Yellowstone National Park was founded by the US Congress in 1872. It is considered the first national park in the world. Although most of the park is in Wyoming, it also extends to Montana and Idaho. The area was inhabited by Native Americans for 11,000 years before being explored in the 1860’s. Lewis and Clark explored the region during their expedition in the early 19th century. At 3,472 square miles, this park is bigger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined.
It is the world’s first national park.
The park was signed into law in 1872 by president Ulysses S. Grant.
It contains 3,472 square miles and measures 63 miles north to south and 54 miles east to west.
It is famous around the world for its geothermal features.
The park is 96% in Wyoming, 3% in Montana, and 1% in Idaho.
The park itself is considered to be an active volcano.
The highest point in the park is 11,358′ at Eagle Peak and the lowest point in the park is 5,282′ at Reese Creek.
It is the only active super volcano in the world that is located on land. The other 29 are located in the water.
Yellowstone is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined.
80% of the land is covered by forest, 15% is grassland, and 5% is water.
Yellowstone has 1000 to 3000 earthquakes annually.
The park contains 322 species of birds and t least 16 species of fish.
There are more than 300 active geysers.
There are grizzly bears and Canadian lynx in the park, both of which are considered to be threatened species.
There are more than 290 waterfalls.
The grizzly bear can eat 35 pounds of food a day, and it usually does!
Yellowstone is home to 67 species of mammals, 285 species of birds, 16 species of fish, 6 species of reptiles, 5 species of amphibians, and more than 7 aquatic nuisance species.
The gray wolf is an endangered species and is found in the park.
Two threatened species call the park home – Canada lynx and Grizzly bears. Wolverines are a proposed threatened species.
The largest hot springs in North America are located in Yellowstone. The hot springs are called the Grand Prismatic Springs and they produce more than 4,000 gallons of boiling water a minute.
Yellowstone has more than 1800 archaeological sites.
There are 300 geysers in the park. The most popular is Old Faithful Geyser and it was the first geyser in the park to be named. It erupts like clockwork every 91 minutes.
There are 5 park entrances and 466 miles of roads.
There is more free-roaming wildlife in Yellowstone than there is in the 48 lower states combined.
There are 15 miles of boardwalk.
There are approximately 2000 earthquakes in Yellowstone every year.
There are 92 trailheads that access approximately 1000 miles of trails.
290 waterfalls of at least 15 feet in height flow all year long in the park.
In 2015, Yellowstone National Park had 4,097,710 visits – a park record.
There are 1,000 miles of back-country trails and over 15 miles of boardwalks in the park.
Old Faithful, a world-famous geyser, erupts every 92 minutes on average.
The park had the highest number of visitors, more than 3 million, in 1992. Since then it has hit that many visitors several times, especially in recent years.
Many people use Big Sky as their basecamp for outdoor adventures – including trips into Yellowstone or as a stopping ground before they head north to Glacier National Park.
One F.B.I. agent and one judge work in Yellowstone, and there is one jail within its boundary.
No trip to Yellowstone National Park is complete without stopping by Big Sky, Montana. Located just 50 miles north of Yellowstone’s West Entrance and only 15 miles north of the Park’s northwestern boundary.
In 1988, the forest fires in Yellowstone only damaged the canopy of 26% of the park trees.
Yellowstone contains fine landscapes: the world’s largest collection of geysers, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the Yellowstone River, many waterfalls, and great presence of wildlife.
The lodge pole pine, found in the park, typically lives for 200 years. Of the 80% of the park that is forest, 80% of that is lodge pole pine.
Yellowstone represents many scientific and historical things like the evolutionary history of the earth or the extraordinary existence of a supervolcano.
There are over 199 species of plants that are not native to the park.
Yellowstone is one of the few remaining intact ecosystems in the northern temperate zone of the earth.
The lowest temperature that has been recorded in Yellowstone is -66 degrees Fahrenheit.
Yellowstone has become one of North America’s biggest “collection” of plant and animal species.
There was an F4 tornado in Yellowstone in 1987 that destroyed 15,000 acres of its mature pines.
The park is on the Yellowstone Plateau, at an average elevation of 8,000 feet (2,400 m) above sea level.
It is not uncommon to run into a traffic jam in Yellowstone. Sometimes it is due to road construction, but it is also often due to people watching the wildlife from their vehicles.
About 600 grizzly bears live in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, with more than half living within Yellowstone.
