By now you’ve probably heard about the staffing crisis gripping Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the nation’s other national parks.

On February 14, the National Park Service (NPS) , or about five percent of its total workforce. The move generated headlines in and , and over the weekend, dozens of recently fired NPS workers penned heartfelt essays on social media about losing the jobs they loved.

“I am the toilet scrubber and soap dispenser,” a fired NPS ranger named Brian Gibbs . “I am the open trail hiked by people from all walks of life. I am the highlight of your child’s school day.”

���ϳԹ��� reached out to the NPS for comment, but did not hear back by the time this story published. The ��“The NPS is assessing our most critical staffing needs for park operations for the coming season and is working to hire key positions. The NPS is committed to protecting public lands, infrastructure, and communities while ensuring public access.”

The workforce upheaval stems from the Trump Administration’s��, which in 2024 employed approximately 3 million people (not including the military). In January, the administration announced a hiring freeze on all federal agencies, and offered buyouts to government workers willing to resign. Since then, almost every wing of the U.S. government has been impacted by the belt tightening.

But the Park Service cuts are the ones that will impact the summer vacation plans of millions of Americans. ���ϳԹ��� spoke to NPS experts and former employees about the staff changes to see how they will impact daily life at America’s favorite vacation destinations. We asked these experts whether park visitors will be able to see a difference when they hike on trails, arrive at visitor centers, or use the restroom.

The answer? You bet.

“Expect fewer services, less help, and fewer projects like trails or construction getting fixed,” says Kristen Brengel, the senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA),��a non-profit advocacy group for the NPS. “You’ll need to lower your expectations.”

Which NPS Workers Were Cut?

Over the weekend, the NPCA tracked the layoffs and spoke to NPS staffers who lost their jobs. According to Brengel, the current cuts impacted all 63 U.S. national parks and all 433 areas managed by the Park Service. The cuts did not target specific jobs, she said, but were “indiscriminate.”

“We’ve heard from wildlife biologists, archaeologists, even wastewater treatment operators who were let go,” Brengel said. “We’re talking about people with incredible expertise losing jobs. It will throw some parks into a tailspin.”

Rather than target specific positions, the cuts impacted employees with “probationary” status, a designation given to federal employees for the first year of their employment in a position. the New York Times, the strategy was in-line with the Trump Administrations’ plan to dismiss the 200,000 or so federal workers with this designation.

The letter sent to laid-off employees read like a termination notice for low performance, according to the Times. “The department determined that you have failed to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment because your subject matter knowledge, skills, and abilities do not meet the department’s current needs,” read the letter distributed to some NPS staff.

Brengel points out that not every probationary worker is new or unqualified. Some veteran NPS workers were given the status after they were promoted to managerial positions; it was also given to seasonal NPS employees who had recently been hired to year-round positions.

“The ripple effect of these firings will be felt immediately,” she said. “It’s going to be a huge brain drain to lose a lot of these positions.”

Gibbs, 41, is one such employee. Prior to taking a full-time position at Iowa’s Effigy Mounds National Monument, which is managed by the NPS, he had spent four years working as a seasonal interpretive ranger at Glacier National Park. Interpretive rangers help visitors understand the cultural significance of an area.

Gibbs took that expertise to his job at Effigy Mounds, where he managed educational programs for kids, among other jobs. “At such a small monument I wore many hats,” he told ���ϳԹ���. “On the day I got fired I was creating a program to take kids snowshoeing in the park.”

What Services Will Be Lost?

It may take several weeks to determine which services will be eliminated at each park. Brengel and others have told visitors to expect to encounter long lines, overflowing trash cans, unkempt bathrooms, and other drop-offs in service caused by a lack of manpower. One anonymous NPS employee told Politico to . Brengel said that major construction projects started in 2024, such as trail maintenance or road paving, are likely to be left unfinished.

In the days since the layoffs, fired NPS employees have shared their stories—and the jobs the NPS is losing—with local and national media.

A worker named Olek Chmura told that he’d no longer pick up trash and scoop up feces at Yosemite National Park.

The New York Times interviewed multiple NPS workers impacted by the cuts, among them Helen Dhue, a park guide at Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Park in Brownsville, Texas, and Stacy Ramsey, a river ranger in Arkansas’ Buffalo National River. that she writes warnings for the general public when parts of the river are dangerous. “If no one is there to educate, it increases the risk of someone getting hurt on the river,” Ramsey told the Times.

an anonymous NPS ranger in California who wrote about his termination on Facebook. “I honestly can’t imagine how the parks will operate without my position,” he said. “I am the only EMT at my park and the first responder for any emergency.”

, 16 of the 17 supervisor positions at Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park were axed. At Shenandoah National Park, trail maintenance workers and fee collectors lost their jobs.

Gibbs’s job at Effigy Mounds was focused on education. He developed classroom programs, took schools on tours of the area when they arrived on field trips, and also visited local schools to discuss the cultural significance of the park.

Effigy Mounds preserves 200 or so prehistoric earthworks that were built by pre-Columbian people. Some of the mounds are in the shapes of birds and bears.

Gibbs was one of two employees at Effigy Mounds to be let go. Just seven rangers remain, he said.

“Educating kids about the cultural resources at Effigy Mounds will come to a stop, and schools visiting will have to self-guide at the park,” Gibbs told ���ܳٲ������.��“Kids and families are the ones who are going to lose out.”

What About the NPS Hiring Freeze?

Not all of the NPS news on Friday was bad. The Trump Administration published a memo from the federal hiring freeze to bring back some seasonal workers for the spring and summer.

