Yellowstone Facts

Yellowstone National Park

Did you know that Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872 as the first national park in the United States?  Here are some more amazing fun facts about this breathtaking natural wonderland.

• Yellowstone is home to more than 10,000 hot springs and two-thirds of all of the geysers in the world, highlighted by its awe-inspiring rock formations and the famed geyser, “Old Faithful”.

• The Tower Roosevelt area is known for its sparkling streams teeming with trout and rolling hills covered with sagebrush, aspen trees and evergreens.
• Tower Fall, with its 132-foot drop, framed by eroded volcanic pinnacles, has inspired many artists over the years.
• The dramatic Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, with its turbulent river, is 20 miles of twisting, sheer rock cliffs carved 1200 feet deep.
• At Specimen Ridge you can view the largest concentration of petrified trees in the world providing a window into the past when plants and climate were much different than today.
• Mammoth Hot Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine, created thousands of years ago.
• See the Mud Volcano, with its rhythmic belching of steam and flashing tongue of water. The caldron exploded onto the landscape in 1948, blowing trees out by their roots and covering the surrounding forest with mud.
• The thrilling eruptions of the legendary “Old Faithful” shoot up into the air approximately every 90 minutes as high as 184 feet.