Yellowstone National Park

In the States of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, USA

Yellowstone National Park was America’s first National Park. The United States Congress established the park on March 1, 1872. It was the first national park in the world.

The park is located in the heartland of America in the western states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

West Gate at Yellowstone Traveling out the North Entrance

Traveling out the West Entrance

The first thing you will see when entering the park is an entrance gate where you pay the modest entry fees. They also give you a map of the park and answer any questions you have.

What is at the park?

The main portion of Yellowstone National Park is a caldera or crater of one of the world’s largest volcanoes. It is still active and this geothermal activity creates the many geysers, mud pots, and other wonders in the park. There are over 10,000 hot springs in the park.

Obviously the attraction that gets the most attention is the famous geyser named Old Faithful. Old Faithful averages an eruption every 70 minutes. The length and height of the eruption determine the length of time to the next eruption.

The park is not just about hot springs and geysers, wildlife runs free and unhampered in this park. On our visit to the park a herd of buffalo decided to cross the road. They stopped traffic for the better part of an hour and crossed back and forth to give us repeated photo opportunities.

The elk in the park don’t fear man.

Elk at Mammoth Hot Springs As if that was not good enough, when we reached the Village of Mammoth Hot Springs a fairly large heard of elk walked through the area, again stopping traffic giving the hundreds to park visitors in the area a wonderful photo opportunity. The elk herd walked right through the Village of Mammoth Hot Springs grazing on the grass.

Visit our Mammoth Hot Springs page.

Wildlife in the Park

A word of warning about wildlife in the park, they may look fuzzy and friendly but they are wild animals that may look at you as a threat and attack. Several people have been injured when they left their car and got too close to buffalo or other wild animals. Animals with young are especially dangerous and if you get between them and their young they WILL ATTACK. Please stay safely in your car or well clear of the animals..

Map of Yellowstone National Park

Our map and logo

We created the map at left to give you a rough idea of the size of the park and the basic layout of the main roads in the park. The logo at the top left of this page and the map at left are not official and the map is not necessarily accurate, they are for your information only.

The National Parks Service also has a website for Yellowstone National Park. Visit the site at: http://www.nps.gov/yell/

All photos and comments about the park on this web site are the personal impressions and photographs from our visit to the park. We visited the park as a regular tourist with very limited time to spend in the park. What we learned is that there are a great many things to do in the park and around its perimeter and we need and want to go back when we have more time.

West Gate at Yellowstone Traveling out the North Entrance

Traveling out the West Entrance

How much time is required to see the park?

We visited the park in one day. We entered the West Entrance, went to Madison Junction, then went south to Old Faithful and saw it erupt (photo below), went east to West Thumb and saw Yellowstone Lake, went northeast to Lake and saw fishing bridge, went north from Lake to be stopped by a buffalo herd, turned west at Canyon and went to Norris, then went north to Mammoth Hot Springs, and then left the park from the north entrance. We did all of that in one day and had time to stop at a lot of attractions. However, you will not get enough of Yellowstone in one day to satisfy your curiosity. We recommend a minimum of three days here.

Old Faithful

We are told that there are people that think you can turn Old Faithful on and off. Once you visit this area you will come to understand the uncontrollable nature of the geothermal sites. At one site we visited mother nature decided there should be a mud pot in the middle of a parking lot. All the National Park Service could do is put a fence around this new geothermal site so no one fell in it or drove into it.

Old Faithful works from a cavity down where it is very hot filling up with surface water supplied from underground sources and finally boiling up until it is empty and the pressure is all vented. It then stops until it fills again.

There is a fairly large community of park facilities around and near Old Faithful with many gift shops, restaurants, and lodging run by private businesses who provide tourist services to visitors under contract with the National Park Service.

Camping in Yellowstone National Park

There are 12 campgrounds in the park. Seven of the campgrounds are operated by the National Parks Service, they are:

Indian Creek Campground with 75 sites
Lewis Lake Campground with 85 sites
Mammoth Campground with 85 sites
Norris Campground with 116 sites
Pebble Creek Campground with 32 sites
Slough Creek Campground with 29 sites
Tower Fall Campground with 32 sites.

For more information visit the National Park Service web site at: http://www.nps.gov/yell/planvisit/services/campgrnd.htm

There are also campgrounds run under concessions agreements by Yellowstone National Park Lodges

Bridge Bay Campground with 430 sites
Canyon Campground with 272 sites
Fishing Bridge RV Park with 344 sites
Grant Campground with 425 sites
Madison Campground with 280 sites

For more information about privately run accommodations in the park visit the web site:

Camping: http://travelyellowstone.com/camping/

Lodging inside Yellowstone National Park

The hotels in Yellowstone National Park are run by private concessionaires.

Old Faithful Snow Lodge and Cabins
Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and Cabins
Roosevelt Lodge Cabins
Lake Lodge Cabins
Canyon Lodge and Cabins
Lake Yellowstone Hotel and Cabins
Grant Village Hotel
Old Faithful Inn
Old Faithful Lodge and Cabins

The private concessionaires have their own web site: http://travelyellowstone.com/hotels/

Traveling out the North Entrance

Traveling out the West Entrance

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