Spanning an area of 3,468 square miles in the northwest corner of Wyoming with small bits extending into Montana and Idaho, YNP was the first National Park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first National Park in the world. It is 63 miles long, north to south, and 54 miles wide.
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| LeHardy Rapids |
YNP is the centerpiece of the 20-million-acre Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, a region that includes Grand Teton National Park, adjacent National Forests and expansive wilderness areas in those forests.
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| Upper Yellowstone Falls |
The ecosystem is the largest remaining continuous stretch of mostly undeveloped pristine land in the contiguous United States, considered the world's largest intact ecosystem in the northern temperate zone. With the successful Wolf reintroduction program, which began in the 1990s, virtually all the original faunal species known to inhabit the region when white explorers first entered the area can be found there.
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| Rosehip |
A varied landscape comprising lakes, canyons, rivers and mountain ranges, YNP sits on the Yellowstone Plateau, at an average elevation of 8,000 feet. The plateau is bounded on nearly all sides by mountain ranges of the Middle Rocky Mountains, which range from 9,000 to 11,000 feet. The most prominent summit on the Yellowstone Plateau is Mount Washburn at 10,243 feet.
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| Trumpeter Swans in the Yellowstone River |
YNP contains the headwaters of the Yellowstone River, from which it takes its name. Near the end of the 18th century, French trappers named the river Roche Jaune, a translation of the Hidatsa name Mi tsi a-da-zi ("Yellow Rock River") which refers to the yellow rocks seen in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Later, American trappers rendered the French name in English as "Yellow Stone."
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| Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone |
The Continental Divide runs diagonally through the southwestern part of the Park. As a result, the waters of the Snake River flow to the Pacific Ocean, while those of the Yellowstone find their way to the Gulf of Mexico.
Rivers and lakes cover five percent of the land area, with the largest water body being Yellowstone Lake, which has an area of 136 square miles, is up to 400 feet deep and has 110 miles of shoreline. At an elevation of 7,733 feet, Yellowstone Lake is the largest high-elevation lake in North America.
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| Yellowstone Lake |
The Park contains 290 waterfalls of at least 15 feet ...
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| Lewis and Moose Falls |
... the highest is the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River at 308 feet ...
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| Lower Yellowstone Falls |
Three deep canyons are located in YNP, cut through the volcanic tuff of the Yellowstone Plateau by rivers over the last 640,000 years. The Lewis River flows through Lewis Canyon in the south, and the Yellowstone River has carved two colorful canyons, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone in its journey north.
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| Lewis Canyon |
Forests comprise 80 percent of the land area of the Park; most of the rest is grassland. YNP has one of the world's largest petrified forests.
More than 1,700 species of trees and plants are native to YNP and another 170 species are are non-native. Of the eight conifer tree species documented, Lodgepole Pine forests cover 80 percent of the total forested areas. Aspen and willows are the most common species of deciduous trees. The aspen forests have declined significantly since the early 20th century, but scientists attribute recent recovery of the aspen to the reintroduction of Wolves which has changed the grazing habits of local Elk.
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| Bison grazing by a small stand of trees; in older times, Elk would have eaten those trees |
YNP is widely considered to be the finest megafauna wildlife habitat in the lower 48 states. There are almost 60 species of mammals in the park, including the Rocky Mountain Wolf, Coyote, Canadian Lynx, Mountain Lion, American Bison, Rocky Mountain Elk, Mule and White-tailed Deer, Pronghorn, Mountain Goat, Bighorn Sheep and Black and Grizzly/Brown Bears.
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| Bison crossing the Yellowstone River |
Ironically, there are several areas in the Park named "Blacktail," named in error by pioneers who thought the Mule Deer were Black-tailed Deer. Eighteen species of fish live in YNP, including Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout. Yellowstone is also home to seven species of reptiles, most of which you never see.
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| A Differential Grasshopper near Blacktail Ponds |
Almost half of the 311 species of birds that visit the Park nest there.
