Yellowstone Park - The World's First!

     YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

     Yellowstone National Park, the world's first national park, is truly special.  We have visited here twice before, both times in the Winter (once over Christmas) and find the summer a much different experience, since all parts of the park are available.  We will spend a week here before moving on to Teton National Park. 
     We have spent considerable time inside the park and marvelled at the many geysers (including the venerable Old Faithful), the bubbling mud holes, and the spectacular canyons and falls. The Yellowstone Volcano is still active and the geysers emanate from only about 3 miles below the earth's surface. Evidence for the current activity of the Yellowstone Volcano are the 1,000 to 3,000 earthquakes per year, active ground deformations, and the over 10,000 thermal features found in Yellowstone.

Old Faithful goes off about every hour

 The Falls rival those of Yosemite and are easily accessible

The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center houses grizzly bears and wolves that would have been destroyed because they became threats to humans. Instead they were saved to serve as educational sources. The following 1,000-pound grizzly below is housed very close to our RV park which is right outside the West Yellowstone Gate.

The grizzly took a dip and seems to be self-satisfied

     We came upon a herd of about 200 bison that had surrounded the body of another bison killed by wolves. The seven wolves (including two juveniles) were patrolling-running around the edge of the herd trying to get at their kill.  A fascinating thing to watch and an important lesson about life.  

The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center houses two packs of wolves with one being fed in the morning and the other in the evening.The following alpha female was allowed by the pack to eat first.  The food (elk meat) was hidden among rocks and among fallen trees to cause the wolves to forage for their meal.

More on the final days of our stay later.