Yellowstone National Park
Ranked #1,403 in Travel & Places, #54,640 overall
Yellowstone: America's Best Known National Park
First established as a National Park in 1872, Yellowstone remains America's best-known National Park for its geothermal features, array of wildlife and stunning scenery. It covers three states--Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana--however, most of the park lies in Wyoming. The best known parts of the park are the Old Faithful Geyser and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Geysers, Volcanoes and Geothermal Features
The unique underground volcano system of Yellowstone
The largest volcanic system in North America lies in Yellowstone National Park. With constantly erupting geysers, bubbling hot springs, and a "supervolcano" system historically erupting every 600,000 years or so, Yellowstone is a huge attraction drawing nearly 3 million visitors per year.
Castle Rock Geyser
The Super Volcano
Yellowstone National Park is under great scrutiny from geologists for its geothermal activity. Most of the park is actually a giant caldera, or volcano hole, with a giant magma chamber 4 miles beneath the park's surface. This magma chamber is what powers the parks geysers, pools, and of course, Old Faithful. The giant caldera is referred to as a "supervolcano" because of its catastrophic history. Scientists have confirmed that there is no reason to believe there is an eruption in the near future, nor that we are "overdue."
Sulfur pools
Old Faithful...you've heard of it many times, and probably have seen it on TV. Old Faithful is just one of hundreds of geysers in Yellowstone. It erupts every 74 minutes at a height between 100-180 feet for up to 5 minutes straight. The water temperature has been measured at 204 degrees, while the steam is a scorching 350 degrees!
You'll notice in the picture above the azure blue color of the pools. This is created from black bacteria dying off when the pool heats up from thermal activity.
Old Faithful
More About Volcanoes...
- Volcanoes Are Hot Stuff
- Volcanoes are some of the most terrifying and magnificent wonders of our restless planet. Scientists have learned a great deal about volcanoes in the last century or so, but when a volcano stirs, all we can do is get out of the way.
Yellowstone Links
- Old Faithful WebCam
- See live pictures of Yellowstone's Old Faithful.
- Interactive Canyon Tour
- Take a tour of Yellowstone's famed canyon with pictures, maps and links.
- Yellowstone Weather
- Find out the forecast, snow depth and average temperatures for Yellowstone.
- Yellowstone Wallpaper
- Be sure to check out Wallpaper by Design for more images of Yellowstone!
- Where to Stay in Yellowstone
- The best places to stay in the Yellowstone vicinity, in and outside of the park.
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
The other Grand Canyon!
Not as well known as the Grand Canyon in Arizona is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. However, this waterfall canyon may be just as visually impressive with its half mile width and 900 foot drop. The Yellowstone River cascades through the canyon eroding away and carving into the rock.
Wildlife in Yellowstone
Yellowstone offers an extensive array of animal wildlife, including the reintroduced gray wolf, the american bison, lynx, and foliage particular only to Yellowstone. It's one of the few places where it isn't hard to spot wildlife.
American Bison
Gray Wolf
Lynx
More Wildlife...
More Yellowstone Wildlife Pictures...
Grizzly Bears, Black Bears, Bald Eagles, Moose, Elk, Bison, Wolves, Coyotes, Bighorn Sheep, Red Foxes, Marmets, what more could you ask for? Yellowstone has it all.
curated content from Flickr
More Squidoo Lenses featuring the Animals of Yellowstone!
- The Mighty American Bison
- These large, intimidating creatures were once on the verge of extinction until they were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park and on Elk Island in Alberta, Canada. Bison are commonly called "buffalo" by many, however, they are technically bison.
- Grizzly Bears
- The brown bear (known as the grizzly in the Lower 48 states) is a large predator distinguished from black bears by a distinctive hump on the shoulders, a dished profile to the face, and long claws about the length of a human finger.
- Gray Wolves are being taken off the Endangered Species List
- Wolves were once abundant over much of North America and Eurasia but now inhabits a very small portion of its former range because of widespread destruction of its habitat, human encroachment of its habitat, and the resulting human-wolf encounters that sparked attempts of total extermination.
- The Magnificent Moose
- A lens all about moose, featuring moose merchandise and more.
Grand Tetons National Park
Nearby to Yellowstone and included in the Greater Yellowstone area is the Grand Tetons National Park. Its high peaks contrast with the comparatively low-lying valleys, lakes and meadows below offer some of the best photography, hiking, and camping of any of the National Parks. What makes the Grand Tetons unique are its lack of foothills leading up to the glacier-topped mountains.
Grand Tetons Links
- Hikes & Drives
- Find hikes, driving trails, bird watching spots, and day trips in the Grand Tetons area on this National Geographic page.
