Established on March 1, 1872, Yellowstone National Park is the first and oldest national park in the world.
Preserved within Yellowstone are Old Faithful Geyser and some 10,000 hot springs and geysers, the majority of the planet's total. These geothermal wonders are evidence of one of the world's largest active volcanoes; its last eruption created a crater or caldera that spans almost half of the park.

An outstanding mountain wildland with clean water and air, Yellowstone is home of the grizzly bear and wolf, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk. It is the core of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the largest intact temperate zone ecosystems remaining on the planet.

The human history of the park dates back 12,000 years. The events of the last 130 years of park history are reflected in the historic structures and sites associated with various periods of park administration and visitor facilities development. -------------------> More About Yellowstone

The legendary trout waters of the Madison River originate at Madison Junction inYellowstone National Park where the Gibbon and Firehole come together to form the Madison. It was here in late summer of 1870 in what is known as National Park Meadows that the Langford-Washburn-Doane expedition conceived making Yellowstone a national park.

The Madison River is a headwater tributary of the Missouri River and is approximately 180 miles long starting in Yellowstone and flows to its confluence with the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers near Three Forks Montana to join the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers at The Missouri River Headwaters State Park. Meriwether Lewis at Three Forks named the Madison River in July 1805. The central fork of the three, it was named for U.S. Secretary of State James Madison, who would succeed Thomas Jefferson as President in 1809.----------------> More about Madison River

The Gallatin River of southwestern Montana is a beautiful freestone trout stream that doubles as a whitewater adventure destination, it is an amazingly scenic The Gallatin is a well-known, easily accessible, and heavily fished, trout stream that, despite those pitfalls, offers three species of trout that eagerly take dry flies and nymphs in one of the most beautiful and rugged portions of Montana.

The Gallatin has 120 miles of appealing trout water, including a delicate upper portion that flows through lush meadows, a roily middle section that cuts through a spectacular, heavily forested canyon, and a lower stretch that twists across a broad valley before meeting the Jefferson and Madison rivers at Three Forks. Parts of the movie A River Runs Through It were filmed on the Gallatin. The river winds through high alpine meadows, dropping into the rocky Gallatin Canyon, and flowing out into the Gallatin Valley. It is also known as a blue-ribbon trout water. It is a tremendous asset to the communities of Bozeman, Big Sky and West Yellowstone.--------------------> More about Gallatin River

Hebgen Lake is a lake located in Southwest Montana. It is well known for an earthquake which occurred nearby on August 17, 1959, forming Quake Lake which is located immediately downstream.

Recreation
Hebgen Lake and the surrounding area offer many recreational activities: camping, fishing, boating, and hiking. Campgrounds include Rainbow Point and Cherry Creek. Rainbow Point is the largest campground on the lake, offering four "loops." Each loop contains approximately 20 campsites. Each campsite can accommodate a full-size camper and one or two vehicles.

Just across the border in Idaho the Caribou-Targhee National Forest occupies over 3 million acres and stretches across southeastern Idaho, from the Montana, Utah, and Wyoming borders. Most the Caribou-Targhee National Forest lies in eastern Idaho, western Wyoming, and northern Utah, with a significant portion situated adjacent to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks,

The Caribou-Targhee National Forest lies almost entirely within "the Greater Yellowstone Area" or "the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem," an area of over 12 million acres and is the largest block of relatively undisturbed plant and animal habitat in the contiguous United States. The area continues to gain prominence for its ecological integrity. The United Nations has identified the area as a Biosphere Reserve. ----------> More about Caribou-Targhee National Forest

A Not-for-Profit Wildlife Park and Educational Facility

Open 365 days a year
(GWDC bears do not hibernate)
Admission is good for two consecutive days

The Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center offers every visitor to Yellowstone a chance to uniquely experience
the world of grizzly bears and gray wolves. All the animals at the Center are unable to survive in the wild
and serve as ambassadors for their wild counterparts.

Accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums