The Extended Tour

Closest entrance and distance: 29 miles to the Cooke City (east) entrance

Because all the major attractions in Yellowstone are located on the loop roads, some of the park's most beautiful and secluded areas go unnoticed by travelers. If you have an additional day or two, I suggest that you head for the eastern entrances on another loop tour. From Tower Junction, go east to Cooke City and then continue to Cody; or, from Fishing Bridge, head across Sylvan Pass to Cody. If you hurry, you can complete the trip in a day, although you'll miss the Cody rodeo.

From Tower Junction, you'll traverse the Lamar Valley, one of the prettiest and wildest areas of the park. This area was covered with a thick crust of ice during the last ice age, which began 25,000 years ago and ended 10,000 years later, leaving a valley shaped by melting glaciers that is dotted by glacial ponds and strewn with boulders dropped by moving ice. Before the ice came a volcanic eruption, 50 million years ago. Volcanic ash from the explosion engulfed the mature forest that once stood here, the results of which you can view at the Specimen Ridge wayside. In addition to the region's natural beauty, it's the new home of packs of transplanted wolves and offers excellent fishing in the Lamar River and its numerous tributaries.

Cooke City might best be described as an outpost that provides essential services including restaurants, motels, gas stations, and grocery stores, but it's a long way from being as developed as its sister gateway cities.

Fourteen miles outside of Cooke City, take the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway (Wyo. 296), which connects to Wyo. 120 into Cody. This highway, also called the Sunlight Basin Road, offers great opportunities for viewing deer, coyotes, and other wildlife.

Cody is the quintessential Western town. Folks are friendly, accommodations are well turned out and moderately priced, and there are enough tourist attractions -- the nightly rodeo and the impressive Buffalo Bill Historical Center are most famous -- to make it worth the detour.

From Cody, return to Yellowstone's east entrance on U.S. Hwy. 12/16/20. After you reenter the park, you'll cross 8,541-foot Sylvan Pass and travel through the Absaroka mountain range, estimated to be 50 million years old. Driving along the shores of Yellowstone Lake, you'll pass Mary Bay, yet another crater created by a volcanic explosion. You'll return to the main area of the park at Fishing Bridge Junction, where you can rejoin the Grand Loop Road and continue your tour.