Discovering Yellowstone National Park

Opened over 135 years, the world's First National Park is also one of largest. But Yellowstone National Park offers the greatest collection of geysers and hot springs to sparkling alpine lakes, rugged peaks and beautiful wildlife.   With over 10, 000 thermal features, you will be memorized by the geysers eruption. The experiences are timeless over these 2.2 million acres of landscape.

The things to do in this park are endless.  From driving threw Lamar Valley, to hiking along the rocky crevasses of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and view pristine waterfalls in the distance.  Then finish up with the wonder of Old Faithful.

Even though Old Faithful is the most talked about, it’s actually just one of roughly 150 geysers in the park's Upper Geyser Basin.  In the middle of Geyser Basin, you will find the Grand Prismatic Spring having an impressive 370-foot diameter.  Grand Prismatic is natural hot spring ringed by yellow and orange algae.  This and the rest of Yellowstone's thermal features are constantly changing.  Some eventually die out over time, others build up more energy and new ones spit, claw, and fume into existence through rifts in the earth.

Not to be upstaged by these waterworks is Yellowstone's animal kingdom.  With the reintroduction of wolves in the 1990s, the park's wild kingdom has been returned to its original state since hunters wiped wolves out of Yellowstone in the 1950s.  These wolves share the park with elk, bison, coyotes, bears and the odd moose.

Yellowstone Lake is something that is not always talked about yet should not be missed.  The lake nurtures rich fisheries that lure fishermen from around the world.  Draining the lake, the Yellowstone River flows serenely to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, where it roars over two towering waterfalls.

If you can visit only one national park, make it Yellowstone. Granted, the park's immense popularity generates stifling summertime masses of over three million annually but it is worth the wait.

Aside from the nature to enjoy, a must see is the Old Faithful Inn.  This elder inn turned 100 in 2004, yet it does not look nearly its age.  In fact, it's the prototypical "stately national park inn." It also is arguably the world's largest log cabin

To take in everything that Yellowstone National Park has to offer, it is recommended to schedule at least three days here.  Spring doesn't really show up in earnest before mid-May.  In fact, April and early May are the worst times to visit Yellowstone.  Sure, you won't encounter many crowds. But the mud, the harsh bite of a late-season snowstorm, and the weather's overall rawness can be trying.  Summer begins to show its hand by mid-June as wildflowers erupt into bloom across the park's lower reaches.  By late June, the first serious waves of tourists arrive in the park, and their cars, at times choking the roads, begin to crawl along the Grand Loop (the main road).  This height of the season is a paradox, capturing the best and the worst of Yellowstone. Comfortable temperatures and long days offer plenty of time for sightseeing. But hotels and lodges are booked, campgrounds fill early in the day, and the narrow roads overflow with cars, trucks, and lumbering motor homes. You'll appreciate having made your room reservations well in advance and heeding my advice for avoiding crowds.  Fall consists of a handful of weeks of decent weather between Labor Day and the return of winter. If you're not bound by school vacations, early fall — from mid-September to mid-October — is the best time to visit Yellowstone. Winter is Yellowstone's longest season, and although the weather can be harsh, the season can be a magical time to visit the park. Winter can settle in as early as October and stay through April. Heavy snows and freezing temperatures (which can plunge far below zero at night and hover around zero during the day) hamper life for both human and animal. Most park roads are closed to automobile traffic between November and May. Only the route from Mammoth Hot Springs to the Northeast Entrance remains plowed during the winter, so the gateway communities of Silvergate and Cooke City, Montana, aren't detached from the world. But cross-country skis, snow coaches, and snowshoes provide a fun mode of travel elsewhere in the snowbound park, and heavy snows create a fairy-tale atmosphere in the forests and around the geyser basins.

Austin Ames has many years' experience in article writing and he has written many more in the past.