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Montana

Yellowstone: The Great Caldera

Program No. 13845VMM

Yellowstone is both the world at its most primordial and the world at its most sublime. Come explore the park’s many natural wonders on the learning adventure of a lifetime.

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Protecting the Environment

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6 days

5 nights

14 meals

5B 4L 5D

Check-in, Program Registration, Welcome Dinner, Orientation

Bozeman, Montana

Yellowstone Ecosystem, Gallatin Canyon

West Yellowstone, MT

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Hayden Valley

West Yellowstone, MT

Old Faithful, Yellowstone Lake

Gardiner, MT

Northern Range, Tower Fall, Mammoth Hot Springs.

Bozeman, Montana

Program Concludes

Bozeman, Montana

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At a Glance

Yellowstone's cast of thousands includes bears, wolves, volcanoes, thermal features, winter range, flora, fire and history. Understand their vital roles in a magnificent ecosystem. Naturalist leads discussion and provides interpretation during four full days in the field for exploration of diverse habitats and steaming geyser basins.

Activity Level

Keep the Pace

Walking up to two miles total throughout each day on varied terrain; Getting on and off motorcoach multiple times daily; Travel times vary within the park. Elevations of 5,260-9,000 feet.

Small Group

Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.

Best of all, you’ll…

Enjoy four full days in Yellowstone exploring pristine rivers, waterfalls, beautiful vistas and wildlife.
Meet exploration and survey parties and learn about current issues and evolving philosophy.
Visit the Yellowstone National Park Heritage and Research Center, which houses a collection of 5.3 million items.

General Notes

NOTE FOR UPCOMING SEASON (2025 DEPARTURES): We are aware of some disruptions within the Park Service and believe our programs in Yellowstone National Park can operate normally with minimal impact. Although the full effects of layoffs and hiring freezes for seasonal workers is unknown at this time, we have minimized our dependence on Park Service for lectures, clean-up and other services. We utilize lodging operated by both the park concessionaire and private hotels outside of the park. Neither are operated by the Park Service and shouldn’t be impacted by layoffs or hiring freezes. Our restaurants are also operated by residents of the gateway communities or employees of the park concessionaire. In accordance with the Leave No Trace Seven Principles, our groups pack out what they pack in and do not rely on Park Service for cleaning up after our visit. Finally, we don’t foresee Visitor Centers or sites in Yellowstone National Park to be closed due to staffing issues. We will of course be monitoring the situation through our partners within the gateway communities, National Park Service and the CUA office.

Featured Expert

All trip experts

Cathy Raven

Catherine Raven, a Road Scholar instructor since 1999, has a botany/zoology degree from The University of Montana and a PhD in biology from Montana State University. She is the author of “Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship” that was a New York Times bestseller, winner of the PEN/EO Wilson Award for Literary Science Writing and the Nautilus Gold Award for animals/nature writing. A former park ranger at Glacier, Yellowstone, Mount Rainier, Voyageurs, and North Cascades National Parks, Cathy currently teaches undergraduates at South University.

Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.

Gene Ball View biography

Raised along the rural Louisiana-Texas border, Gene's early outdoor experiences began a lifelong interest in wildlife, western heritage and preservation. After teaching and serving as director for the Hill Country Arts Foundation and Cowboy Artists Museum in Texas, he migrated to Wyoming to work at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. He then became director of the Yellowstone Association and Yellowstone Institute in Yellowstone National Park, and now freelances as a writer and naturalist.

Cathy Raven View biography

Patty Bates View biography

Patty Bates, with a bachelor's in wildlife management and a master's in range ecology, enjoyed a 35-year career with the U.S. Forest Service, including 20 years working in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. In retirement, she continues her work in wildland fire, and volunteers for Yellowstone Nature Connection, animal rescue transports, and Madison County Search and Rescue. Besides helping on Road Scholar trips, she keeps busy hosting guests to her sheep wagon and enjoying travel, camping, pets, quilting, and genealogy.

Zack Baker View biography

Zack Baker attended high school in Livingston, Montana, 52 miles north of Yellowstone. His love for the park started while snowshoeing and observing wildlife. At Montana State University in Bozeman, he earned a B.S. in plant science, but it was Yellowstone’s mammals that grabbed his interest. He led private wildlife watching, hiking, and photography trips, and drove snowcoaches in the winter. He joined up with Road Scholar in 2017 and is now the Program Director for Road Scholar at the University of Montana Western.

Louis Spencer View biography

Louis Spencer spent more than 35 years in the Middle East as a student, teacher, traveler, and group leader. He studied in Beirut in the 1960s, traveled extensively in the region, then worked in Algeria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia for three decades. During that time, he led groups with an international travel agency to East Africa, Middle Eastern countries, and Asia. He also volunteered with Yellowstone Association for nine years before joining up with Road Scholar.

Zack Baker View biography

Suggested Reading List (9 books)

Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop

You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.

Search for a Title

Yellowstone: The Great Caldera

Program Number: 13845

Restoring a Presence: American Indians and Yellowstone National Park

by Peter Nabokov and Lawrence Loendorf

This first comprehensive account of Indians in and around Yellowstone corrects more than a century of ignorance. Detailed here is Yellowstone's native peoples and their story of a long engagement with a remarkable landscape.

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region

by Richard Spellenberg

This revised edition presents more than 940 full-color images showing western North American wildflowers in their natural habitats. The guide sports a waterproof, washable cover meant to be thrown into a pack and has a checklist/lifelist for those who like to keep track of identifications. The book is a good learning tool as its entries are color and shape sorted so that one may appreciate floral characteristics other than color. The identifier may compare flowers grown in the west to those grown in other areas of the country.

Decade of the Wolf, revised and updated edition: Returning the Wild to Yellowstone

by Douglas W. Smith and Gary Ferguson

Research and storytelling meld to document wolf recovery in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Wolf biologist, Smith, and nature writer, Ferguson, provide an inside look at the Yellowstone Wolf Recovery Project ten years after the controversial decision was made by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services to reintroduce wolves into the park. Smith, wolf project leader who has worked with the Yellowstone Wolf Project since its inception, has studied wolves for 25 years. Ferguson, whose writing largely arises from intimate experiences, followed through the seasons, the first 14 wolves released into Yellowstone National Park. Their collaboration offers hard facts and 'impressionistic portraits of individual wolves that reveal their epic lives full of struggle and conquest.' Here is the history of the return of the top predator to Yellowstone.

Scorched Earth: How the Fires of Yellowstone Changed America

by Rocky Barker

The Yellowstone fires brought to the forefront longstanding conflict over whether federal land management should go with immediate fire suppression procedures or the ‘let it burn’ philosophy. The author, who experienced the Yellowstone fires of 1988 as an environmental reporter there, reviews US wildlands fire history by highlighting wildlands fire management. Discussion of this history and the history of federal lands management considers how these policies shaped the protection of public lands in the US today. Further explained are the details behind the creation of Yellowstone National Park and the role the US Army played in ‘protecting Yellowstone and shaping public lands in the West.’

After the Fires: The Ecology of Change in Yellowstone National Park

by Linda Wallace, Editor

The ravaging fires of 1988 caused many scientists to predict long-term devastation which did not come to pass. This scientific summary by wildlife biologists, ecosystem and forest scientists and landscape ecologists discusses the many things that changed and did not change in the Yellowstone area. Realize the role of fire in the ecosystem and the resiliency of nature.

The Sibley Guide to Birds

by David Allen Sibley

Sibley, a talented painter, offers this wonderful, data-packed color guide with range maps and detailed descriptions of songs and calls. This book is perfect for field trips with short walks and may be too heavy for some to take to the field in which case it can await back in the car.

To Save the Wild Bison: Life on the Edge in Yellowstone

by Mary Ann Franke

The author brings clarity and revelation to one of Yellowstone's most complex struggles by tracing the history of bison and humans into the 19th century and further into the national parks era. Here's discussion of bison management and park policy - the battle over brucellosis, snowmobiles and groomed winter roads, desires of Native Americans, bison and predators.

Roadside Geology of Yellowstone Country

by William Fritz & Robert Thomas

Updated, classic roadside geology book for the Yellowstone Region explains current geological theories.

Wolf Land

by Carter Niemeyer (author) Jenny Niemeyer (Editor)

Carter Niemeyer has followed wolves – and captured many – since he helped reintroduce them in the Northern Rockies in the mid-1990s. In his second memoir, Wolf Land, he takes us across the rugged West as he tracks wolves, shares in their lives, and seeks middle ground for these iconic animals, both on the land and in our hearts. Carter Niemeyer is an Iowa native and a recognized expert on wolves, livestock depredation, and trapping. He is the retired Idaho wolf manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Niemeyer wrote his first memoir, Wolfer, in 2010.

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Yellowstone: The Great Caldera

Enroll with Confidence

Protecting the Environment

At a Glance

Best of all, you’ll…

General Notes

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