10 Interesting Facts about Yellowstone National Park

These following facts about Yellowstone National Park might make you want to visit this park once. If you really love to travel around the world and have enough time for it, then visiting Yellowstone National Park will be one of the most interesting trips to do. Yellowstone National Park is located primarily in the U.S state of Wyoming and was established by the U.S Congress. Widely held to be the first national park in the world, Yellowstone National Park is also known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser. To get to know more about this park, below are some other facts about Yellowstone National Park you may like.

Facts about Yellowstone National Park 1: Native American

Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years. The region was bypassed during the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the early 19th century. Aside from visits by mountain men during the early-to-mid-19th century, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s.

Facts about Yellowstone National Park 2: Area

Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468.4 square miles, comprising lakes, canyons, rivers and mountain range. Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-altitude lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano on the continent.

Facts about Yellowstone National Park 3: Hundred Species of Animals

Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles have been documented, including several that are either endangered and threatened. The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants.

Facts about Yellowstone National Park 4: History

The park is located at the headwaters of the Yellowstone River, from which it takes its historical name. Near the end of the 18th century, French trappers named the river “Roche Jaune”, which is probably a translation of the Minnetaree name “Mi tsi a-da-zi” (Rock Yellow River). Later, American trappers rendered the French name in English as “Yellow Stone”.

Facts about Yellowstone National Park 5: Park Creation

In 1871, eleven years after his failed first effort, Ferdinand V. Hayden, an American geologist who convinced the government to create the park, was finally able to make another attempt to explore the region. With government sponsorship, Hayden returned to Yellowstone region with a second, larger expedition, the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871.

Facts about Yellowstone National Park 6: Research Center

The Heritage and Research Center is located at Gardiner, Montana, near the north entrance to the park. The center is home to the Yellowstone National Park’s museum collection, archives, research library, historian, archeology lab, and herbarium.

Facts about Yellowstone National Park 7: Old Faithful Geyser

The most famous geyser in the park, and perhaps the world, is Old Faithful Geyser, located in Upper Geyser Basin. Castle Geyser, Lion Geyser and Beehive Geyser are in the same basin. The park contains the largest active geyser in the world— Steamboat Geyser in the Norris Geyser Basin.

Facts about Yellowstone National Park 8: Flora

Over 1,700 species of trees and other vascular plants are native to the park. Another 170 species are considered to be exotic species and are non-native.

Facts about Yellowstone National Park 9: Fauna

Yellowstone 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 gray wolf, the threatened lynx and grizzly bears.

Facts about Yellowstone National Park 10: Recreation

Yellowstone ranks among the most popular national parks in the United States. Since the mid-1960s, at least 2 million tourists have visited the park almost every year. In 2010, a record number of visitors came to the park in July: 975,000. July is the busiest month for Yellowstone National Park.

Those facts about Yellowstone National Park should hopefully be one of your reasons to visit the park. One of the most beautiful things in the park is its scenery. Hope those Yellowstone National Park facts would be really interesting for you to read.