The move allows the NPS to hire back 5,000 or so seasonal employees, whose jobs were rescinded in January when the freeze was announced across all federal agencies.��Most parks rely heavily on seasonal workers, and each year the NPS hires between 7,000 and 8,000 of them to help during the busiest periods.

The reaction to the news was mixed.

“Exempting National Park Service seasonal staff from the federal hiring freeze means parks can fill some visitor services positions,” said Theresa Pierno, CEO of the NPCA, in a statement. “But with peak season just weeks away, the decision to slash 1,000 permanent, full-time jobs from national parks is reckless and could have serious public safety and health consequences.”

The timeline for hiring back seasonal workers has not been made public. According to Politico, had been granted exemptions as of February 18.

Brengal pointed out that seasonal workers might not be able to replace the full-time NPS employees who were lost in the layoffs. Some of the cut NPS workers who spoke to the NPCA were coordinators of seasonal labor, she said. For example, the 16 managers who lost their jobs at Grand Teton National Park help oversee seasonal workers.

“Seasonal workers can’t replace full-time positions,” she said.

Which Parks Have Been Hit the Hardest?

It may take until the busy summer months to assess the true impact of by Friday’s cuts on individual national parks and monuments. Brengel said that small parks with tiny staffs may suffer the worst, and that cuts there would force remaining employees to make tough choices.

“They may have to choose between keeping the visitor center open and the campground open,” she said. “These are the choices that smaller parks are going to have to make.”

But other parks are already feeling the pinch caused by the hiring freeze, layoffs, and other policy changes. , Yosemite National Park will abandon its reservation system, which was made permanent earlier this year.��Sources told the outlet that the park tabled the plan after the Trump Administration asked to review it.

What’s the Human Cost?

Like all mass-layoffs, the NPS cuts have upended lives and forced thousands to seek new livelihoods. Ramsey told the��Times that she lost her job after spending three years working a contract position with the NPS just to get her foot in the door.

Gibbs echoed this sentiment when he spoke to�����ܳٲ������.��He called his position at Effigy Mounds National Monument a “dream job,” and said that losing the position has forced his family into a dire financial situation. “We’re sad and frightened, and feel like we’ve had the rug pulled out from under us,” he said. Gibbs and his wife have a four-year-old son, and they are expecting a second child this year.��Gibbs said that his wife had to skip a monitoring appointment with her doctor after the family’s health insurance was terminated. “We feel frozen about what our next steps are,” he said.

The cuts have prompted action in some communities. Over the weekend, at Joshua Tree and Yosemite National Parks. On Tuesday, February 18, NPS workers and their friends and families just outside Rocky Mountain National Park, to protest.

Should You Visit a National Park this Summer?

The sources we spoke to still encouraged Americans to��visit National Parks this summer, despite the cuts. Yes, trails may be closed, parking lots may be messy, and lines may be longer than normal.

Instead, Gibbs said NPS visitors should do advanced homework before traveling to see which trails closed, and which services are limited. Reconsider trips deep into the backcountry, since manpower for lifesaving or rescues may be diminished. And stay on the trails.

“Know that there’s probably going to be a disruption in safety and resource protection,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs and Brengel urged visitors to have patience and understanding with the NPS employees who are manning the parks. Brengel said visitors should consider saying “thank you” to NPS rangers.

“Think about what a difficult time it must be for them, knowing that they may be next on the chopping block,” Brengel said. “They are going to be stretched thin, but they are the heroes for sticking it out.”

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Earlier this year, a PR rep from Fox News asked if I’d want to review the conservative network’s upcoming docuseries on the history of Yosemite National Park. Called Yellowstone to Yosemite with Kevin Costner, the three-part series is the brainchild of the Academy Award-winning actor, and the follow up to his 2022 series . As I stared at the email, I wondered: What can Fox News teach me about the importance of the national parks? As it turns out, a lot. But their approach delivered a few surprises.

Yellowstone to Yosemite, which airs Saturday, February 8 on Fox’s streaming service, Fox Nation, tells the often-repeated story of a 1903 camping trip that then-U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt took with naturalist John Muir through Yosemite. Over four days and three nights, the��two men yukked it up around the campfire, admired the soaring monoliths and waterfalls, and became friends. Similarly, Costner, now 70, embarks on his own camping trip within Yosemite as he narrates the story.

In the first episode, Costner quickly establishes the significance of Roosevelt and Muir’s campout. It’s May, 1903, more than 30 years since Yellowstone was established as the first national park. Five other parcels of land have become national parks, but the designation has done little to actually protect their ecosystems. Loggers are plundering giant sequoias in Yosemite and poachers are decimating bison herds in Yellowstone. The federal government, meanwhile, lacks the teeth to stop them. “Congress saw the national parks as a zero-cost initiative. Each park has an unpaid superintendent responsible for enforcing regulations,” Costner says. “It’s not working at all.”

Muir, the famed naturalist, believes the only way to save America’s parklands is by harnessing the power of the president. He invites Roosevelt to Yosemite to show him the wonders of the park up-close, before pitching him on the bold idea of actually protecting the six natural wonders.

And we’re off—over three 45-minute episodes Costner tells the story of the camping trip while weaving in other historic anecdotes and ecological tidbits about Yosemite National Park. Yep, there’s a heroic mini-biography of Teddy Roosevelt. There are Nature Channel-worthy segments about the lifecycle of a Sequoia and the geologic forces that carved the valley. Costner name drops Lynn Hill as the first rock climber to free climb the Nose of El Capitan. There’s even a reenactment of the massacre of Miwok tribespeople that preempted their forced removal from Yosemite in 1851.

