Yellowstone National Park Celebrates 150 years

The world’s first National Park, Yellowstone National Park was established by the U.S Congress and signed into law by President Ullysses S Grant on March 01 1872.

The sheer size of this park and one of the most recognisable in the world is staggering.

Yellowstone encompasses 3,472 square miles 2,221,766 acres which is larger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.
Over 10,000 hydrothermals exist within the park. There are four types of thermal features: Geysers, Mud Pots, Hot Springs and Fumaroles (openings in the earth’s surface that emit steam and volcanic gases)
Yellowstone has over 500 active Geysers which is almost half of the world’s Geysers.
There are five entrances to Yellowstone National Park: North Entrance, Northeast Entrance, South Entrance, East Entrance and West Entrance. The most economical entrance is the East Entrance near Jackson Hole – Wyoming which is still 53 miles away.
To drive the Grand Loop around Yellowstone National Park takes at least between 4 – 7 hours and how long you stay at each attraction and how busy the traffic is.
There are around 4 millions visitors annually visit the park.

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International visitors have limited options to arrive reasonably close to the park without a long drive. Salt Lake City is the closest international airport and the drive is 321 miles to West Yellowstone. Another option is to fly indirectly to Jackson Hole airport but this isn’t open until the end of June 2022 because the runway is being reconstructed.
Entry to the park is $35 for a non-commercial vehicle and gives you seven days entry. An annual pass is $70 but remember that the park is closed between October and April except for snow vehicles. It is recommended to purchases passes as early as possible so that the capacity of the park can be controlled.
Yellowstone straddles three states: Wyoming (96%), Montana – to the North (3%) and Idaho – to the West (1%).
There are over 270 waterfalls, 67 species of mammals and 285 species of birds as well as over 1,000 miles of hiking trails in Yellowstone National Park.