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This week in Yellowstone National Park, from July 16th to July 22nd, 2026, I will quickly talk about the bison incident, tell you to take one of the best scenic drives in the country, share an awesome and free resource full of park information, and talk about that green streak in the Yellowstone River at the falls. I will also give you the complete weather forecast, a cool trail to hike, the snowpack update, the wildlife report, and everything else you need to have an incredible time, “This Week in Yellowstone.”
LISTEN TO THIS AS A PODCAST
The text below is my notes for the podcast. They may be incomplete.
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/
Disclaimer: I may miss a few details, so please feel free to reach out with any questions. I also mention park locations casually. If you’re unfamiliar, a quick search can help. This report only covers drivable areas of the park.
Also, this podcast is a passion project. If you enjoy it, I’d love a review or a quick email! To support my work, check out my hiking and wildlife-watching guidebooks, or join me for a guided hiking tour in Yellowstone’s backcountry. For more information, visit outdoor-society.com or contact me directly. Seriously though, come book a trail tour with me.
THIS WEEK’S YELLOWSTONE NEWS
Bison Incident
Record Heat
Bugs Are Out
Kitchen Fire at the Cowboy’s Lodge and Grille
EXPERIENCE OF THE WEEK
Go Drive The Beartooth Highway
If you’ve been waiting for the perfect time to drive the Beartooth Highway, your window is about to arrive. Between July 16 and July 22, this legendary mountain road reaches one of its most spectacular moments of the year. The towering snowbanks that made headlines when the road first opened are still hanging on in places, the alpine wildflowers are bursting into bloom, wildlife is taking full advantage of the short mountain summer, and nearly every overlook and pullout is open and inviting. It is one of those rare weeks when nearly everything comes together.
Stretching roughly 68 miles between Red Lodge, Montana, and Cooke City, Montana, the Beartooth Highway climbs to an astonishing 10,947 feet at Beartooth Pass. Driving straight through takes about two hours, but almost nobody should. This is a road that deserves to be experienced, not simply driven. Plan to spend at least four to six hours, and don’t be surprised if you end up staying even longer. Nearly every mile offers another reason to pull over.
The climb itself is unforgettable. Leaving Red Lodge, you’ll wind through evergreen forests before climbing a series of dramatic switchbacks that seem to lift you into the sky. With every turn, the views become more expansive. Soon you’re looking across rugged mountain ranges, deep valleys carved by glaciers, and rocky peaks that still hold snow despite the middle of summer.
One of the first places you’ll want to stop is Rock Creek Vista Point. The overlook provides sweeping views down Rock Creek Canyon and gives you your first real appreciation for just how much elevation you’ve gained. Farther west, Beartooth Lake is one of the highway’s signature stops. On calm mornings, the surrounding peaks are reflected in its crystal-clear water, creating one of the most photographed scenes anywhere along the route.
By mid-July, the Beartooth Plateau has fully awakened after spending much of the year buried beneath snow. The alpine growing season lasts only a few short weeks, so wildflowers waste no time. Meadows and rocky slopes become dotted with vibrant blooms, including lupine, paintbrush, alpine forget-me-nots, alpine buttercups, elephant heads, moss campion, and the striking sky pilot, a flower that thrives in the harsh conditions near the highest elevations. Some of the best displays can be found around Beartooth Pass, Island Lake, and the broad alpine tundra where colorful flowers bloom alongside lingering snowfields. It is a combination you simply do not see in many places.
Wildlife is equally rewarding this time of year. Mountain goats are often seen balancing effortlessly on steep cliffs near Beartooth Pass, while yellow-bellied marmots whistle from rock piles and curious pikas dart between boulders gathering food for the long winter ahead. Lower elevations along Rock Creek and the forests approaching Cooke City offer opportunities to spot elk, mule deer, moose, black bears, and even grizzly bears. Bird enthusiasts should also keep an eye out for Clark’s nutcrackers soaring overhead and rosy-finches feeding among the rocky alpine slopes. Bringing binoculars can turn a good drive into an unforgettable wildlife experience.
One of the greatest joys of the Beartooth Highway is that some of its best moments are completely unplanned. You might round a corner and find a mountain lake glowing turquoise in the afternoon sun. You may stop to photograph wildflowers and end up watching a family of marmots play among the rocks. Clouds can drift across the peaks one minute before revealing endless mountain vistas the next. Every stop feels a little different.