But as the docuseries unfolds, Costner also performs some rhetorical jiujitsu that muddies the current political divide around a few topics. He frames the conservation movement as inherently patriotic, and funding the national parks as part of our American heritage. He presents the corporate interests of industry as evil, and the seizing of land from Tribes as cruel. He even tells the viewer that the reintroduction of grey wolves—a wedge issue in many Western states—is something that Roosevelt, a Republican icon, would have supported.

Costner presents these perspectives with a sincere tone that lacks any hint of cynicism or moral superiority. After praising John Muir for advocating on behalf of Yosemite’s trees and rivers, Costner lays down in his sleeping bag as the temperature plummets. “God I love this country,” he says. “Everything about it. Even the cold.”

Costner’s melding of these concepts—patriotism, conservation, American heritage, and honoring Indigenous tribes—helps him sell a contemporary vision to his audience: national parks are worthy of our protection and our tax dollars.

Sure, Costner’s sincerity and mythical retelling of a camping trip may inspire some eye rolls. Still,��I couldn’t help but admire his approach. Perhaps somewhere in Yellowstone to Yosemite is a playbook for bridging the political divide when we debate protecting National Monuments from drilling, or the reintroduction of apex predators, or why we should save endangered species. I don’t watch Fox News, but my parents do, and I firmly believe that they would love Yellowstone to Yosemite, even though it’s essentially a three-hour pitch for the environmental movement.

Costner’s story concludes on a high note. Roosevelt is inspired by Muir, and after he’s reelected he signs the Antiquities Act of 1906, which grants him the power to protect federal lands. He sends the U.S. military to defend the national parks, and he establishes a series of national monuments to honor the legacies of indigenous tribes.

I recently asked Costner about the balancing act in Yellowstone to Yosemite, and whether it was challenging to blend so many disparate socio-political themes in an hour-and-a-half program�� He brushed the question aside with a laugh. You can read my interview below.

Why Kevin Costner Wanted to Tell the Story of Yosemite National Park

OUTSIDE: Why did you want to tell this story in 2025?
Costner: I was not waiting for the right year to tell this story. I recently did the film Horizon and I thought of it back in 1988. With Yellowstone: One Fifty, I realized that we just don’t know our history and the intricacies of the routes we drive and the mountains we look at. With Yosemite, we all think we know the park. But I knew there was a story to tell about Roosevelt and Muir. In this 30-year span after the creation of Yellowstone, there was nobody who could actually protect the parks. Nobody took into account that it would would take manpower and a governmental body to actually protect them. I like these parts of history that seem obvious, but aren’t. And this story had plenty of these elements, so I had a sense that I wanted to share it. I wanted to start with the Native Americans—even if we’re going to highlight Roosevelt and Muir, it was important for me to go that distance and to talk about original inhabitants. I wanted to tell viewers just how tragic things were for them. They’re always in our history and we somehow forget them. They are a part of Yosemite as much as any story we tell.

But I also wanted to show how these two men, of like minds, each had a level of poetry in them that helped them understand that saving the parks was the right thing. I wanted to tell this story without beating people on the the head. I wanted to educate them.

Your story navigates more than a few political topics that are still debated today, such as funding the NPS, reintroducing apex predators, and the constant tug-of-war between protecting federal lands and opening them to drilling or logging. How did you navigate these without seeming partisan?
Ha. I don’t care where the chips fall, and I’m honestly not that careful. I’m not looking to present a side here, I’m just looking to tell the story of who was doing what, who was saying what, and what actually happened. This project isn’t catered to any crowd. It had to get above my bar in terms of its intellectual literature. And I felt like we told the version of the story that I set out to tell. I don’t talk down to my audience or around them. I honestly don’t see the world as being dangerous when I’m telling historical truth. You have to tell the story with all of its warts. Other people might be worried about what I’m going to say. But I didn’t ever worry about it. I never had a single thought about this.

This is your second project around the U.S. National Parks. What about the Parks has attracted your interest in storytelling?
I’m really pleased that national parks are an American idea. Today there are like 1400 national parks around the world, but we set the tone. We came up with the idea that the land could have a higher economic use than just exploiting it—that some day, people would come and visit. But when I think of environmentalism, it isn’t just about the fish in the streams, and the trees. It’s also about the connection to the past. That I can walk where other people walked 100 years ago. And also, to know that a place like Yosemite will be the same forever. And to know that these places aren’t just enjoyed by the wealthy, that everyone can enjoy them. Setting aside land for a national park is such a simple idea, but in reality it takes a fierce attitude to move an idea to being practical, especially when money is at stake.

You’ve spent several decades telling stories about the American West, from��Dances With Wolves to��Yellowstone.��What is it about the West that continually sparks your imagination?
I stumble on these stories, and I know that I’m only going to be able to tell so many of the in my lifetime. Right now I’m flirting with a very historical project that I’ll probably do, and it’s right in the vein of what you’re talking about, but I can’t discuss it here. As Americans, we think we know our history, but you never really know that much about it until you dig down. We read about the Native Americans somewhere in the fourth grade, like one chapter in one book, and that’s it. All of Yosemite was on the backs of people who were exterminated. This great park came on the heels of shipping them off to a river where they would die in anonymity. And they’re not even on a sign anywhere.

We rarely get down to what is human about them. I think that Yosemite gets down to what is human about John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt. People can be touched by the truth. They can be affected by lies, but they can be truly touched by the truth.

