How the West Was Won

The secret to a crowd-free Yellowstone summer might just be this little-known Idaho town.

- By Lydia Mansel

FROM LEFT A cabin at Yellowstone Peaks Hotel, in Island Park, Idaho; Upper Mesa Falls, just outside town.

ISLAND PARK MAY not initially appear mountainous; when you arrive, it presents as mostly flat. That’s because this eastern Idaho town sits inside an ancient caldera, formed after a volcanic eruption 1.3 million years ago. Surrounding the town, however, are the Centennial Mountains, a subrange of the Rockies, as well as the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. And Yellowstone National Park is just a 30-minute drive away, making Island Park the ideal base camp for a Western adventure.

SUMMER-CAMP STAYS