I always encourage visitors to slow down and embrace those unexpected moments. Rather than treating the Beartooth Highway as simply the road to Yellowstone National Park, think of it as a destination in its own right. Pull over whenever it is safe, wander a short distance from the pavement, breathe the cool mountain air, and take time to appreciate one of the largest high-elevation plateaus in the United States. There are few places where you can so easily experience an alpine landscape that feels more like the Rockies of Canada than the Lower 48.
One final piece of advice is simple: start early. Morning light paints the mountains with warm color, wildlife tends to be more active, and the overlooks are often quiet enough that you can enjoy the scenery without the crowds. Afternoon thunderstorms are common above 10,000 feet during July, so getting an early start also increases your chances of clear skies and comfortable exploring. Even on warm summer days, temperatures at Beartooth Pass can be 20 to 30 degrees cooler than in Red Lodge, making a jacket an essential item to pack.
Every season on the Beartooth Highway has something special to offer, but this week strikes a remarkable balance. Winter has loosened its grip without completely letting go, summer is in full bloom, wildlife is thriving, and the high country is as inviting as it will be all year. Whether you’re driving to Yellowstone or simply searching for one of the most beautiful roads in North America, this is the week when the Beartooth Highway truly shines.
TIP OF THE WEEK
Get an eBook Copy of the Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook
If you’re the kind of person who likes to know the story behind the places you visit, there is one Yellowstone resource you should download before your next trip: the Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook. The title might make it sound like a dry government manual, but don’t let that fool you. It is one of the most informative and surprisingly engaging guides to Yellowstone National Park ever produced. Even better, it is available as a free eBook from Yellowstone National Park, making it easy to keep on your phone, tablet, or e-reader while you’re traveling through the park.
The Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook explains why Yellowstone is unlike anywhere else in the world. It answers the questions that naturally come to mind as you drive through the park. Why do geysers erupt? Why are the hot springs so colorful? How did the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone form? Why are wolves, bears, and bison managed the way they are? What makes Yellowstone one of the most important ecosystems on the planet? What was Mission 66? By answering these questions, the handbook transforms a sightseeing trip into an opportunity to better understand the remarkable landscape surrounding you.
Published and regularly updated by Yellowstone National Park, the handbook reflects the latest science, wildlife research, historical information, and park management practices. While it was originally developed as a reference for park employees, educators, researchers, and anyone seeking reliable information about Yellowstone, it has become a favorite among photographers, hikers, wildlife watchers, tour guides, and repeat visitors who want to go beyond the basics. The information is written in a way that is easy to understand, even when explaining topics like volcanology, geothermal activity, ecology, or wildlife management.
One of the handbook’s greatest strengths is the incredible variety of subjects it covers. The geology chapters explain how Yellowstone’s volcanic past created the world’s largest concentration of geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles, helping readers understand why every thermal basin has its own unique personality. The wildlife sections introduce not only the park’s iconic animals such as wolves, grizzly bears, black bears, bison, elk, and cutthroat trout, but also explain how they interact within one of the world’s last largely intact temperate ecosystems. Readers gain insight into predator-prey relationships, seasonal migrations, ongoing wildlife research, fisheries management, and the many conservation challenges that park biologists continue to study today.
History receives just as much attention. The handbook traces Yellowstone’s story from thousands of years of Indigenous connections to the land through the famous Washburn Expedition, the establishment of the world’s first national park in 1872, the years when the U.S. Army protected Yellowstone, and the eventual creation of the National Park Service. Reading these chapters before visiting places like Mammoth Hot Springs, Fort Yellowstone, Old Faithful, or the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone gives those landmarks an entirely new level of meaning. Instead of simply admiring beautiful scenery, you begin to understand the people, events, and discoveries that shaped the park into what it is today.
I strongly recommend that anyone planning a Yellowstone trip download the handbook before arriving. It completely changes the way you experience the park. A hillside of lodgepole pines becomes a living reminder of the 1988 wildfires. A herd of bison grazing in Hayden Valley becomes part of a much larger ecological story. The colorful walls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone suddenly make sense once you understand how volcanic rock, hydrothermal alteration, and thousands of years of erosion worked together to create one of the park’s most iconic landscapes. Even waiting for Old Faithful becomes more interesting when you understand the underground plumbing system that powers its eruptions.