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| Canada Jay in Hayden Valley |
And, YNP has abundant raptors. I have seen Swainson's Hawks, Osprey, Bald and Golden Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks and Northern Harriers.
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| Juvenile Northern Harriers in Lamar Valley |
There were once up to 60 million Bison throughout North America and Yellowstone remains one of their last strongholds, with about 3,000 animals. Populations were as low as 50 in 1902 and have gotten as high as almost 5,000. The YNP Bison herd is the largest public herd of American Bison in the United States and one of only four free roaming and genetically pure herds on public lands in North America.
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| American Bison herd |
Population figures for elk are in excess of 30,000, the largest population of any large mammal species in Yellowstone, but they are not seen as often as the Bison because they use more forested regions to evade predation. The northern herd migrates west into southwestern Montana in the winter. The southern herd migrates southward, and the majority of these elk winter on the National Elk Refuge, immediately southeast of Grand Teton National Park. The southern herd migration is the largest mammalian migration remaining in the U.S. outside of Alaska.
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| This is the only Elk we saw |
I will talk about Bears and Wolves in my next post.
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| Scott at Moose Falls |
The human history of Yellowstone National Park began at least 11,000 years ago when Native Americans began to hunt and fish in the region.
These Paleo-Indians of the Clovis culture, used the significant amounts of obsidian found in the park to make cutting tools and weapons.
Arrowheads made of Yellowstone obsidian have been found as far away as the Mississippi Valley, indicating that a regular obsidian trade existed between local tribes and tribes farther east.
By the time white explorers first entered the region during the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805, they encountered the Nez Perce, Crow and Shoshone.
As I mentioned in my Grand Teton post, John Colter was an early explorer. He traveled through a portion of what later became the Park during the winter of 1807-1808, where he observed at least one geothermal area in the northeastern section of the park. He described a place of "fire and brimstone." But, because he was recovering from wounds he suffered in a battle with members of the Crow and Blackfoot tribes in 1809, most people dismissed his accounts as delirium. Still, the supposedly mystical place was nicknamed "Colter's Hell."
Over the next 40 years, numerous reports from mountain men and trappers told of boiling mud, steaming rivers and petrified trees, yet most of these reports were believed at the time to be myth!
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| The "mythical" Excelsior Glacier Crater |
After an 1856 exploration, mountain man Jim Bridger reported observing boiling springs, spouting water and a mountain of glass and yellow rock. These reports were largely ignored because Bridger was a known "spinner of yarns."
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| Lewis River |
The first detailed expedition to the area was the Cook-Folsom-Peterson Expedition of 1869, which consisted of three privately funded explorers who spent about a month exploring the region, collecting specimens and naming sites of interest. In the early 1870s, a number of explorers and local government officials began suggesting that the area be set aside as a public park. Some imagined a wilderness park and some a resort.
In 1871, the Hayden Geological Survey compiled a comprehensive report, including large-format photos by William Henry Jackson and paintings by Thomas Moran.
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| Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone by Thomas Moran |
The report helped to convince Congress. On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the law that created Yellowstone National Park. In 1873, Congress authorized and funded a survey to find a wagon route to the Park from the south.
There was considerable local opposition to YNP during its early years. Some of the locals feared that the regional economy would be damaged by federal prohibitions against resource development or settlement within Park boundaries' Local entrepreneurs advocated reducing the size of the Park so that mining, hunting and logging activities could be developed.
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| Yellowstone Arch, 2014 |
Management and control of the Park originally fell to the United States Department of the Interior. However, the U.S. Army was eventually commissioned to oversee Park management between 1886 and 1916 (that's why Park service uniforms resemble early U.S. Army duds). In 1917, administration transferred to the newly formed National Park Service.
Before formation of the NPS, the Park received no funds for salaries or protection. Poaching of Bison, Deer, Elk and Pronghorn for hides was rampant.
The Northern Pacific Railroad built a train station in Livingston, Montana, connecting to the northern entrance in the early 1880s, which helped to increase visitation from 300 in 1872 to 5,000 in 1883. A line was also extended from Livingston to Gardiner, Montana, where passengers switched to stagecoach or horseback. Visitors in these early years faced poor roads and extremely limited services.
