Located in northwest Wyoming is one of the most magnificent natural beauties in the North America. No, I’m not talking about the Grand Teton National Park, although that’s definitely part of what makes the area so majestic since it’s just a few miles away. Just north of the Grand Tetons, you will find the first national park ever created in the United States, and some say the entire world. I’m talking about the Yellowstone National Park.
First of all, it’s massive. Spanning just under 3,500 square miles, Yellowstone is mainly situated in Wyoming, though parts of it stretch into Montana and Idaho as well. President Grant signed a law on March 1, 1872 that would officially make Yellowstone the first National Park.
One of the most popular attractions is the park’s geothermal activity. You might’ve heard of its most popular geyser named “Old Faithful” that erupts like clockwork every single day, but there are also hundreds of smaller geysers located all over the place.
After living in the Grand Tetons for almost a year, I spent a good amount of time in Yellowstone. One of the things that always fascinated me was these geothermal areas. Old Faithful was really cool to watch, don’t get me wrong, but some of the smaller sites were equally as impressive. You could be walking along and all the sudden you’d come up on a natural hot spring that has created some of the most beautiful colors due to the different minerals in the water.
If you’ll notice in the images, in a lot of these areas there will likely be a wooden boardwalk for you to walk on and it’s very strongly recommended to stay on the walkways. There is so much activity going on underneath the surface that it’s very possible to break through the ground if you don’t know where to walk. It was described to me by one of the locals that in some spots what may appear to be solid ground, could actually be something similar to an eggshell.
There is also said to be one of the largest super volcano’s in North America that’s often referred to as the Yellowstone Caldera that lies just underneath the earth’s surface. When you see just how active the geysers and hot springs are up there, you can’t help but believe it.
But this is also what makes Yellowstone so naturally beautiful. At no other national park do you see the diversity of ecosystems that you’ll see in Yellowstone. One of the things that will stick with me forever is the colors. Of course you have the green of the forest, that you can see almost anywhere, but also the Yellowish dirt mixed in with reds and browns, and maybe my personal favorite, the blue in some of the geyser pools
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