GPS leads hundreds of tourists to middle of nowhere instead of Yellowstone

A lot has changed since Lewis and Clark navigated their way across untold miles of wild, uncharted lands using a sextant, octant and chronometer. In fact, I'm not even sure what at least two (aw hell, three) of those things are.

But I do know what GPS is, and what Apple Maps are, because I use them all the time. If I get up in the middle of the night, I'll sometimes use Apple Maps to find the kitchen for a midnight snack. 

Man touching GPS display in car

So I have to admit some sympathy for the folks that showed up in the rural town of Driggs, Idaho, because Apple Maps had led them there only to find that they were, ahem, not in Yellowstone. Though one local, perhaps nursing an ambition to be a comedian, had painted some rocks yellow.  

Apparently, the Apple Maps app had been directing people to recent High School graduates' "Yellowstone Days" celebration held at a local KOA campground. As local Suzanne Arden told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, "hundreds of people are going to Yellowstone... and finding out it's a mailbox."

Rural Mailbox

The bug went on for some days until Apple announced they had fixed the problem Monday morning. In the meantime, dozens of people arrived in Driggs and wondered, where the hell the giant National Park was. Hopefully the town enjoyed the unexpected bump in tourism.

It must have been nearly as confusing as if, say, Lewis And Clark arrived at a Walmart Parking lot in Havre, Montana, looked around in confusion, and asked each other wasn't there supposed to be a Pacific Ocean here?

Yellowstone Entrance Sign

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