Missing in Yellowstone National Park: Part One

**Information is obtained from the Where are they? Podcast and other online sources as cited**

Yellowstone National Park was named the most beautiful national park in the world by U.S. News.com for a reason.

The park covers over 2 million acres and boasts a variety of attractions- from hot springs and hiking trails to national geysers and free-roaming bison.

The park also contains some dark secrets. From 2018–2020, there were 732 missing person reports. These reports include lost hikers, people separated from a group, and even hikers who had fallen down and been hurt, having to wait for rescue.

732 might sound like a lot- but this was over a 3-year period, and for a park that saw over 4 million visitors in 2021 alone, the number could be much worse. And, as many park agencies have said, it actually might be. The number of people that go missing and are not reported, or the number of reports not taken and entered into the computer, also should be considered.

Katherine Major, a 53-year-old woman was suffering from some mental illness when she vanished in September 2009. She was seen at the Four Seasons Resort in Teton Village, Wyoming on September 19, but then Katherine was never seen again.