Formed in 1872 as the first officially designated national park, Yellowstone has since inspired the creation of hundreds of national parks around the world. Located in the extreme northwestern corner of Wyoming, the park is a wildlife paradise and a geological wonderland. To really experience Yellowstone, visitors should grab their backpacks and camping gear and immerse themselves in the surroundings. Wildlife is abundant, and the 1,100 miles of trails offer something for everyone to enjoy.
Entrance fees: $20/vehicle for 7 days, $15/motorcycle for 7 days, or $10/individual for 7 days
Visitor centers: Albright Visitor Center is open year-round. Four other visitor centers are open variously from late April through early November.
Other services: Seven ranger stations, two museums, 11 lodges and cabins, and 12 campgrounds
Accommodations:
- Mammoth Campground is open year-round and operates on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Several other campgrounds are open variously from early May to early November. Some reservations are available at 307-344-7311.
- Abundant lodging is available during the summer months. Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and Old Faithful Snow Lodge & Cabins are open during winter months. Reservations for all are available. 307-344-7311.
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Visiting Yellowstone National Park
The volcanic cauldron beneath Yellowstone National Park creates enormous plumes of water belching out of the earth from steaming vents. More than half of the world's 20,000 geysers are located within the park, and the area is also blessed with a proliferation ofhot springs, fumaroles, and teaming pools of evanescent colors and algae. Visitors to Yellowstone will encounter percolating streams, bubbling creeks, and gushing rivers, and almost everywhere in the park, the acrid and unmistakable smell of sulfur.
Yellowstone's boundaries encompass some of America's most spectacular untouched wilderness: jagged peaks, endless forests, rugged canyons, crystal-clear lakes, and alpine meadows. Roaming this terrain is an array of western wildlife unmatched elsewhere: buffalo, elk, deer, grizzly bears, black bears, ospreys, eagles, coyotes, cougars, beavers, white pelicans, and moose. More than two million acres ofRocky Mountain wilderness provide a safe and vast habitat for all this wildlife.
Nature runs by its own time schedule in Yellowstone. This is a place to sit still and let the magic of nature amaze you. It won't be long before the show begins. You may catch the colors of a rainbow through a plummeting waterfall. Hike along a marsh, and in time you might see a bull moose stride out of the forest and wade through ankle-deep water.
Or you may see a family of black bears romping and wrestling in a meadow beside a mountain stream. Keep your eyes on the high branches of a lodgepole pine long enough, and eventually the head of a bald eagle may emerge from the thicket of its nest.
Stand quietly on a bank of the Yellowstone River; a merganser paddles along enjoying the day. Upstream, a cutthroat trout leaps out of the water to see what the duck is doing, but the fish is oblivious to the danger of the great osprey circling 200 feet overhead. Watch closely, because the bird is incredibly swift when it dives for its prey.
Early in the morning during the autumn, you may hear the eerie bugling of a bull elk, but then again you may not. Even the park's thermal attractions operate on their own secret timetables: Old Faithful erupts every 66 to 80 minutes, not on the hour as many of us learned in school. (It can occasionally wait for two hours between eruptions.)
Jump right in and learn about the many sightseeing and recreational activities available at Yellowstone on the next page.
