6. Yellowstone National Park
Posted by Emilie Taylor on
National Park #6 today is a special one, this is the world's first national park! Do you know what it is? Yellowstone! Founded as the first National park in history March 1st of 1872.
This park is shared between 3 states but for my part with the states theme I stuck with Wyoming which claims 96% of the park with 3% in Montana and 1% in Idaho.
The park is big! It’s in the top 10 US Parks for land coverage. Alaska is taking the crown here with biggest parks but we'll save that another day! For a helpful comparison just know Yellowstone is bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined.
One of the main attractions at this park is Old Faithful, the highly predictable cone geyser. The craziest fact I learned about it was that it was once used for washing laundry. Apparently Linen and Cotton cloths were uninjured but Woolen cloth was torn to shreds. Please don’t try that in person. Anyway the park has a large network of geothermal areas which are the cause of the many geysers, boiling mud pots, and of course the vivid colored geyser basins. Like what I choose to paint! The Grand Prismatic Spring. The bright colors in the spring are the result of microbial mats of thermophilic bacteria around the edges of the mineral-rich water. Basically a colony of microscopic organisms and the colors are affected by the current amount of chlorophyll to carotenoids. The science still goes a little over my head but I like to think God created stuff like that just to wow us. Grand Prismatic holds the United States record of largest Hot Spring and the world's 3rd largest.
Okay So I told you in the last video that this was a big Bison park but it’s straight up the largest bison herd in the US. Yellowstone’s Bison population ranges from 3 to 6000 that are allowed to roam relatively freely over land. Which is a big deal for a population that was on the brink of extinction just over a century ago. I also just learned a male/ bull can weigh up to 2000 pounds which is way more than that of a Yellowstone grizzly at around 600lbs. Apparently Grizzlies up in Alaska can weigh double that with all that salmon though. Anyway it’s a Good thing Bison are herbivores but both the bison and elk are known to charge so enjoying from a distance is always recommended. Yellowstone Park also provides a home to the largest concentration of mammals in the lower 48 states. From big bears, cougars and wolves, to badgers, weasels and the oh so cute river otters. It’s such an important park I can’t believe I haven’t visited yet.
I’m enjoying building this park loving community so Let me know your favorite Yellowstone sights or memories in the comments cause I’m gonna need recommendations for when I finally go!
Yellowstone Print here