This interview was edited for space and clarity.��

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Described as “America’s best idea,” the National Park System was established in large part to protect the nation’s most precious landscapes, from the deepest canyons to the tallest peaks. Some of the parks are so dang beautiful, they’ve been known to make people contemplate their own existence.

But not everyone traveling to a national park is moved to existential enlightenment. Some visitors come away angry, frustrated, or disappointed, and they turn to the internet to express themselves. Recently, for my annual end-of-year wrap up of the worst national-parks reviews,��I spent an unhealthy amount of time perusing visitor comments on national parks on Google Maps, Yelp, and TripAdvisor to find the best of them.

I learned a few things in the process. I learned��that a lot of people don’t like the timed entry and reservation systems that many parks have put in place to combat overcrowding. Like, a lot of people; I saw thousands of complaints on that topic. Also, the general lack of parking gets people fired up.

I discovered some really interesting and funny one-star (out of a possible five stars) reviews that spanned quite a spectrum, from someone complaining about the weather (apparently Canyonlands is too hot and sunny) or questioning humanity’s fascination with nature in general (to this person, Joshua Tree��is just a load of big stones).

Here are my favorite bad national-park reviews of 2024. As ever, we nod to , grandmaster collector of such information, which, as autumn lit up the multitude of colors in the national forest of Vermont, noted this doozy: “Not a memorable place to go.”

(Note: Some reviews below were edited for brevity, but I left spelling errors and grammar mistakes intact.)��

1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee

Great Smoky Mountains National Park protects 500,000 acres of mountains, rivers and historic farmland that is widely recognized as the most biodiverse landscape in North America. But not everyone loves it.

“This is the Walmart of national parks.” —Google Maps

“A terrible experience! This national park is the largest and most popular park in the middle of the United States and famous for their beers (sic). Every staff of the park told us that beers (sic) were everywhere. However, this park was really disappointing that I did not see any beer (sic). I only saw many turkeys and one fox…[S]ummer might not be a good time to visit here because beers (sic) or other wild animals could hide in trees and bushes.”—Google Maps

2. Death Valley National Park, California and Nevada

This 3.4 million-acre park, straddling California and Nevada, is known for its deep canyons, salt flats, and ghost towns. The first commenter reviewed it without ever having been there.

“Haven’t gone yet, will go soon, sounds hot tho.”—Google Maps

“Don’t go, nothing to see….The rock formation is not that great, quite dusty, hot, etc. Feels like an open pit mine. The only use case I can see is if you want to … test yourself or your car AC.”—Google Maps

3. Indiana Dunes National Park, Indiana

Designated a national park in 2019, Indiana Dunes protects dunes and forest on the edge of Lake Michigan, all less than 50 miles from downtown Chicago. But apparently the park has some policies on parties.

“Can’t grille, can’t smoke, can’t drink, can’t play loud music…who wants to just sit on sand.”—G�ǴDz����� Maps

4. Redwood National and State Parks, California

This collection of state and federally protected parks houses the world’s tallest trees, with landscapes spanning from rugged coastlines to thick interior woodlands. Tree color may be a subjective thing.

“California sucks so I don’t know why I was surprised when I was very disappointed. The trees aren’t as big as everyone says and they’re not red either, terrible name. The National park should just sell the land and turn the trees into paper.”—Google Maps

5. Joshua Tree National Park, California

One of my personal favorite units in the park system, Joshua Tree is home to gorgeous desert landscapes full of boulders that attract climbers and gawkers alike.

“It’s just a load of big stones. If you go make sure to take a packed lunch and drinks, you’ll certainly thank me.” —TripAdvisor

6. New River Gorge National Park, West Virginia

The newest unit to be granted full park status, New River Gorge is a multi-adventure playground with world-class paddling, rock climbing, hiking, and mountain biking. Other than that…

“If you hike or like white water rafting, this is a great place. Otherwise, not much else to do.”—Google Maps

7. Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida

I haven’t visited Dry Tortugas yet, but it’s on my list because these islands west of the Florida Keys offer some of the most remote spits of land in America, with beautiful snorkeling and paddling. Some feel waterlogged though.

“I paid full price for only 1% of land??? Park is literally 99% water….. my shoes got wet too like what????? More like the NOT dry Tortugas”—Google Maps

8. Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

Couple the tallest sand dunes in North America with long-range views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and you’ve got…

“The only reason people go here is to buy a piece of fudge or a T-shirt. That’s about it. This is literally a dumping area for the fine sand used to make volleyball courts. The funniest thing to do here is simply people watching. They act like they never seen dirt before.”—Google Maps

9. Everglades National Park, Florida

Everglades protects the largest wilderness east of the Mississippi. This review is close to being a haiku.

“No cocodrilos.

no crocodiles seen

money is lost.”—Google Maps

10. Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

This national park encompasses the 14,000-foot peak Mount Rainier, which also happens to be an active volcano. The duality of the situation is driving one visitor crazy.

“They market this place as a beautiful mountain paradise full of pastoral hikes and woodland creatures but at the same time remind you it is ready to kill you and your entire family and surrounding towns without a moment’s hesitation. Come here if you want to be gaslit by a mountain.”—Yelp

11. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Picture alpine lakes set beneath craggy, 13,000-foot peaks, and you’ll have an idea of the scenery within Grand Teton National Park. Meh.

“I’ve seen better in video games smh. Mother nature better step it up.”—Google Maps

12. Sequoia National Park, California

California’s jointly managed Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are famous for their groves of giant Sequoia trees, a species that only grows on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The drive in to reach them is irking some visitors.