- Grand Tetons WebCam
- Get a view of the park live via this WebCam.
A Poll on Yellowstone...
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Greater Yellowstone
The area surrounding and leading into Yellowstone National Park remains a spectacle as well. Covering 14 million acres, there are many more lakes, streams, rivers and mountains to be discovered.
A winding road outside of Yellowstone
A rainbow hits in the early morning hours outside of Yellowstone
Travelling to Yellowstone
Local towns and accomodations near Yellowstone National Park
The closest major town you'll find to the Yellowstone region is Jackson, or Jackson Hole as it's commonly referred to. Expect to see temperatures around 79 degrees during peak summer in July and August. With lows around 42 even in summer, you'll need to pack warm clothes with you for this trip. Winter temperatures rarely crack above freezing, and often dip down to single digits at night.
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The Yellowstone Guestbook
Been to Yellowstone? Have a story? Tell us about it!
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baseballchris46
Nov 10, 2011 @ 10:58 pm | delete
- This past summer several friends in my scout troop and I hiked through there for 2 weeks and it was the best trip of my lives. ANIMALS EVERYWHERE. We saw about 2 dozen bears throughout the trip. It was almost like being in Jurassic park because at times we felt like we were no longer at the top of the food chain.
If you don't go hiking or backpacking down the trails then you haven't really seen Yellowstone. You have to spend a night out where you listen to the wolves howl and watch the eagles soar above you
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LikinTrikin
May 18, 2011 @ 2:51 pm | delete
- We'll be riding our trike across the country in August. Planning to go through Yellowstone and down through the Grand Tetons. This is a great lens for planning the trip.
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nitinslash
May 9, 2011 @ 5:06 am | delete
- Yellowstone is my favorite
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cyberwizzard
Oct 28, 2010 @ 7:51 am | delete
- It is hard to believe that Yellowstone park actually has remote areas that few humans have ever seen. Heaven on earth!
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kraji
Sep 17, 2010 @ 3:54 pm | delete
- Yellowstone is my favourite NP in USA, so many wonders there
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Yellowstone Books & Guides
Yellowstone is a very large area. Large enough that you could miss some of the hidden gems located in the park! It's so large that bison hid out here in the 1800's (unintentionally?) to avoid being totally decemated as a species and managed to be virtually undetected. An area this large needs a good guide book! Read up on Yellowstone with this top rated guides on Amazon. All have excellent reviews.
An Interesting Take on Yellowstone
This is very different, morbid take on Yellowstone. The author airs on the side of caution, telling the tales of the unfortunate people that have perished in Yellowstone National Park. Some 250 people have died from incidents natural and man made...some could have been prevented, some not. There are many perils in the parks that you may not know about! From landslides, avalanches, hot geyser blasts, car accidents, bison goaring (!), bear attacks and plane crashes, anything can happen here.
Cool Yellowstone Apparel
For cool, unique, trendy Yellowstone National Park and Grand Tetons National Park clothing, check out some of the shirts CafePress has to offer. You can't buy these in retail stores!
More National Parks Apparel...
by kiwisoutback
kiwisoutback
Thanks for dropping by! Yellowstone is an amazing place to visit, one of the best parks in the country. Known for its geothermal features and abundance... more »
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Take a Day Hike in Yellowstone
The ultimate hiking guide for the Yellowstone region
Ranger's Guide to Yellowstone Day Hikes, A
Amazon Price: $7.88 (as of 02/13/2012)
It's what you came here for... to get out and enjoy the wilderness. Step outside of the lodge for a minute and enjoy your natural surroundings! This book will help you if you're looking to take a day hike in Yosemite, no matter what your age or what difficult range you are looking for. With over 25 years of experience helping out tourists, authors Roger and Carol Shively Anderson provide insider tips that are essential for your trip out. What trails are the best? When should you go? What should you bring? Should you start early, late, camp, any how do you protect yourself from wildlife? Are there off-the-beaten-path hidden gems that are awaiting in the woods and on the paths? Answer all of these questions in this incredible, well reviewed guide.
View Wildlife at a Distance with Binoculars
Nikon 7216 Action 8x40mm Binoculars
Amazon Price: $79.00 (as of 02/13/2012)
A reasonable pair of binoculars to view wildlife safely -- far away! To minimize the risk of encounters with wildlife like wolves and bears, the best way to see them is through some binoculars. Bring along a pair like these excellent Nikon binoculars with 8x magnification (and not to mention outstanding reviews). These are very reasonably priced, perfect to take out on the field, have a quick central focus system, and have a 420-foot field of view at 1,000 yards, so you'll be able to see just about anything!
