Yellowstone National Park
MEMORIES:
The very first and oldest national park in the world, Yellowstone National Park was a myth long before it became a reality. John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was honorably discharged in 1806 and is considered by many to have been the first mountain man. His descriptions of a place of “fire and brimstone” were excused as delusional fancies and often referred to as “Colter’s Hell.” Forty more years of exploration did little to concretize Colter’s report, especially when tall tale-teller Jim Bridger confirmed it. But the accounts were enough to spur the interest of private explorers and three independently funded expeditions set off up the Yellowstone River shortly after the Civil War. After three years of journaling and surveying, Yellowstone National Park was created in 1872 by president Ulysses S. Grant at the behest of explorer F. V. Hayden. Thus the myth became a reality.
Since then, the park has been an attractive location for family vacations and tourist trade-- and for good reason. The sheer number of natural wonders and ecological attractions is overwhelming. Yellowstone is home to geysers (more than half of the known total on the planet), hot springs, a grand canyon, the largest high-elevation lake in North America, forests, wilderness, and more wildlife than you can shake a stick at. It is not uncommon to drive through Yellowstone and spot bison grazing on the side of the road, antelope grazing, or golden eagles soaring overhead.
Anyone visiting the Yellowstone Caldera discovers that they are visiting the largest volcanic system in North America. Scientists estimate that no less than three globally cataclysmic eruptions have taken place there in the past two million years. The result has been a geological wonder. Steaming hot water flows down the face of Tower Fall. Fantastic colors of gold and sky blue fill the crystalline Morning Glory Pool. Steamboat Geyser remains the largest active geyser in the world. Mud pots bubble and burp all over the landscape. And of course, as anyone who’s stuck around for about an hour will tell you, there’s nothing quite like Old Faithful.
And as cool as boiling water shooting a hundred feet into the air is, it’s often coming face to face with the wildlife that appeals most to the kid in us. So many of us grow up with bears on our t-shirts and wolves among our action figures that we forget that these animals actually exist somewhere. Yellowstone National Park is considered the largest megafauna habitat in the lower forty-eight. One visiting the park should not be surprised to see American bison, grizzly bear, black bear, elk, moose, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, mountain lion, and the finest population of cutthroat trout to ever grace a lake.
It’s mystical more than magical. It’s fantastic more than fantasy. It’s the first and oldest national park in the world.
And for anyone who’s ever been there, it’s the best.