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| Early tour; Photo: Yellowstone Park Lodges |
By 1908 visitation increased enough to attract a Union Pacific Railroad connection to West Yellowstone, although rail visitation fell off considerably by World War II and ceased around the 1960s. Much of the railroad line was later converted to nature trails.
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| West Yellowstone railroad bridge; Photo: Museum of of the Yellowstone |
During the 1870s and 1880s, Native American tribes were effectively excluded from YNP. Less than a half-dozen tribes had made seasonal use of the Yellowstone area and the only year-round residents were small bands of Eastern Shoshone known as "Sheepeaters." They left the area under the assurances of a treaty negotiated in 1868, under which they ceded their lands but retained the right to hunt in Yellowstone. The United States never ratified the treaty and refused to recognize the claims of the Sheepeaters or any other tribe that had used Yellowstone.
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| Chief Joseph; Wikipedia Commons |
The Nez Perce band under Chief Joseph, numbering about 750 people, passed through YNP in August 1877 while being pursued by the U.S. Army after the Battle of the Big Hole. Some of the Nez Perce were friendly with people they encountered in the Park; some were not. Nine visitors were briefly taken captive and, despite Joseph ordering that no one be harmed, two were killed and several wounded.
In 1879, a fort was built to prevent Native Americans from entering YNP.
Ongoing poaching and destruction of natural resources continued unabated until the U.S. Army arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs in 1886 and built Camp Sheridan, which was later renamed Fort Yellowstone.
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| Fort Yellowstone; Photo: NPS |
The Park Protection Act of 1894 saved the Park and the Lacey Act of 1900 provided legal support for the officials prosecuting poachers. With the funding and manpower necessary to keep a diligent watch, the Army developed policies and regulations that permitted public access while protecting Park wildlife and natural resources. When the NPS was created in 1916, many of the management principles developed by the Army were adopted.
By 1915, more than 1,000 automobiles per year were entering YNP, resulting in conflicts with horses and horse-drawn transportation. Horse travel on roads was eventually prohibited.
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| Wildlife use the roads, too, 2013 |
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a New Deal relief agency for young men, played a major role between 1933 and 1942 in developing Yellowstone facilities. CCC projects included reforestation, road construction, campground development, trail construction, fire hazard reduction and fire-fighting work. During World War II, tourist travel fell sharply, staffing was cut and many facilities fell into disrepair. By the 1950s, visitation increased tremendously in YNP and other National Parks.
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| CCC, 1938; Photo: NPS |
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| Old Faithful Lodge |
Among the most popular National Parks, YNP has an annual visitation of 3.5 million people. At peak summer levels, 3,700 employees work for YNP concessionaires, which manage nine hotels and lodges, gas stations, stores and 12 campgrounds. About 800 employees work either permanently or seasonally for the National Park Service.
The National Park Service maintains nine Visitor Centers and Museums. Historic structures include National Historical Landmarks such as the Old Faithful Inn built from 1903 to 1904 and the entire Fort Yellowstone/Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District.
The Park's 310 miles of roads are laid out in a figure-eight pattern that leads to many major features. From early November to mid-April, all roads except the one from Gardiner, Montana, through Lamar Valley to Cooke City, Montana, are closed to wheeled vehicles, but some park roads remain closed until mid-May.
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| Yellowstone National Park |
In the winter, concessionaires operate guided snowmobile and snow coach tours, with access based on quotas established by the National Park Service. Major road construction, including multi-year closure of Tower Road, makes navigation a bit tricky, requiring you to more carefully plan your day. There are 1,100 miles of hiking trails available.
Normally, after all the times Caty and I have been to Yellowstone, we just concentrate on wildlife, leaving the super-crowded geothermals areas to the tourists (as if we aren't tourists; although at just a day's drive away, we think of ourselves as locals). But, Scott had not been to YNP for years, so this was a more inclusive trip. And, that's a good thing because the thermals are very impressive. So, let's start there.
Thermals
