Yellowstone National Park in the western United States was the world’s first national park.
Established in 1872, it is famous for its geothermal activity and wild animals. It includes beautiful mountains, deep canyons, lakes and rivers.
Yellowstone is still one of the largest national parks in the U.S. It takes up almost 9,000 square kilometers. Most of the park lies within the western state of Wyoming.
The park is unusual because of what lies underneath it. It sits on top of an ancient super volcano, known as the Yellowstone Caldera. The caldera remains an active volcano.
A lake of hot liquid rock is about six kilometers under the park. Experts say this lake is under huge amounts of pressure. The pressure and heat cause geysers to shoot hot water out of the ground and mud to boil at Yellowstone.
The park is home to more than 300 geysers. There are more geysers and hot springs in Yellowstone than any other place on Earth. “Old Faithful” is the name of the park’s most famous geyser because it erupts about every 90 minutes.
Yellowstone is on a high plateau with an average height of 2,400 meters above sea level. This makes the weather very cold in winter, with January temperatures averaging between -18 degrees and -7 degrees Celsius. However, some areas of the park remain open to visitors throughout the year.
Yellowstone Canyon is about 365 meters deep. The Yellowstone River runs through it and drops 93 meters in the Lower Falls. Visitors can walk on a path that brings them very close to the top of the falls. There, they can see and hear the powerful falls.
In summer of 1988, forest fires burned large areas of the park. Most of those areas are now covered with plants and young trees.
Home to wildlife
Yellowstone is home to the largest group of wild animals in the lower 48 United States. These include bison, grizzly bear, elk, deer, moose, fox, beaver, coyote and wolves. In 2024, park officials estimated the bison population to be about 4,500 animals. That makes it the largest group of wild bison in the world.
There is still a wild west in America…and its name is Yellowstone.
I'm Andrew Smith.
Andrew Smith wrote this story.
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Words in This Story
geothermal –adj. describing geological or volcanic activity that is the result of underground heat
geyser –n. a hot spring that periodically shoots boiling water high into the air as underground steam pressure builds up and is released
plateau –n. an area of land that is flat at the top and higher than surrounding land
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