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Lower Falls of Upper Falls of Grizzly & |
Yellowstone National Park was the first National park, set aside for Federal protection in 1872 by Ulysses S. Grant. The park is located in the northwest corner of Wyoming and spills into southeastern Idaho and southwestern Montana. Encompassing 2.2 million acres, it is larger than Road Island and Deleware combined. The park sees approximately 3 million visitor per year with most of these between May and September. Additional statistics for the park can be found here.
On July 22nd, 1988, a woodcutter carelessly (some say purposefully) dropped a lit cigarette in the Targhee National Forest, some 200 yards outside the souther border of Yellowstone National Park. By the next day, the fire had grown to 500 acres and would quickly worsen. Modern estimates vary from just under 800,000 acres to nearly 1,000,000 acres burned during the fires of 1988. Whatever the final tally, it has left deep scars that are still visible throughout the park.
The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone The upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone are both spectacular in their own rights. The Lower Falls, at 309 feet, are higher than Niagara Falls (a mere 182 feet). The photo below shows the view of the falls with the wooden walkway to Red Rock in the foreground. The 1-mile walk down the Red Rock path begins at the Lookout Point parking lot and twists and turns down the precarious path finally flattening into a nicely built wooden pathway that ends at an observation point that is breathtaking. Ospreys gliding gracefully across the sky combined with the sapphire blue color of the sky will reaffirm your desire to return to Yellowstone again.
One of the biggest attractions in Yellowstone is the geysers. Although I appreciate the geologic significance of having the world's largest concentration of thermal activity, eventually the smell of sulpher and the interval between eruptions leaves me feeling a bit apathetic and a little nauseous. I have include a couple of geyser photographs even though I did not spend a significant amount of time setting up or photographing them.
Yellowstone National Park and June 16th, 2005 The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Montana is a great place to see and learn about these amazing animals. The wolves were in the facility were all unplanned pups from another facility and were adopted by the facility. The bears were rescued from Montana, Alaska, and Canada and are rotated throughout the week.
Last Update: July 8, 2006 Copyright © Rich Adams 2005 |
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