Yankee Jim Llama Trek

We are happy to include Yankee Jim Llama Trek with a picnic lunch in our program starting in 2025. It presents a convenient option with easy terrain, great views of the wildest part of the Yellowstone River, and the location of some colorful Montana history. A few historic remnants line the trail and make for great conversation imagining the wild, old days along the train tracks that used to run here. Since our llama treks inside Yellowstone are regulated to begin July 1, Yankee Jim Canyon trail on the Custer-Gallatin National Forest is a convenient alternative for earlier visitors as it is accessible from mid-May.

‏Named for a colorful historic character, Yankee Jim Canyon is a short, narrow canyon on the Yellowstone River 13 miles north of Yellowstone National Park. The canyon has the largest rapids outside of the park. Today’s hiking trail runs in most part along an old rail bed left behind by the Northern Pacific railroad on the west side of the river. “Yankee Jim” George was a miner who extorted high tolls on a road he built through the canyon, the only access to Yellowstone for anybody on foot, horse or carriage. In 1882, Northern Pacific Railroad reached Livingston, Montana. The railroad had plans to make their way through the canyon to reach Corwin Springs. After Yankee Jim turned down the railroad’s offer for his road, a negotiator arrived with a couple of cases of whiskey. By the time they were done talking the whiskey was gone and Yankee Jim had signed away all rights to his road. Legend has it Yankee Jim would kick boulders off the mountain to derail the train. Nevertheless, by 1902, Northern Pacific trains reached Gardiner at the north entrance to the park. Tourists boarded stagecoaches in Gardiner to continue their trip through the park.

Location: Yankee Jim Canyon at Custer-Gallatin National Forest
– 13 miles north of Yellowstone’s North entrance; meet at Tom Miner Basin turn off highway 89S.