Our First National Park

Which was our first national park?  Yosemite?  Grand Canyon?  Yellowstone?

Answer:  It was Yellowstone, established in 1872.  An interesting note is that while it took decades to establish what is now Grand Tetons National Park, Yellowstone became a park in two years.  Yellowstone was not only the first national park in the United States, it was the first national park in the world.  It is one of my favorite National Parks--the others being Acadia and Grand Canyon.

Yellowstone Falls at the head of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Set in the middle of a caldera, Yellowstone throbs with power from our living earth.  Its geysers, mud pots, fumaroles, and hot pools all attest to a volcanic origin.  At Mud Volcano, the rotten egg smell of sulfur permeates the air, and you can feel the roiling of the earth beneath your feet.  Hot air roars through holes in the ground, and rising gas bubbles cause mud pots and pools to churn like murky cauldrons--some almost as acidic as car battery acid.  Yellowstone is a super-volcano that could and probably will erupt again.  But as my former colleagues at the U.S. Geological Survey would tell you, there are many signs of an imminent volcanic eruption.  Your visit won't be interrupted unexpectedly by a magmatic cataclysm.

One of the deep beautiful turquoise

hot pools in the Old Faithful area.

Hot pools and other thermal features can be found
along the shore of Lake Yellowstone at West Thumb.

Storm clouds gather over the Hayden Valley.

The Yellowstone River meanders through.

Beautiful Lamar Valley.

The earth steams to life near the

Norris Geyser Basin.

Aside from its famous thermal areas, Yellowstone boasts lovely valleys where bison, pronghorn, deer and elk graze alongside cold meandering streams and rivers.  During our visit, we enjoyed a dramatic play of sun, rain, and storm clouds over the soft, rounded hills of the Hayden Valley.  We were surprised to see a tornado begin to form, reaching down to the ground from the angry darkness of western storm clouds hanging heavily over the Yellowstone River.  It quickly dissipated, though, and the storm moved off, grumbling.

Yellowstone Lake reflects grandeur of the surrounding mountains.  Its shoreline reveals some thermal features, especially at West Thumb.  There a boardwalk takes you past clear teal and robin's egg blue pools and springs where we counted 32 species of wildflowers including azure-blue gentians and pink sky-rockets.

Just when you think Yellowstone couldn't possibly offer anything more amazing, you find the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  I'd forgotten just how colorful the canyon is with its yellow, red, pink, green, and gray tones from various minerals deposited along its length.  A pleasant trail took us along the south rim to incredible views of both the canyon and its magnificent falls.  Along the way, I breathed deeply the tangy scent of pines and spruce. 

We didn't see any of the famous grizzlies, however, we savored a rare gift of nature while watching a mother black bear amble along the Lamar Valley area with her cub.  This reminded us that while Yellowstone is beautiful, she is still full of danger.  Bears do and have attacked people here, sometimes even killing them.  Bison, however, injure more people in the park than any other animal.  The day we left, a young woman fell to her death when she hiked off trail along the north rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  The ground gave way beneath her.  And there are numerous stories of visitors getting injured or killed when they walked off trail in thermal areas or ventured off of boardwalks.  Imagine falling into a pool of boiling water!  Many visitors have and most have not survived.  The park abounds with various warnings--not to approach wildlife, to stay on marked trails, and to stay off cliff edges.  We all would be wise and maybe live a little longer if we took these warnings to heart.

Exploring wild areas comes with risk and danger.  But if that exploration is done with care, good sense, and strict adherence to Park Service rules, regulations, and signage, one can leave a splendid park like Yellowstone with vivid memories of its raw beauty and uniqueness.