Essential Yellowstone: A Landscape of Memory and Wonder

Few people have experienced Yellowstone National Park as thoroughly as Michael Yochim, a former Yellowstone ranger and guide. From visits to the park as a young boy to a career with the National Park Service, Yochim savored Yellowstone in all seasons and hiked and skied to its wildest reaches. In Essential Yellowstone, Yochim recounts his most vivid experiences in the park while deftly describing the park's natural and human history. The result is a remarkable book that combines adventure and science to provide one of the most perceptive and engaging portraits of Yellowstone in years.




“This book is an immersion of experience in Yellowstone National Park's backcountry….Written with a soul and spirit that intimately resonates with Yellowstone, Michael Yochim's extraordinary encounters will delight anyone who savors adventure, from armchair travelers to Yellowstone aficionados.”

Elizabeth Watry, Women in Wonderland: Lives, Legends, and Legacies of Yellowstone National Park

“Michael Yochim is an entertaining writer, a keen observer of Yellowstone, and a top-drawer historian/geographer. All of that makes this book a pleasure to absorb, and a work guaranteed to please both the casual reader and the Yellowstone expert.”

Lee Whittlesey, Park Historian, Retired National Park Service, Yellowstone National Park

Michael Yochim is a former national park ranger, having worked more than twenty years in Yellowstone, four and a half years in Yosemite, and seasonal assignments in Sequoia and Grand Canyon national parks. He holds a doctoral degree in geography. He retired from the National Park Service after being diagnosed with ALS. He wrote this book using only his eyes and assistive technology that tracks their movement on a computer screen.