Yellowstone National Park is one of the largest and most diverse national parks in the world and is also historically significant because the area of the park, which lies in the state of Wyoming, the first one was that was ever appointed to the National Park and therefore a worth protecting natural space. In the second half of the nineteenth century, a group of researchers in the area was traveling and decided to work for a landscape of such beauty and geological peculiarity, never to fall victim to the civilization’s quest for modernization.
The national park idea was born. Spread over an area of 90 by 100 kilometers and at an altitude of 2100 to 2500 meters, Yellowstone National Park – as part of the Middle Rocky Mountains – through northwest Wyoming. Due to its special geology, the park offers many so-called hydrothermal phenomena, such as “hot springs” or geysers. This is due to its location on a hot spot, which creates a type of volcanic activity that is not bound to plate boundaries by a stationary zone of “melting” in the upper mantle.
Yellowstone is the favorite national park of many of our travel consultants. So it is high time to dedicate a blog. Here are seven reasons for a visit to Yellowstone National Park!
1. Geysers
Yellowstone counts half of all geysers on Earth. Old Faithful is the most famous and lives up to its name: this geyser bursts about once every hour and a half. Old Faithful is so reliable that you can literally wait for it: what time the next eruption is, you see in the visitor center at the Upper Geyser Basin. Immediately look at the expected eruption times of the other large geysers. Who knows, you might see two in a row! While walking through Yellowstone you will also be regularly surprised by unannounced eruptions of smaller geysers.
2. Hot springs
Hot springs are available in all shapes and sizes. The biggest is the Grand Prismatic Spring in the Midway Geyser Basin. It has a diameter of 113 meters and is 37 meters deep. What he looks like depends greatly on the weather. If it is rainy and dark, the colors are much less fierce.
A source that always shows its best side is the Morning Glory Pool. Other favorites are the Black Pool (West Thumb Geyser Basin) and Sapphire Pool (Biscuit Basin).
3. Sulfur vapors, gases, and mud pots
Yellowstone is a treat for all your senses. In the Norris Geyser Basin, you will regularly wish you had a clothespin with you to put on your nose. Those stinking sulfur fumes are just part of it. Around you hear a tinkle of mud pools and steam that escapes hissing out of earth cracks. And while walking along the many boardwalks, there is always a warm wind blowing in your face.
4. Terraces
You can drink a beer or wine at your hotel or at the campground. You cannot enter the terraces in Yellowstone! In Mammoth, the northern part of the park, you will find the Mammoth Terraces. This is where travertine comes to the surface, creating limestone terraces. Do not be fooled by pictures on the internet. In some photos, the terraces seem to meter high, while in reality, it is not that bad. Yet they are worth watching!
5. The Grand Canyon
Yellowstone River has been making its way through the yellow-brown volcanic rocks for millions of years, creating a gap hundreds of meters deep. As a bonus, you can see the Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls. Go to Artist’s Point for the best view. There are several trails that take you to the top of the foot of the waterfalls, whether or not via steep stairs.
6. Wildlife
We dare to put our hands in the fire, in Yellowstone, you will see large game. We also dare to bet that you honor the first bison with an extensive photo shoot. At that moment you do not know that you will spot whole herds. Who sometimes block the road without mercy and provide long buffalo jams. There is also a good chance that you will see deer. Elk, bears, and wolves are more difficult to photograph. Ask the visitor centers for the best spots for spotting game. Sometimes lists are kept with locations where the past few days have been seen wild. We will give away two places: go for bison and bears to Lamar Valley and Hayden Valley. Around Mammoth often keeps a herd of deer. The chance of success is greatest around sunrise and sunset.
7. Fauna and Flora
If you like to see animals in the wild, you will certainly find something to their liking in Yellowstone. If there is a traffic jam, it is probably because a herd of bison or others is near the road. But you will only see the real wildlife if you take the trouble to walk some distance. An admission ticket is required for the backcountry. It costs nothing and can be obtained at the shunting stations.
Yellowstone has a large number of different animal species and plant species. The animals have their habitat everywhere in a different place in the park so that no mutual competition could occur, where the animals would kill each other.
The bears have a very large part of the park, there are different types of bears, black and grizzly bears. There are about a thousand black bears and a small 200 grizzly bears. But there are also many wolves, coyotes, fish, birds, mountain lions, bison, red deer, and elk.
The flora part is even more extensive with various tree species such as lodgepole pines, conifers, oaks, alders, linden, weeping willows, pollard willows, and fir trees. Of course, there are also many plant species in the park.
Finally, Yellowstone National Park lures in the winter months more and more visitors who want to take their snowmobile rides or try their hand at cross-country, both from the town of West Yellowstone from Day trips in heated and closed-tracked vehicles through the snow-covered National Park area are from West Yellowstone or Mammoth out possible. The park is especially popular with wildlife watchers and many tourists go there to follow the footsteps of the Wapiti stags, pronghorns or bighorn sheep or watch the Canadian cranes on the large grassy areas.
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