"Yellowstone NP" a Yellowstone National Park Travel Page by dinhyen

Established on March 1, 1872, Yellowstone National Park is the first and oldest national park in the world (US NPS).

Take a while to let that sink in. And perhaps that's a fitting status. Yellowstone may not be the largest park, the one with the highest mountain, the deepest canyon or the most impressive waterfalls, but they can all be found here. Indeed the grand dame of all national parks embraces so many wonders that those that came later seem no more than her young offspring.

At first count, Yellowstone has mountains, rivers, lakes, streams, canyons, waterfalls, forests, swamps, prairies, and the park sits on the caldera of an extinct volcano! The showpiece of the park, and indeed what it is most famous for, is its thermal features. Geysers, hot springs, fumaroles, mudpots are all found here. Sure, other places like Iceland and New Zealand have geysers and hot springs too, But nowhere else are all these amazing features so well represented!

But the best is yet to come. Yellowstone is home to abundance wildlife. Herds of bisons and elks roam the plains, while grizzlies lumber in the forest. Unless you spend all your time hunkered down in a trailer, your chance of seeing wildlife here is almost 100%.

Needless to say, Yellowstone deserves to be a natural wonder of the planet.

Old Faithful, the best-known geyser in the world. Geyser eruption can't be accurately predicted, but Old Faithful erupts at regular intervals that deviate little, hence its name.

The Lower Falls on Yellowstone's spectacular Grand Canyon.