“A road that is truly too long and winding…I’m still recovering from the tiredness and motion sickness of the 5 hours driving around tight curves.”—TripAdvisor

13. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

I recently decided that Capitol Reef is the country’s most underrated park for adventure. It has arches, canyons, domes, rock climbing, and gravel rides galore. One reviewer seems to be upset that the park didn’t take enough of his money.

“THIS PLACE SHOULD NOT BE A NP. It’s beyond mids and a waste of taxpayers money. Doesn’t even have a fee station to support itself…Protect the land no doubt but either charge everyone that comes through or make it a monument.”—Google Maps

14. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the most visited parks in the country, with more than 4 million people clamoring to experience it annually. The park is so popular that management deemed a timed-entry system necessary to mitigate crowds. A visitor was not psyched.

“What kind of communist came up with this system and why? I thought I lived in America, land of the free …. For all the Americans that didn’t even protest at all, thanks for nothing.”—Yelp

15. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park is one of the lesser-visited of our national parks, shown in the annual listings as attracting 750,862 visitors, when each in the top five attracts over 4 million (and Great Smoky Mountains NP receives over 13 million). So maybe it’s unsurprising that one visitor mixed it up with a different park.

“Maybe I missed it but I didn’t see his face in any of the cliffs or mountains. Probably erosion. Time for a touch up.”—G�ǴDz����� Maps

16. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho

Is there a landscape more dynamic than what you find inside Yellowstone National Park, where water boils and shoots into the sky like the fountains in Las Vegas?

“Water bubbling out of the ground. Wow.”—Google Maps

“Same thing (e.g. geysers) everywhere. I got bored the second day.”—G�ǴDz����� Maps

17. Yosemite National Park, California

�۴Dz��𳾾��ٱ�’s granite peaks, valleys, and mountains might have captivated Ansel Adams, but nobody ever mentions how uncomfortable nature is, do they?

“All the hikes are uphill, and you’re practically climbing cliffs. I got soaked by several incredibly large waterfalls just by standing at the bottom.”—Google Maps

18. Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Dubbed “the land of stone and light,” Badlands holds 224,000 acres of vast prairie and striking geological formations that seemingly rise out of nowhere. That didn’t satisfy this reviewer.

“Not enough mountain.” —Google

��19. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado

This national park is known for its deep, steep gorge and rugged terrain, and it has a savvy reviewer who wants it all to himself.

“JK. It’s the best spot in CO. I went one star so that everyone stays away and keeps it this way!”—G�ǴDz����� ��

Graham Averill is ���ϳԹ��� magazine’s national parks columnist. He has complained about many ridiculous things during his life, but never once looked at the Teton Range and thought “video games are cooler than that.” See also his recent articles on ten years’ worth of awful reviews on the revered Grand Canyon, or what makes the perfect mountain town, loving surfing and surf towns, and why he plays golf two days a week and thinks about it even more.

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A grizzly bear that delighted wildlife watchers for nearly two decades near Yellowstone National Park—and even had a —is dead.

On Wednesday, October 23, officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service, a 28-year-old sow, had been hit and killed by a car in the Snake River Canyon. According to a release, the collision happened��just south of Jackson, Wyoming, on Tuesday night. Officials identified her by her ear tags and a microchip.

Grizzly 399 had a one-year-old cub with her at the time of the fatal strike, the release said. The cub’s location is not known, however.

“Wildlife vehicle collisions and conflict are unfortunate,” read a statement from Angi Bruce, director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. “We are thankful the driver is OK and understand the community is saddened to hear that grizzly bear 399 has died.”

Grizzly 399 rose to prominence in the aughts and teens as one of the most-photographed bears in North America. She lived predominantly within the borders of Grand Teton National Park, and during her life became a sought-after subject for photographers and tourists. , she birthed 18 cubs during her lifetime, and in 2023 became the oldest-known mother in the region, after giving birth to a cub at age 27.

“People from around the world have followed grizzly bear 399 for several decades. At 28 years old, she was the oldest known reproducing female grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,” said Hilary Cooley with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the release.

In a 2018�����ϳԹ��� story, famed wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen called Grizzly 399 “the most famous bear who ever lived.” Mangelsen first photographed the bear in 2006, according to NBC News.

This past May, PBS dedicated an episode of its Nature series to her, titling the program��Grizzly 399: Queen of the Teton.��The episode chronicled a period in her life when she was raising four cubs simultaneously.

“The grizzly bear is an iconic species that helps make the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem so extraordinary. Grizzly bear 399 has been perhaps the most prominent ambassador for the species,” said Grand Teton National Park superintendent Chip Jenkins in a release. “She has inspired countless visitors into conservation stewardship around the world and will be missed.”

In its news release, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service noted that 49 grizzly bears have died due to vehicle collisions in the greater Yellowstone National Park ecosystem since 2009. Two bears were struck and killed by vehicles in 2024, prior to Grizzly 399, the release said. But the statistics are unlikely to ease the heartache of those wildlife fans who had come to know and love the bear.

On the Facebook page for , titled Team 399, a commenter named Priscilla Priebe lamented the loss, and recalled seeing the bear and her four cubs.

“This is so personal for many. For me, she was my comic relief during COVID, and her march through Jackson with her quads and police escort,” Priebe wrote. “While we were locked down and fearful, she was doing her thing with her quads with freedom. I purchased a graphic from Thomas Mangelson and have it hung in my sunroom and smile every day when I pass it. Will miss her.”

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The massive search for missing hiker Austin King in Yellowstone National Park hit a snag this week, and the setback comes as a snowstorm is slated to hit the remote area where he vanished. On October Monday, 14, officials with the national park and the National Forest Service halted a private helicopter from dropping additional searchers into a remote area of the park.

