Kelsey Dayton

Recent Posts

Underwater War: Killing lake trout to save cutthroat in Yellowstone Park

The Yellowstone Park Foundation funds a range of programs and projects, including a long-term effort to reduce lake trout populations in Yellowstone National Park.

Attempts to save Yellowstone cutthroat began when they were first discovered in Yellowstone Lake in 1994. Work reached a crescendo this year with organizations helping fund work and research on Yellowstone Lake where lake trout have particularly overwhelmed the world’s largest natural cutthroat population. A combination of sci-fi like technology and experiments coupled with good old fashioned fishing could help shrink the lake trout population and in turn allow the cutthroat to thrive. Continue Reading →

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Yellowstone’s Mirror Plateau: A world away from the boardwalks

At an elevation of about 9,000 feet and 3.5 miles from an established trail, Mirror Lake on Yellowstone’s Mirror Plateau is one of the park’s more remote destinations. (Bradly J. Boner/WyoFile — click to enlarge)

There are so many things in Yellowstone National Park that can make you feel physically small — the roaring waterfalls, geysers spraying more than 100 feet in the air and bison as big as a small car. But it is in the backcountry that you not only feel small, but also insignificant, a speck in a world that seems to expand into an immeasurable vastness. I’d never heard of the Mirror Plateau until I read about it in an outdoor magazine last winter. I was intrigued by the idea of the isolation within a place that draws millions of visitors each year. It isn’t just rugged; it’s trail-less. It isn’t just obscure; it’s unknown to most people. It isn’t just untrammeled; overnight travel is limited to only several weeks in the summer and 14 total permits. Continue Reading →

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