Yellowstone National Park- a Wonderland of Nature

Yellowstone is one of the most visited National Parks in the country. With all these visitors is it really worth the trip? By all means -yes!
When I first visited Yellowstone National Park it was on our last leg of a three and a half week road trip. It was to be the highlight of our trip.
I remembered the wild fires of 1988 and the devastation they had caused inside the park. It had been heart breaking and although the destruction was still visible fourteen years later, it could not distract from the beauty of the park.

One of the first attractions we visited was of course Old Faithful. This is maybe the best known geyser within the park, shooting water and steam 184 feet into the air. It is also the most predictable, erupting about every eighty minutes. Old Faithful is situated in the Upper Geyser Basin. A boardwalk allowed us a to walk the entire area, which displays more geysers and awesome hot pools, unbelievable in clarity and color.

We got the main attractions out of the way and then explored lesser visited areas. One morning we were traveling on Grand Loop and turned off on one of the side roads. We parked our vehicle at a small geyser that had just erupted. The eruption lasted fifteen minutes and was almost more awe-inspiring than Old Faithful or Grand Geyser because we were so close to it and away from all the tourists.This was truly a little gem that many visitors will not get to see.

Another day we hiked to Shoshone Lake, which is the largest back country lake in the lower 48. An easy hike which let us through moose country. A most serene hike since we only met another couple and that was on our way out. In such a busy and well visited park it is good to know that there are still areas that one can get away from everything and find peace.

Besides visiting the geyser basins, the park is well known for its abundance in wildlife, and my husband and I were fortunate enough to come across buffalo, elk and bear.
But besides admiring the beauty of the park, the park itself serves as a learning tool, whether one is interested in the geology of the area, which was millions of years in the making, or the reintroduction of gray wolves into the area and it’s effect on the eco- system.

Yellowstone is a must see and I have been fortunate to visit the park three more times since.

Sources:
www.yellowstoneparknet.com/geotherm
www.yellowstone.net


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