Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Grizzly Peak
(9948 t / 3,032 m) and
Top Notch Peak
(10,238 t / 3,121 m) are next (the notch
is not visible from here).
The next three pyramid-shaped peaks are named for early explorers of the park:
Mt. Langford
(10,750 ft / 3,277 m) farthest back and
Mts. Doane
(10,656 t / 3,248 m) and
Stevenson
(10,352 ft / 3,155 m). Nathaniel P. Langford and Lt. Gustavus C. Doane were
leaders of the 1870 expedition through the park. James Stevenson was geologist Ferdinand
V. Hayden's manager and chief assistant on all his western ventures.
Just to the right of Mt. Stevenson is
Mt. Schurz
(11,163 ft / 3,402 m), named for Carl Schurz,
secretary of the interior (1877-81) and strong supporter of the park.
The highest peaks in the park show their tops to the right of Mt. Schurz, and the relatively level
area in front of them (to the southeast) reaches to the Thorofare Corner 30 miles away.
You can see where the
Southeast Arm
of the Lake occupies a gap in the high ground.
Promontory Point
between the two arms, and the north end of
Stevenson Island
obscuring
the
South Arm.
Almost due south is the long top of
Flat Mountain
(9,168 ft / 2,794 m), with
Dot Island
in
front of it. At the left flank of Flat Mountain is the much higher
Mt. Hancock
(10,214 t /
3,113 m) near the park's south boundary, and to the left of it another high mountain,
Bar-
low Peak
(9,622 ft / 2,933 m). Gen. W. S. Hancock, a Union general wounded at Gettys-
burg, was Commander of the army's Department of Dakota in 1871, when the peak was
named for him. In 1871, Capt. John Barlow led an expedition in tandem with Hayden's ex-
pedition and explored in this area.
Mt. Sheridan
(10,305 ft / 3,141 m), farthest to the right, honors a champion of Yellowstone,
Gen. Philip H. Sheridan.
Lake Hotel*
Lake Hotel (called Lake Yellowstone Hotel by the concessionaire in recent years) sug-
gests 1920s casual elegance. The Lake String Quartet has played in the sunroom during cock-
tail and dinner hours since 1999. The dining room (reservations required) has an outstanding
ambience and good food. The hotel is the most carefully planned and comfortable in the park.
Lake Hotel also has a deli and gift shop.
U.S. presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge stayed here on their trips through
the park. From the
Haynes Guide
for 1912: “Hotel at the Outlet.—This spacious and elegantly
appointed hotel tends greatly toward making Yellowstone Lake the resort par excellence of the
Park. Here everything is so arranged that guests can spend the entire season, if they so desire,
making short, easy trips of sight-seeing or exploration to all points of the great reserve.” Few
people have the time or inclination to spend “the entire season” these days, but the hotel has
not changed much.