The helicopter had been hired by King’s family as part of their ongoing efforts to search the slopes of��11,372-foot Eagle Peak, which is where King last called his family on September 17.

Officials did not approve the helicopter because they could not verify if the pilot had experience flying and landing in mountainous terrain. The news was .

“We deeply sympathize with Austin’s family and their desire to continue searching for him,” Yellowstone superintendent Cam Sholly said in a statement provided to the website. “At this time, the park has limited resources to respond to Eagle Peak if something were to go wrong. The park’s helicopter is gone and there are limited air support resources capable of conducting high mountain rescues.”

King’s father, Brian King-Henke, told��Wyofile that he and others plan to continue their search on foot. But the weather forecast calls for snowstorms to hit Eagle Peak on Thursday, October 17. ���ϳԹ��� reached out to King-Henke and officials with Yellowstone National Park but did not hear back by the publishing of this story.

A Disappearance in Rugged Terrain

King, 22,�� hiked into the backcountry on September 14 for a planned seven-day solo backpacking trip to climb Eagle Peak. He was reported overdue on September 20 when he failed to show up for a boat ride back home.

At the time of his disappearance, King was living in Grant Village, Wyoming, where he worked as a concessions employee within the park. A ranger who encountered King on the trail reported that he’d departed from his original route and had decided to climb the peak instead.

King was last heard from on September 17, which is when Eagle Peak was buffeted by snow and wind. He called his father from the mountain’s summit and left a voicemail around 7:00 P.M that night. The message didn’t appear in King-Henke’s phone until a week later, a searcher named John Lamb .��“You can tell he’s scared, he’s cold—he doesn’t know where he’s at,” Lamb said. “It took him all day to get there, so you can just imagein trying to come down a mountain and not seeing at all.”

Searchers with Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks began scouring the area on September 21, but days went by without any sign of King. On October 11, King-Henke that searchers had found a handwritten note that King had written in the registry atop Eagle Peak. The message was dated September 17.

“I can’t feel my fingers and my glasses are so fogged from the ruthless weather of the mountains. I truly cannot believe I am here after what it took to be here,” King wrote in a shaky script. “I endured rain, sleet, hail, and the most wind I have ever felt.”

Eagle Peak, he wrote, was shrouded in fog, and King wrote that he had lost the trail on his way to the summit, forcing him to scale cliffs and navigate vertical off-trail terrain.��“I am 22 years old, and I will never forget today for the rest of my life,” King wrote. “Life is beautiful. Go out and live it.”

The Search Expands

More than 100 people participated in the search organized by crews from Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, and the effort lasted 11 days. On October 2, Yellowstone shifted the effort from a rescue to a recovery.

“To date, more than 100 personnel including two helicopters, search dog teams, ground teams with spotting scopes, trackers, and a drone have searched more than 3,225 miles by air and ground at elevations ranging from 11,350 feet to 8,400 feet,” the park said in a statement on October 2. “Despite significant search efforts over the past week and a half, we have not been able to locate Austin.”

But King’s father continued a private effort, backed by donors. He raised more than $17,000 on crowdfunding platform GoFundMe and contracted private rescue teams to scour the Eagle Peak Wilderness.

“I haven’t given up on the impossible,” he wrote in a post on GoFundMe the following day. Instead, he set up a base camp near Cody, Wyoming, and continued to send out private search teams and volunteers.

“Austin hang in there,” he wrote on Facebook on October 7. “I’m coming to bring you home.”

Another week went by with no sign of King. And with the season’s first snowfall forecasted for October 17, the teams began to feel the time pressure. King-Henke pooled resources for the helicopter. When their request was denied, they continued to search on foot on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.

On Thursday, October 17, King posted on the GoFundMe page that he and crews were planning to pack up their base camp at Eagle Creek Campground.

“It is and will be rough couple of days to wait and see how much snow we get to determine if we can go back out or we are done until next year,” King-Henke wrote in the post. “I prayed to God to ask him to allow us some more time.”

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Perhaps you saw this story on Great Aunt Martha’s Facebook page, or when Doug from accounting sent it to a companywide Slack channel. No matter where you glimpsed it first, you probably already know about Rayne Beau, the amazing and then somehow returned to his home state.

For those who don’t have a Great Aunt Martha or a company Slack, let me catch you up to speed. Back in June, Californians Benny and Susanne Anguiano brought their two Siamese cats, Starr and Rayne Beau (you know, like “rainbow.”) to Yellowstone. The couple parked their truck and camper at the Fishing Bridge RV Park on the northern shore of Yellowstone Lake and prepared to unload their stuff. The Los Angeles Times,��Susanne was untangling the cat’s leashes when Rayne Beau jumped out of the vehicle, bolted into the forest, and vanished.

The Anguianos searched the nearby woods for five days with zero sign of the missing cat. Eventually, they made the heartbreaking��decision to leave and drive back to Salinas, which is located between Santa Cruz and Monterey. “Leaving him was unthinkable,” The New York Times.��We all know why. Yellowstone is crawling with apex predators, and everyone at the campsite likely assumed that Rayne Beau became a tasty snack for a grizzly or a badger.

But then something amazing happened. In August, the Anguianos��received a call from an official with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Rayne Beau had been found roaming the streets of Roseville, a suburb of Sacramento, a few hours north of their home. Yep, Rayne Beau somehow crossed 800 miles and four states to kinda, sorta, make his way back home.

Watch: After California residents Benny and Susanne Anguiano’s cat, Rayne Beau, ran off into the woods at Yellowstone National Parks during a camping trip, they held out hope he’d be found nearby. He was, but nearly 900 miles away from where he disappeared.

