Yellowstone National Park in USA, Wyoming

Introduction :
The Yellowstone National Park is located in between 3 states in the U.S.A with the Wyoming State and Montana taking up most of it and also in the borders of Idaho state. The Yellowstone Park was widely believed to be the first ever national park in the world and is uniquely known for its geothermal features and unique sceneries around the park which is found no where else in the world. The Yellowstone National Park measures 8983 square km in area and is attractions to over 4 million tourists each year. It is also one of the first inscribed natural heritage sites by the UNESCO in 1978.

The canyon area around Yellowstone
Image attribution to clintmelander @ Flickr

Bisons crowding around at a hot spring
Image attribution to Maveric149 @ Wiki

The Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest hot spring in USA
Image attribution to ochinko @ Flickr

Some attractions :
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone – First large canyon from the Yellowstone River downstream and measures 38 km long and 366m deep with an average of 1.2 km wide.

Grand Prismatic Spring – Largest hot spring in U.S.A and third largest in the world, located in the Midway Geyser Basin during the Old Faithful tour.

Old Faithful – Predictable eruptions almost every 91 minutes located in the Wyoming area and one of the most popular attractions in Yellowstone National Park.

Lamar Valley – A river in the Yellowstone Park that is 48 km long and great for wildlife viewing

Yellow stone lake – At 2376 metres above sea level, it is one of the highest altitude lake in North America.

Steam at one of the Geyser basins
Image attribution to vgunda @ Flickr

The Yellowstone Lake on a good bright day
Image attribution to widnr @ Flickr

Landscape of the Lamar Valley
Image attribution to naturegal @ Flickr

History :
The first inhabitants of Yellowstone existed around 11,000 years ago where they began hunting and fishing around the region. Yellowstone got its name from the Yellowstone River which was named by the French-Canadian woodsman nearb towards the end of the 18th century. The region was declared a national park in as early as 1872 by President Ulysses S. Grant and was believed to be the first national park established in the world.

Predictable eruptions at the Old Faithful

Sulphur around the springs at the Yellowstone National Park
Image attribution to ncholasngkw @ Flickr

Getting there :
The nearest international airport to the Yellowstone National Park is the Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) followed by a 5 hour drive. Another alternative would be taking a domestic flight into the Jackson Hole Airport (JAC) which is the principal airport serving the Yellowstone National Park and served by United and Delta airlines all year round.