Army-era documents, wildlife data, and more. It’s primarily for researchers, but knowing it exists adds depth to your appreciation of the park’s history.
Yellowstone Tribal Heritage Center (Old Faithful Area)
Right between Old Faithful Lodge and the main visitor center, this space celebrates the 27 Tribes connected to Yellowstone. You might see beadwork, quillwork, live music, dancing, or hear stories passed down for generations. It’s a living connection to the park’s Indigenous heritage.
RANDOM YELLOWSTONE FACT OF THE WEEK
Sheepeater Cliff
If you have driven between Mammoth and Norris, you may have noticed a sign for Sheepeater Cliff. Most of the over four million visitors rush right past this short road leading to a picnic area, but those who stop get to see a really cool place.
Sheepeater Cliff is mostly known as a picnic area, or, if you have chatted with me, a place to also get above the Gardner River in a narrow box canyon. However, Sheepeater Cliff is first and foremost a geologic feature. Sheepeater Cliff is a striking band of columnar basalt along the Gardner River in the northern part of Yellowstone National Park, and is both a geological showcase and a place steeped in human history. The cliffs are the exposed edge of a basaltic lava flow that erupted roughly 500,000 years ago north of the Yellowstone caldera; as the lava cooled, it fractured into the characteristic hexagonal columns visible today, and later river erosion by the Gardner River revealed the dramatic faces we see now.
Long before Euro-American visitors named or studied the formation, the landscape around Sheepeater Cliff belonged to the Tukudika (commonly called the Sheepeaters), a band of Mountain Shoshone whose traditional territory included high-elevation ranges and the river valleys of what is now Yellowstone. The Tukudika were renowned hunters of bighorn sheep, hence the English name, and archaeological sites near the cliffs show that Indigenous peoples used this corridor for millennia, leaving behind lithic scatters, tool fragments, and other evidence of seasonal occupation and travel.
The Euro-American history of the site is tied to Yellowstone’s early park era. Superintendent Philetus Norris is credited with naming Sheepeater Cliff in 1879 after his encounters and reports about the Mountain Shoshone in the region. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the cliffs and nearby picnic area became points of interest on the road network that connected Mammoth Hot Springs with other park attractions. As visitation increased, the visible columns proved an accessible example of columnar jointing for scientists, artists, and tourists alike.
Scientific attention to Sheepeater Cliff has emphasized its value as a textbook example of basaltic columnar jointing and as a record of Yellowstone’s complex volcanic history. USGS and park researchers explain that these basalt flows are compositionally different from the rhyolitic magmas responsible for the park’s caldera volcanism; basaltic lava could erupt along the caldera margins and create extensive flows that later fractured into the polygonal columns. The cliffs have been photographed, sketched, and sampled in geological surveys that help illustrate how cooling rates, lava composition, and jointing patterns interact to make the columns.
Archaeological work in the 20th and 21st centuries has confirmed that the Sheepeater Cliff vicinity contains cultural material important to understanding Indigenous lifeways in Yellowstone. Investigations documented prehistoric toolmaking debris and other surface materials (often recorded under site numbers in park cultural resource files), reinforcing the narrative that the Tukudika and neighboring groups used riparian corridors and cliff-edge shelter zones in seasonal rounds across the Yellowstone landscape.
Today, Sheepeater Cliff is a popular roadside stop between Mammoth and Norris, offering a picnic area and accessible viewpoints. But it’s more than just a scenic break—it’s a place where multiple stories converge. The striking basalt columns reveal a record of Yellowstone’s deep geological past, while the name and surrounding area reflect human histories that span Indigenous stewardship, early park-era naming, and ongoing scientific study. Modern interpretation at the site works to share these layered stories, honoring the Tukudika’s enduring connection to the land and highlighting the cliffs’ value as a window into Yellowstone’s volcanic history.
Next time you see the sign for it, turn off and see it for yourself.
SNOWPACK UPDATE
Not in this week’s episode. This will be back in October, probably.
ROADS CONDITIONS
All major roads and most side roads are open right now in and around Yellowstone National Park. This includes Dunraven Pass and the Beartooth Highway.