— The Associated Press (@AP)

Queue the media circus. By my estimation, Rayne Beau is quickly approaching breakdancer Raygun and pop star Chappell Roan in sheer tonnage of 2024 Internet writing.

And I completely understand why. The saga combines three elements that continually captivate the American attention span: pets, the 1993 Disney classic Homeward Bound,��and people acting, well, a bit odd in our oldest national park.��To be clear: yes, you can bring your house cat to Yellowstone, so long as you adhere to some basic rules. Should you? Well, that’s open for debate.

Since Rayne Beau has already been covered to death by mainstream media, I knew I needed a new angle, or some fresh reporting to help shed light on the saga. So, I texted the cat. After a��preliminary messages, he agreed to a short telephone interview for ���ϳԹ��� readers*.

Hi Rayne Beau. First question: what’s up with that name?

It’s called a homophone, Fred. Look it up.

Wow, you’re smart! Hey, if you’re so intelligent, why’d you run into the forest in Yellowstone?

I’ll let you in on a little secret, bub. We house cats may seem tame and docile, but, my friend, we are still wild animals who are governed by basic instincts, like fight and especially flight. And when that little voice inside my head tells me to run for my life, I don’t ask questions.

Why did you flee your owner’s truck?

After 900 miles of listening to Barry Manilow’s Copacabana,��you’d also heed the call of nature.

Should cat owners take their cats camping?

Absolutely. Just know that your camping trip will actually be a that happens to include a tent and sleeping bag.

What did you eat out there in the backcountry?

You may not know this, but Yellowstone is home to a wide variety of delicious rodents and lagomorphs. I’m particular to vole cassoulet.

How did you avoid the carnivores?

It wasn’t easy. Think of Yellowstone’s backcountry as nature’s answer to the U.S. House of Representatives, only with slightly more biting and scratching. You need to form political alliances in order to survive, and so I sought out the biggest and meanest ally out there: a grizzly bear named Big Carl. He was in and vowed to protect me from the coyotes and cougars if I could help him chow down. What could I offer Big Carl, you ask? Well, I know how to slither my way in and out of any Airbnb, and I helped him get into a pantry that was packed with 250 pounds of Chef Boyardee Beefaroni. Let me tell you, Big Carl was a stinky cave-mate after that score.

Did you miss your family?

Absolutely. Pine martens and badgers are OK company, but none of them know how to operate a can opener or scratch behind your ears.

How did you get back to California?

Lucky for me, our friends at report on almost every instance of a tourist behaving badly, so I knew that sooner or later a visitor from California would attempt to cannonball into a thermal pool or wrestle an elk and get sent home. All I needed to do was stow away. My savior was a TikTok influencer from Sacramento who tried to pet a bison. She got the boot, and I got my free ride home.

How was the drive home?

We spent a night in Tonopah, Nevada in the , and my nightmares are now clown-themed.

How did you feel when you were reunited with your sibling, Starr?

I was so ecstatic that I groomed him until I coughed up a lemon-sized hairball.

Why does Yellowstone National Park turn humans—and apparently cats, too—into maniacs?

It’s the same reason for humans as it is for cats. We spend most of our lives cooped up indoors following the same daily rhythm: sleep, groom, eat, work, look after the kittens. We dull those wild instincts that tell us to hunt and explore, and over time, our primordial urges build up pressure inside us, like Old Faithful. And then, when we have our first taste of glorious outdoor freedom, BLAM!, our pent-up urges take over. We hug a bison, wade into a geyser, or simply jump out of a truck and skedaddle for the nearest thicket. When you tamp down your wild side for too long, strange things happen when you finally let it loose.

*This is completely fictitious. I did not actually interview a cat.��

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You might think features like pools of bubbling acid and hidden booby traps are safely relegated to the imaginary world of Indiana Jones. But in Yellowstone, they’re real. And they’re taking out tourists at a pretty astonishing rate. Just this week, a park visitor suffered third-degree burns after the ground gave way beneath her, dropping her into a pool of scalding-hot water hidden just beneath the surface.

The visitor, a 60-year-old woman from New Hampshire, was hiking off-trail near Old Faithful, the iconic geyser famous for its sky-tickling jet of 350°F steam. She was accompanied by her husband and dog. They didn’t realize how thin the ground was—or what was lurking beneath the delicate crust.

With one misstep, the hiker punched through the thin ground, falling and plunging one leg into the near-boiling water beneath. Her husband and dog remained uninjured. The group was able to self-evacuate to a nearby medical clinic, but the woman was ultimately airlifted to a hospital for further treatment. A from the National Park Service stated that incident remains under investigation. In the meantime, park officials remind all visitors to stay on designated trails and boardwalks.

While this is Yellowstone’s first hydrothermal injury of 2024, it’s not the year’s first close call. Earlier this summer, five visitors accidentally drove their car into a geyser and had to be rescued. Just two weeks after that, a sudden hydrothermal explosion sent hot water and rocks raining from the sky and left panicked visitors running for cover. Some of the stones were up to three feet across and weighed 100 pounds—enough to in the area.

According to the National Park Service, more people have been injured by Yellowstone’s hydrothermal springs than any of the park’s other natural threats. Hot springs-related injuries currently number in the hundreds, and at least by the scalding water. That’s nearly three times as many deaths as those attributed to bear attacks— over the park’s recorded history. Bison attacks happen from time to time, but only two bison-related deaths have been recorded.