One of the best features of the Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook is that you don’t have to read it cover to cover. Although it contains hundreds of pages of information, it is organized so readers can jump directly to the topics that interest them most. You can spend a few minutes reading about wolves before heading to Lamar Valley, brush up on geothermal features before exploring the Upper Geyser Basin, or learn about Yellowstone’s history while relaxing at your campsite after a day of hiking. It works equally well as a trip-planning resource, an evening read after a day in the park, or a reference whenever curiosity strikes.
Yellowstone is one of those places that becomes more fascinating the more you learn about it. The Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook helps reveal those deeper stories, turning every overlook, trail, wildlife sighting, and thermal basin into part of a much larger picture. Since the eBook is free, authoritative, regularly updated, and easy to carry with you wherever you go, downloading it before your trip is one of the simplest ways to make your Yellowstone adventure even more rewarding.
There is a link to download the eBook in the show notes.
You can also pick up printed copies from Yellowstone Forever stores in visitor centers or outside of the park in Gardiner.
RANDOM YELLOWSTONE FACT OF THE WEEK
That Green Part in the River at the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone
Millions of people visit Yellowstone National Park’s Lower Falls every year, admiring the 308-foot waterfall as it crashes into the colorful Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Most visitors are focused on the sheer power of the falls or the canyon’s vibrant walls, but those who look closely often notice something unusual. Near the center of the waterfall, a narrow ribbon of emerald-green water flows over the brink before disappearing into the churning whitewater below.
At first glance, it seems almost out of place. Many people assume the green streak must be caused by algae, minerals, or even Yellowstone’s famous geothermal features. The real explanation is much simpler and is a great example of how water behaves as it moves over the edge of the falls.
The green streak is actually the Yellowstone River’s natural color. A notch in the lip of the Lower Falls creates a deeper channel where the water remains relatively smooth as it flows over the brink. Because the water in this channel contains far fewer air bubbles than the surrounding rapids, it stays clear enough for its deep green color to remain visible.
That green color is the result of the way water interacts with sunlight. Pure water absorbs the longer red wavelengths of visible light much more readily than blue and green wavelengths. As sunlight penetrates deeper water, more of the red light is absorbed, while blue and green light continues to be scattered back toward our eyes. In rivers like the Yellowstone, the combination of water depth, reflected light, and small amounts of naturally occurring suspended particles often shifts the color from blue toward a rich emerald green.
The rest of the waterfall tells a different story. As the river rushes over uneven rock, it becomes filled with millions of tiny air bubbles. Those bubbles scatter light in every direction, giving the falls their brilliant white appearance. The deeper notch avoids much of that turbulence, allowing visitors to see the river’s true color for just a brief moment before it, too, becomes a frothy torrent.
The colorful canyon surrounding the falls makes the streak stand out even more. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone was carved over thousands of years as the river cut through volcanic rhyolite that had been weakened by hot water and acidic gases circulating underground. Iron compounds within the altered rock oxidized over time, creating the striking shades of yellow, orange, pink, and red that have made the canyon one of Yellowstone’s most photographed landscapes. Against those warm colors and the bright white waterfall, the emerald-green ribbon becomes surprisingly easy to spot once you know where to look.
Several overlooks offer excellent views of the phenomenon. Artist Point provides the classic panorama of the Lower Falls and canyon, while Lookout Point on the North Rim offers a slightly different perspective. The Brink of the Lower Falls Trail brings visitors almost to the edge of the waterfall itself, where the smooth green water can be seen flowing through the notch just before gravity takes over.
The green streak is a reminder that Yellowstone’s most interesting features are not always the biggest or loudest. It is simply a small section of river behaving differently because of the shape of the bedrock beneath it. Yet that subtle difference has created one of the park’s most intriguing natural curiosities, one that continues to spark questions from observant visitors every day.
The next time you find yourself looking out over the Lower Falls, take an extra moment before moving on to the next overlook. Watch the center of the river as it slides over the brink. For just an instant, before the water explodes into white spray, the Yellowstone River reveals its true emerald color, creating one of the park’s most understated but memorable sights.
WEATHER FOR THE COMING WEEK
I am too lazy to type it all out, so you’ll have to listen to the podcast to get the weather forecast, or just contact me.
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/
ROADS CONDITIONS
No main park roads are closed now. There are a few spots of construction, but there should be minimal delays. While unlikely, be aware that roads can close at any time due to inclement weather.
