When Genghis Khan was busy piecing together his Mongolian Empire during the thirteenth century, the yurt was providing shelter for the average wandering Mongolian. The Mongol needed a home that was very portable, that could be transported on one or two beasts of burden, and that was easy to heat during the harsh Mongolian winters. The yurt was ideal at meeting all of these requirements. Although the yurt structure comes down to us from the Mongols, the name "yurt" comes to the western world from Russian merchants, traders, and marauders of many years ago. To the Mongol his home was known as a "ger" (rhymes with bear), simply meaning "dwelling".

There have been several articles written about yurts and gers in National Geographic Magazine. Also, PBS aired a special documentary, about gers a few years ago.

We purchased new yurts in the fall of 2018. We selected yurts manufactured by Pacific Yurts, located in Cottage Grove, Oregon. We could barely fit the two yurts (a 20-ft diameter yurt for the kitchen and a 24-ft diameter yurt for the dining room) onto the truck and trailer. Brian and Piper spent that fall constructing the yurts at the Skier's Camp in Yellowstone.