For up-to-date information, call (307) 344-2117 for recorded information, or sign up to receive Yellowstone road alerts on your mobile phone by texting “82190” to 888-777.
CAMPING INFO
Every campground in the park that is going to open this year is open. There are still a surprising number of sites available this coming week, especially after the weekend. If you are on the fence about camping or visiting, consider booking a site and coming out. You should be able to find a spot somewhere in the park.
WILDLIFE WATCHING UPDATE
You have to listen to the podcast to get this information. Sorry.
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-yellowstone-national-park/id1789397931
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/41E5WWldz4s7n6NXh2Lahr
RSS: https://rss.com/podcasts/this-week-in-yellowstone-national-park/
PICK UP A GUIDEBOOK
Love what you have heard on this podcast and want more information on wildlife watching? Get a copy of my wildlife-watching guidebook to the region! Available in both ebook and paperback formats, my book will help you spot wildlife like a seasoned local. Please consider buying a book directly from me, as I make nothing when they are sold on Amazon. Grab your copy now at outdoor-society.com!
TRAIL ALERTS AND UPDATES
Currently, as of the time of this recording, all trails that are supposed to be open in the park are open. Trails in the bear management areas are not included in that statement. All the information on trail conditions can be found on the Backcountry Conditions Page of Yellowstone National Park.
TREK OF THE WEEK
This week, I want to share a fun little summit in the Canyon Area that I usually do this time of the year. If you’re like me, you are sometimes looking for a Yellowstone hike that combines peaceful meadows, wildlife sightings, and jaw-dropping views. The Observation Peak Trail is that type of adventure. Sitting at 9,406 feet above sea level, this summit offers a fun panoramic view in the park.
Start from the Cascade Lake Trailhead, a short drive from Canyon Village along the Norris–Canyon Road. The first 2.5 miles follow the Cascade Lake Trail, a gentle stroll through wide-open meadows. In summer, these fields are bursting with wildflowers, and you may spot a bison grazing or come across an elk or two. I have also spotted both black and grizzly bears on this trail. Cascade Lake itself makes a great halfway rest stop; its glassy surface reflects the surrounding ridges, and the calm here is hard to beat.
After the lake, the trail takes on a different character. The climb begins in earnest, weaving through stands of lodgepole pine before breaking out into higher, more open country. The air feels thinner, the views start to stretch out, and you may find yourself slowing down just to take it all in. In July and August, the slopes are sprinkled with lupine, paintbrush, and asters, while marmots lounge on sun-warmed rocks and pikas dart between boulders.
The final push to the summit is pure anticipation. As you crest the ridge, the historic Observation Peak Fire Lookout comes into view, perched like a sentinel above the vast wilderness. From here, you can see the Absaroka Range to the east, the Gallatin Range to the northwest, and on a really clear day, even the Teton Range far to the south. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone slices through the forest below, and plumes of steam from distant geyser basins hint at the volcanic forces in the distance, if it is cold out. Be aware that the lookout is not open.
Also, know that it can be super breezy up here, so you’ll want a warm layer while you soak in the view. On sunny days, the light dances over the landscape, shifting from golden tones in the grasslands to deep greens in the forests. It’s the kind of place where you feel both on top of the world and completely grounded at the same time.
Hiking to Observation Peak isn’t the easiest trek in Yellowstone; it’s about 11 miles round trip with 1,400 feet of elevation gain, but the effort is well worth it. There’s something special about earning your view, especially when it’s one as wide, wild, and unforgettable as this one. And because this trail isn’t as famous as some of the park’s other routes, you might just have stretches of it all to yourself.
This is the kind of Yellowstone experience that stays with you long after you’ve left quiet meadows, wild country, and a mountaintop that lets you see for miles in every direction. For those willing to put in the work, Observation Peak delivers a spectacular reward in the park.
NEXT WEEK
In next week’s episode, I’ll return with all of the information you need to have a good week in the park, including wildlife, weather, and trail updates.
Until then, happy trails!
