The restaurant in my hotel in West Yellowstone has a painting of a distinctive mountain that nobody in our party recognized. We wondered where it was as we had become fairly familiar with the features of the lanscape on the west side of the park—at least the easily accessible areas. The next day, as I drove out the northeast entrance to the park, I spotted a stand of trees that I wanted to photograph and stopped the car. As soon as I got my camera out of the back seat and turned around, I saw the same mountain to the east. Mystery solved.
While photographing the view, another car pulled up and out stepped local photographer Sandra Nykerk. We talked about the view, the aspen, and the distinctive mountain. As she taught me a bit about the history of the place, she mentioned that the original name for the mountain was Dog Turd Peak. It was later changed to Pilot Peak, a much more palatable name for visitors to the park.
Posted by James Duncan Davidson.