In fact, the USGS has called the park’s geothermal springs “.” However, the park points out that not all burns or deaths are the result of accidents. On more than one occasion, an off-leash dog has taken a flying leap into a pool, and its owners have plunged into the near-boiling water to attempt a rescue. Other visitors ignore posted signage to get closer to the water for photo-ops—only to be surprised by a burst of steam.

While burns certainly make memorable souvenirs, the park tends to recommend a distanced selfie instead.

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Let me establish my tourist bona fides before we go any further. I am a 47-year-old white man who has lived in the suburbs for the vast majority of my existence. I have spent a grand total of one week camping. I consider emptying the dishwasher to be hard labor. I don’t know how to pitch a tent, build a lean-to, start a fire without matches or a lighter, or climb any rock higher than three feet tall. I am not hardy. The only other time that ���ϳԹ��� asked me to write for them, it was to review bathrobes, which are generally not worn outside. I own both cargo shorts and a fanny pack.

Finally, I am an American. Nothing screams “tourist” more than being a big, stupid American.

And I am legion. The U.S. has a near-infinite supply of clueless tourists such as myself, much to the dismay of our National Park Service. Yellowstone, our most famous national park thanks to Kevin Costner, welcomes 4.5 million of us each year. Like all of our parks, Yellowstone takes in tourists not only for the revenue but to remind them that the physical country they reside in is a marvel well beyond their comprehension. As such, Yellowstone is set up to accommodate these hordes. And while park officials do their best to keep tourists in line, often literally, my kind still manage to do plenty of tourist shit. We . We get shitfaced and with animals ten times our size. And we hurt ourselves. According to NPS data, at least 74 people have died while visiting Yellowstone in the past 15 years. I could have been one of those people. I deserve to be one of those people.

This is why ���ϳԹ��� sent me to the park just a few weeks ago, during one of the busiest times of the year. They wanted me to observe our most basic tourists in the wild. Maybe I’d even get to see one die. Or, even better for my editors, maybe I would die while I was there. Maybe I’d look down my nose at the tourists around me only to end up as wolf food myself. Like most other Yellowstone visitors, I was not trained for the outdoors, I relish doing shit that posted signs yell at me not to do, and I often daydream about fighting bears (and winning!). I find danger tempting, which isn’t a good thing given that I can no longer swim a single pool lap without taking a break. Are people like me responsible enough to visit one of our national treasures without breaking it? Do we, as a population, know how to do national parks?

There was only one way to find out: by going into the park and behaving like an idiot.

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A massive hydrothermal explosion rocked the popular Biscuit Basin area of Yellowstone National Park on Tuesday morning.

According to the National Park Service, the eruption occurred at approximately 10:19 A.M. local time, and it occurred near the Sapphire Pool, just north of Old Faithful. Nobody was hurt, but officials closed the entire area—including the boardwalks—for safety reasons.

An unusually large eruption of one of Yellowstone’s geysers occurred at Biscuit Basin moments ago.

— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch)

A California woman named Vlada March captured video of the massive blast and uploaded the clip to Facebook. According to , March said she and her family were on a trip to the national park when they noticed steam rising from Sapphire Pool. March began filming the area and caught images of tourists walking near the pool shortly before it exploded, showering the area in water, rocks, and mud.

You can hear March yelling “run run run!” to her loved ones in the clip.

The debris destroyed much of the walkway around Sapphire Pool and Black Diamond Pool, another thermal feature in the area.

“No other monitoring data show changes in the Yellowstone region,” said the NPS in their statement. “Today’s explosion does not reflect a change in the volcanic system, which remains at normal background levels of activity.”

The explosion comes just days after another eruption in the park—the Steamboat Geyser recently erupted and showered nearby cars in silica residue. Park staff and the USGS will monitor the area and determine when Biscuit Basin is safe to reopen.

This is an ongoing story, and�����ϳԹ��� will update it as more news becomes available.

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Five visitors to Yellowstone National Park recently found themselves in hot water—quite literally—when their SUV ended up in a geyser.

On the morning of Thursday, July 11, a sport-utility vehicle carrying the park goers plunged into an acidic thermal pond called Semi-Centennial Geyser, which is located next to the popular Grand Loop Road. from the park, all five were able to flee the vehicle��before it sunk in nine feet of water.

They then waded through the 105-degree pond—which is slightly warmer than a typical hot tub—and made it safely to shore. Officials transported them to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The vehicle spent a day at the bottom of the thermal feature, which is located near the Roaring Mountain attraction, just south of Mammoth Hot Springs. Then, on Friday morning, work crews closed the road so that recovery specialists and trained divers could hoist it out of the water with a crane. Photos showed the drenched SUV being towed up the side of a steep grassy hillside above the hot pond. Officials said they are investigating the incident.

While not considered one of the park’s biggest attractions, Semi-Centennial Geyser’s history is linked to the park’s creation. On August 14, 1922 the pond erupted without warning, shooting water 300 feet into the air. The explosion occurred during the park’s 50th anniversary, and officials gave it the name “Semi-Centennial” to mark the historic date.

of National Parks Magazine, eyewitnesses said the eruption launched water, tree stumps, and rocks onto the roadway. “The geyser has three openings, which act together in order to give one of those powerful shots,” a ranger named E. Matthew told the publication. “I saw one eruption from two tubes that reached a height of about 125 feet.” At the time, officials hypothesized that the new geyser could someday outshine the park’s more popular destinations. But Semi-Centennial Geyser never erupted again.

Officials likely could not have predicted that, 102 years later, the geyser would be site of just one more bizarre news stories from an already troubling year at the country’s oldest national park.

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