One of the most gorgeous approaches to Yellowstone National Park is from the east, through the Sunlight Basin northwest of Cody, Wyoming. The road descends in a series of switchbacks down the Absaroka Range and onto the forested valley floors. And if you're heading to the park in mid-May, you just might want to spend a little time in Cody, Wyoming, to take in the fourth annual Spring Into Yellowstone festival before you head into the basin.

Six years after National Park Service officials set aspirational goals to reduce plastic waste across the park system by installing water-filling stations for the public, the agency has fallen far short of its hopes.

Up in the northwest corner of Yellowstone in the middle of the valley of the Lamar River lies a place known as the Buffalo Ranch. It’s the place where most of a few remaining bison in the world were saved from extinction. It’s also the place where wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone in 1995.

Iconic images from the National Park Service’s first century are captured forever in three limited-edition coins from the U.S. Mint, and proceeds raised from selling the coins will help shape the next 100 years through projects and programs.