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
Everything is Open!
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 next to nothing when they are sold on Amazon. Grab your copy now at outdoor-society.com!
TRAIL ALERTS AND UPDATES
The backcountry Conditions Page is updated! I have a link to it in the show notes. That site is the easiest way to check the status of a trail you want to hike.
Carry bear spray. Have it readily accessible and not in a backpack. Know how to use it.
TREK OF THE WEEK
If you’re looking for a great summit hike over the next couple of weeks, Observation Peak is one I definitely recommend. One of the reasons I like hiking it this time of year is because there are typically fewer bison along this trail than on many of Yellowstone’s other hikes. That’s especially nice right now because the bison rut is underway, and bulls can become much more aggressive as they compete for cows. Hiking in areas with a ton of bison right now is definitely not recommended, and you should not do it. Instead, look elsewhere for adventures. Observation Peak rewards you with peaceful meadows, colorful wildflowers, and one of the best summit views in Yellowstone.
The hike begins at the Cascade Lake Trailhead along the Norris-Canyon Road, just a few miles west of Canyon Village. The first 2.5 miles follow the Cascade Lake Trail through broad mountain meadows that are absolutely beautiful in mid to late July. This is one of those trails where there’s no reason to rush. Slow down, enjoy the scenery, and keep an eye out for wildlife. The meadows are often dotted with blooming lupine, Indian paintbrush, asters, and other native wildflowers that add splashes of color across the landscape.
Although I usually see fewer bison here than on many other hikes this time of year, wildlife is always part of the experience. Elk are fairly common, and over the years I’ve also seen both black bears and grizzly bears along this trail. That means you’ll want to carry bear spray somewhere you can reach it quickly, make plenty of noise as you hike, and stay aware of what’s happening around you. It’s all part of hiking in Yellowstone’s backcountry.
As you arrive at Cascade Lake, consider stopping here if the mosquitoes aren’t bad. On calm mornings, the lake reflects the landscape almost perfectly, and it’s hard not to sit down for a few minutes and simply enjoy the quiet. Even during Yellowstone’s busiest season, this spot often feels surprisingly peaceful.
Once you leave the lake behind, the hike starts to earn its reputation. The trail begins climbing steadily through a forest of lodgepole pines before gradually opening into higher country. As you gain elevation, the views become bigger with every switchback, and it’s hard not to stop every so often just to look back at where you’ve come from. During July and August, the mountainsides continue putting on a colorful show with blooming wildflowers, while yellow-bellied marmots stretch out on warm rocks and American pikas race between boulders carrying vegetation for the long winter ahead.
The final climb builds your anticipation as you gain elevation and weave through the trees, until the historic Observation Peak Fire Lookout finally comes into view. While the lookout itself is no longer open to visitors, it’s a fun reminder of the days when fire spotters spent entire summers watching Yellowstone’s forests from this incredible perch.
Then you reach the summit, and suddenly Yellowstone seems to stretch forever. Standing at 9,406 feet, Observation Peak delivers one of the most impressive panoramic views in the park. The rugged Absaroka Range fills the eastern skyline, while the Gallatin Range rises to the northwest. On exceptionally clear days, you may even be able to pick out the distant Teton Range far to the south. Looking down, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone cuts across the forest below, and on cool mornings you can sometimes spot wisps of steam rising from distant geyser basins, reminding you that Yellowstone’s volcanic heart is never far away.
Don’t be surprised if the wind blasts you at the top. Observation Peak has a reputation for being ridiculously breezy, even on warm summer afternoons, so throwing a lightweight jacket into your pack is well worth it. Battle the wind as best you can and try to stay a little longer at the summit, enjoying the views of the forests, meadows, and mountain ranges below.
Observation Peak is about 11 miles round trip with roughly 1,400 feet of elevation gain, so it isn’t the easiest hike in Yellowstone. Even so, it’s one that I find myself returning to almost every summer. The combination of quiet meadows, decent wildlife, a peaceful little lake, colorful wildflowers, and a summit that seems to put half of Yellowstone at your feet makes every mile worthwhile. If you’re looking for a trail that offers a little solitude while helping you avoid some of the larger concentrations of rutting bison, Observation Peak is tough to beat this time of year.
NEXT WEEK
In the next 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, book a tour with me, pick up a guidebook of mine, and happy trails!
