Yellowstone National Park: The Oldest National Park In The World
Happy Friday everybody and welcome back to the blog! Last week, I told you everything about the places I visited in Utah, and slowly the USA road trip series is coming to an end. But before it does, there are still blog posts waiting for you, and this week it’s all about Yellowstone National Park.
While getting to Yellowstone from Utah, I had to make a few stops along the way, but in those places in Montana and Idaho I did not explore much, I was really just staying overnight. I spent 3 days in Yellowstone, but you could easily spend a week or more there, so I suggest you plan lots of time there.
But now, let’s start by telling you a bit about Yellowstone National Park. On March 1st, 1872, making it the oldest national park in the world. It is located mostly in Wyoming and partially in Idaho and Montana. It is most famous for the Grand Prismatic spring, all its geysers and lots of wildlife. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. Honestly, Yellowstone is insanely huge, and there are endless places to discover. I wanted to visit the most famous spots, then I changed my mind and wanted to explore some of the lesser-known places too, but when I started stopping at places that weren’t even on the map, I had lost and realized it’s impossible to explore everything this park has to offer.
As I was staying close to West Yellowstone, I entered the national park through the West Entrance, and within minutes I had my first wildlife encounter. Just next to the main road was a bison minding its own business. Animal encounters in Yellowstone can be dangerous, that’s why I suggest you actually listen to the national park radio station, as they explain very well how much distance to keep to each animal and how to act during an encounter. But before talking about the incredible landscapes I saw during my visit, let’s start with a funny observation I made:
Do you know the 3 main reasons for traffic jam in Yellowstone?
Lots of roads are under construction. If you ever visited and saw how many people visit the park everyday, you’ll completely understand why construction is necessary.
You are leaving the park around 5-6 PM with millions of other people. Due to the sunset and lots of people stying outside the park, as campsites are always full and pretty expensive, leaving the park can take you longer than you expect.
There’s wildlife on the road. Yes, that warning you can hear on the Yellowstone radio is actually true and on my adventures through the park I saw various types of wildlife, but seeing this bison herd roaming the fields in the middle of the park just next to the main road that leads through the park was surely the most impressive encounter. Around 50 cars stopped around them to take pictures and soon the queue was a few miles long! I was also able to spot single bison roaming or relaxing around. Also, I was bale to encounter a female moose just next to Yellowstone Lake. The female moose was walking just a few metres from one of the trails, and was soon observed by at least 20 people. It was amazing to see how unimpressed the animals behaved towards humans and to see they were not at all afraid.
Honestly, if I were to talk to you about everything I saw in Yellowstone, I might still be talking in 2020, That’s why I’ll show you the places that fascinated me the most. Very high on the list is obviously the Grand Prismatic Spring. When people think of Yellowstone National Park, most of the time, the huge orange, red, yellow, green and blue hot spring comes to their mind. It is the largest hot spring in the US, and in third place worldwide. There are different places you can take a look at the Grand Prismatic Spring, for example, there’s a pathway around it, or you can hike to the overlook. I swear the colours of the Grand Prismatic Spring are even more vibrant in real life, and those pictures do not do justice! It is a completely surreal place!
Now, let’s talk about Old Faithful. This may be the most famous geyser ever. It was named nearly 150 years ago, and is nowadays one of the hotspots of the national park – I can only suggest you do not visit during lunchtime, as I’ve never seen crowds like this before! Also, the geyser is very active and erupts every 45 minutes to 2 hours. Old Faithful is surrounded by lots of parking areas as it’s one of the few places inside the park with phone connection, an inn, a post office, some lodges and shops. This area is also called the Old Faithful History District. I decided to buy my souvenirs there, and it felt a bit like ‘returning to civilization’.
Another main spot is Yellowstone Lake, which I saw mostly from West Thumb, as mentioned above, this is where I encountered a friendly female moose, that was not shy at all and got really close to the visitors. The lake is the largest body of water in the national park, which actually has many lakes and rivers. It is the largest lake above 2,100 m, and this makes it even more surprising that in winter most of it is covered in nearly one-metre thick ice. West Thumb is once more a geothermal area – is any place in Yellowstone not? – and the geyser basin just metres from the lake are insanely beautiful.
I know, at this point you might think: well, we got it, there are geysers and hot springs, but don’t they all look the same at some point? Well, no. Every geyser basin was somehow unique, some showed off the most insanely blue colours, others were yellow, again others looked poisonous with their greens. I don’t think you can get bored with these shades.
A few weeks back, I told you about how my dream came true by visiting the Grand Canyon in Arizona, well in Yellowstone you can find one too: the Yellowstone Canyon, also called the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Of course, it can’t compare to the one in Arizona, but this one is special too. There’s actually a river flowing through it, the colours are entirely different to the Arizona one, and I can only suggest you get to a lookout to take a look at Lower Falls or Tower Fall.
But the highlight of my visit was undoubtedly encountering the bison herd on my way back. There are no bison in Europe, at least not where I live and actually seeing such a massive herd with my own eyes was surreal. But those animals are dangerous, too, they’ve already killed people, and you should always keep in mind that you are VISITING their home, so be respectful, mind a distance and don’t forget to appreciate what majestic animals you get to see.
Other main highlights were surely the Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geysir, Steamboat Geyser (pay attention, that one is VERY ACTIVE!), Artists’ Paintpots, Black Sand Basin and Biscuit Basin (I mean, just look at those names!) and Mud Volcano (that one is smelly!). But honestly, I simply suggest you get in your car, drive around and make as many stops as possible! The places with the weirdest names were complete surprises, and you should not decide to only stop at the most famous sites. They are VERY overcrowded, and sometimes the smaller, lesser-known basins or hot springs are impressive as well! Just take a look at all these pictures:
I hope you liked this blogpost about Yellowstone National Park, I am still utterly amazed I got to see such a historical and surreal place with my own eyes, and lots of my experiences there still feel like a dream. This place is just like another planet, and I can only highlight how much I suggest you go visit by yourself! Also, I hope to see you next week back at the blog, for one final blog post about the USA road trip – this time, it’ll be all about my favourite city!
