The National Park System is commonly called “America’s Best Idea”, and Yellowstone National Park is the crown jewel of the system. On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act, establishing the world’s first national park. As the first national park, Yellowstone serves as the birthplace of an idea that has spread all across the world, with parks now established in more than 100 countries.
“The Yellowstone Park is something absolutely unique in the world, so far as I know…The scheme of its preservation is noteworthy in its essential democracy… This Park was created, and is now administered, for the benefit and enjoyment of the people… The only way that the people as a whole can secure to themselves and their children the enjoyment in perpetuity of what the Yellowstone Park has to give is by assuming the ownership in the name of the nation and by jealously safeguarding and preserving the scenery, the forests, and the wild creatures.”
President Theodore Roosevelt, 1903
Yellowstone preserves 3,500 square miles of pristine wilderness, an area larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. The park’s immense size is at least partially due to how little was known about Yellowstone in 1872. The early expeditions discovered a plethora of natural wonders, but their exploration was limited to areas around the Yellowstone River. Speculating on the presence of undiscovered natural wonders, Congress set aside a humongous section of land, hoping to capture everything of significance within Yellowstone’s boundaries.
Yellowstone is home to more than 10,000 active hydrothermal features, including half of the world’s active geysers. Even if you’ve never been to Yellowstone, odds are you’ve heard of Old Faithful. The park’s most famous geyser has become synonymous with Yellowstone, yet I’m not quite sure why. Don’t get me wrong, Old Faithful is certainly cool, but in comparison to the other natural wonders spread throughout Yellowstone, it almost seems pedestrian. That may seem like a controversial opinion, but I’m confident there’s plenty of others who share the sentiment.
For one thing, the area around Old Faithful is the theme park version of Yellowstone. Surrounding the geyser are hotels, gift shops, and massive parking lots. Old Faithful itself erupts roughly once every hour, and the hoards of people lining up to see it are somewhat comical. Picture the crowds lining the streets of Disneyland waiting for the parade, but inside of a national park, that’s Old Faithful. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with that, but I’d rather spend my time exploring the more wild areas of Yellowstone.
If you end up visiting Yellowstone and completely ignore this piece of advice, I totally understand. My sister visited Yellowstone a few weeks after I did, and my number 1 tip was to skip Old Faithful. Yet she fell victim to temptation and visited anyways. Her conclusion, totally overrated. Maybe you’ll disagree, but if you’re time constrained, I would recommend skipping Old Faithful all together.
While Old Faithful was a disappointment, everything else I saw within Yellowstone lived up to the hype. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is a breathtaking scene and certainly one of the most impressive sights I’ve encountered so far. The Grand Prismatic Spring is incredibly unique, especially when viewed from above. A hot spring bursting with bright shades of orange, yellow, and blue. It’s really a sight to see. The wildlife throughout the park is really amazing, but especially in the Lamar Valley, which is often called “America’s Serengeti”. The abundance of big game in the area is truly unique, even by national park standards.
With Yellowstone encompassing such a huge area, you might think you need tons of time to see everything, but that wasn’t my experience. In fact, I think you can see quite a bit in just a day or two. Before visiting, I always had the impression that you couldn’t really do Yellowstone as a quick vacation. But I’m now convinced that you could absolutely do 2 or 3 days in Yellowstone and get a ton out of it. Sure you would need more time to really see everything, but you can see a whole lot in a few days.
After visiting Yellowstone, I’m convinced that the park really is one of America’s national treasures. I was skeptical of whether or not it would live up to the hype, but for the most part it did. I’ll almost certainly go back at some point to explore more extensively, but my brief introduction to the park left a lasting impression. My biggest takeaway though was how much you can see in a short period of time. If you’ve always wanted to visit Yellowstone, but never had the time for a “dream vacation”, try planning a shorter trip. It is definitely still worth it, even if you don’t get to see absolutely everything.
https://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm
