West Yellowstone

West Yellowstone needs 2 days: entering Yellowstone National Park through its west entrance, the park's busiest, to see Old Faithful geyser and the colorful hot springs of Grand Prismatic Spring, on one, and touring the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center, a sanctuary rehabilitating bears and wolves that can't return to the wild, on the other. June-September is the only season with all park roads open. It's expensive in high season, with limited lodging in town. With just 1,300 residents, it functions almost entirely as a logistics base for Yellowstone, the world's first national park, designated in 1872, and its full name plainly reflects its sole reason for being.