Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Superintendent Norris
In 1886, when the U.S. Cavalry patrolled the park, a soldier station was built just across
the road from Soda Butte. Later used as a ranger station, the wooden structure was moved
to the Lamar Buffalo Ranch in the 1930s. In army days, the park had 19 soldier stations,
sometimes called snowshoe cabins. They were lonely outposts built to shelter soldiers on
patrol in the wintertime. Scattered about the park today are about 40 patrol cabins that
shelter rangers, but the rangers don't usually stay in them for weeks at a time as the soldiers
often did.
The mountain to the northwest here is Druid Peak. If you're traveling west, this is the last
you will see of the striated lava-topped mountains so common in this part of Yellowstone.
From about this point to the Lamar Canyon (mile 20.8/7.8) is the area where you are most
likely to see
wolves
for people with spotting scopes looking for them. The most visible wolf
pack from 1996 until 2010 was the big Druid Peak pack, decimated that year by various causes
including mange and dispersal. No such easily observable pack has taken its place.
Special Caution:
Stay at least 100 yards (109 m) away from wolves.
