Yellowstone is the most famous national park in the world and there are so many things to know about it.
Whether you are visiting soon or simply would love to know more about it, these fun facts about Yellowstone National Park will surprise you.
You will find below several facts about the world’s first national park and its features.
So, are you ready to get started? Let’s go!
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1. Yellowstone was the World’s First National Park
This is quite a well known fact about Yellowstone but it’s worth mentioning it again.
Not only was Yellowstone the first national park in America but it was the first in the world.
It was established by an act of congress signed by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.
At the time, nobody really knew what being a national park would actually mean but the goal at the time was to protect that unique environment and sure, things were a bit rocky at the start, the wildlife wasn’t exactly protected as it should have been but eventually, it got there!
2. Yellowstone is home to half of the geysers in the entire world
The most famous geyser in Yellowstone is Old Faithful. It’s located in the upper geyser basin but there are also other geyser basins in the park.
Altogether, Yellowstone is home to 500 geysers which is half of the total number of geysers in the entire world!
3. Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest hot spring in the United States
Grand Prismatic is the most colorful (and arguably beautiful) hot spring in Yellowstone but it’s also the largest in the whole of the United States.
At a world scale, it’s the 3rd largest on the planet, the other two bigger ones being located in New Zealand.
4. Yellowstone is the only place in the USA where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times.
Bison can be found in several places in the United States but Yellowstone is the only place where they’ve always lived.
This was also the point of making this area a national park, to preserve what is the most important herd of bison in the US.
You will see them everywhere in Yellowstone but they are particularly common in the Lamar Valley.
5. Wolves were reintroduced in 1995
Sadly, wolves were hunted to extinction when Yellowstone became a national park.
The last killing took place in 1926 and completely eradicated the wolf species in Yellowstone.
This had a disastrous impact on the rest of the wildlife and the flora in the park.
For this reason, the NPS decided to reintroduce wolves in Yellowstone. After years of studies, the wolves were reintroduced in 1995.
It took a long time for this to become a success but it now has.
6. The biscuits in the Biscuit Basin were destroyed by a earthquake
The biscuit basin was named as such because of the biscuit-shaped formations in the sapphire pool.
In 1959, there was an earthquake which caused a series of geyser eruptions in that pool.
These eruptions destroyed the biscuits so you can’t see them now but the name remained the same.
7. The Continental Divide runs through Yellowstone
The waters of all the rivers in the Americas end up flowing in either the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean.
There is a ‘line’ that divides the continent into two. If the river is located on the west side, the water will eventually flow into the Pacific Ocean.
If it’s located on the East side, it will go to the Atlantic Ocean.
This ‘line’ goes through Yellowstone and it’s called the Continental Divide.
8. The first visitors of the park would visit Yellowstone on a four-horse, 11-passenger coaches called “Yellowstone wagons”
There were no cars when Yellowstone first opened to the public. The early visitors would arrive in West Yellowstone by train and then visit the park in horse-drawn carriages called Yellowstone wagons.
This would take days (obviously) and was a very expensive vacation.
Cars were allowed in the park in 1915 and became the main way of transport in the park by 1916.
9. Most of Yellowstone is in Wyoming, but parts of it are in Montana and Idaho
Geographically speaking, Yellowstone is at 96% in Wyoming but 3% of the park is actually located in Montana and 1% in Idaho.
Out of the 5 entrances, 3 of them are located in Montana and 2 of them in Wyoming.
10. Yellowstone became a national park before Wyoming joined the Union
This is quite a funny fact about Yellowstone because in a way, most of us would expect to have a national park in a nation but Yellowstone actually became a national park in 1872 whereas Wyoming only became part of the Union in 1890, which is 18 years later!
11. The world’s tallest active geyser is in Yellowstone and it’s not Old Faithful
The Steamboat geyser is actually the tallest in Yellowstone and the tallest active geyser in the world.
Water can go as high as 300 feet (91 m) which is truly impressive!
Unfortunately, there is no way to predict when the steamboat geyser is going to erupt. It’s not reliable at all but eruptions have become more frequent since 2018 so who knows, you might be lucky when you visit!
I hope you found these fun facts interesting. If you want to learn more about Yellowstone, don’t hesitate to check out my other articles.
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