Thursday, April 5, 2012

Happy birthday, Yellowstone!

140 years ago last month, Yellowstone became America’s first national park by act of Congress and President Ulysses S. Grant.



Preserved within Yellowstone National Park are Old Faithful and a collection of the world’s most extraordinary thermal features including geysers, hot springs, mud pots. Below is a photo of Mammoth Hot Springs...





..and below is Old Faithful erupting (taken by renowned photographer Ansel Adams from his series of photos of National Parks and Monuments taken from 1933-1942)...



Hot spring near Old Faithful...




Located predominantly in Wyoming but with its edges in Montana and Idaho, it is home to a large variety of wildlife including grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and elk. Below are three shots I took of wildlife -- a stag, a coyote, and an elk....








...and a frequent occurrence, a bison traffic jam that we watched for 25 minutes until they took their confabulation off the road...




And a grizzly bear...




This marvelous park also offers visitors the fabulous Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone with its yellow rocks for which the river and park are named. Though not as long or deep or wide as Arizona's Grand Canyon, nor as deep or long as Colorado's Grand Canyon of the Gunnison, this Grand Canyon has what they lack -- a pair of thundering waterfalls. Here is the 109 foot drop of the Upper Falls...



... and the view from the brink as the water tumbles over the Upper Falls...




... and the canyon below the Lower Falls.



Certainly one of America's best ideas!!!

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