The United States has 58 national parks throughout the country but none can really compare to the original Yellowstone National Park. Not only was this the first national park ever named but it has a variety of attractions that you don’t want to miss. See why you need to cross Yellowstone National Park off your bucket list before you die.
1. Yellowstone National Park stretches across three states, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, and it covers 3,472 square miles.
2. Gray wolves were extinct in the Yellowstone area for two decades until they were restored in 1995 when they were brought in from Canada.
3. The first evidence of people at Yellowstone National Park is an 11,000-year-old spear that was found.
4. Yellowstone was the first national park, and it was named by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.
5. Yellowstone National Park is home to the biggest collection of geysers in the world, with over 300 of them found in the park.
6. The longest undammed river in the continental U.S. is 692 miles long and it’s called the Yellowstone River.
7. The Steamboat, located in Yellowstone, is the tallest geyser in the world and launches over 300 feet in the air.
8. Old Faithful, perhaps the most well-known geyser, used to erupt every 60 minutes. However, recent earthquake damage disrupted the ‘plumbing’ and the geyser erupts every 88 minutes now.
9. After Yellowstone was named a national park, Americans felt a patriotic love for the land. It quickly became a destination that visitors traveled hundreds of miles to see. After seeing the success of Yellowstone, national parks began to show up all over the world.
10. It has been illegal to hunt in Yellowstone since January 15, 1883, when it was outlawed.
11. A large part of Yellowstone smells like rotten eggs. Why? The hydrogen sulfide gas that’s a part of the volcanoes gives off that particular odor.
12. Dating all the way back to 1889, the oldest building in Yellowstone is the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, which is painted buttercup yellow.
13. This magnificent park experiences 1,000 to 3,000 earthquakes every year.
14. A canvas painting of Yellowstone’s Grand Canyon was purchased by Congress in 1871. This was first painting of a landscape to hang in the lobby of the U.S. Senate.
15. When the National Park was established, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana were not considered states yet.
16. The largest herd of free-roaming bison live in Yellowstone.
Make Yellowstone National Park your next vacation and experience these natural wonders for yourself.
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H/T Factretriever
