Yellowstone National Park was always a place I heard about and saw pictures of but I never thought I'd see it myself. My husband's crazy idea to buy a 1987 VW Vanagon in the summer of 2011 resulted in the road trip of a lifetime to explore the Western United States. Yellowstone National Park went from being a place in pictures and stories to a real experience full of beautiful views.
This section of Yellowstone National Park in my pictures was located in Montana but the entire park spans into Wyoming and Idaho. The name Yellowstone comes from the Yellowstone River which the park contains. My husband and I traveled from South Dakota to Wyoming. We left Wyoming for Idaho and then entered Montana to see Yellowstone and the Rocky Mountains.
Fields of Flowers In Yellowstone National Park
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A Brief History of Yellowstone National Park
The first person to pursue the creation of a national park in this area was Ferdinand Hayden in 1871. This man hated the public spectacle people had made Niagra Falls out to be and sought protecting nature from those who would destroy it and pursue capitalistic interests by controlling and destroying nature. Hayden's efforts to create Yellowstone National Park were supported by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872 who signed a law setting aside the land Hayden had explored to protect it.
In the early days of the park's history there were many struggles. Capitalists hated the idea of having land that couldn't be used for business purposes. Mining companies, hunters, logging companies, and more fought against protection laws in attempts to gain permission to use the land for the benefit of the economy. Thankfully the land remained protected and people today can enjoy the beauty of the land. source
Other struggles that existed in the early years after the park was declared protected by law was the persistence of poachers who wanted to hunt animals for meat and their fur. Buffalo, antelope, elk, and deer were the most popular game targeted by hunters and those in charge of protecting the park were constantly fighting against poachers in the late 1800s. It wasn't until 1886 that poaching became controlled when the United States Army build a base there and began helping to protect and regulate use of the land. source
Getting Ready To Enter The Park
If you ever visit remember to get gas. We didn't fill up beforehand and came extremely close to running out of gas on the drive through. Going through the park, the drive was long and beautiful but I was distracted by the needle on the gas hitting empty. Thankfully we found a tiny little gas station out in the middle of nowhere that saved the day.
It was a really pretty drive. All you saw was a long road in front of you and nature all around. There were very few human structures. This section of the park didn't have many campgrounds. It was just lots of trees which is fine with me. We went for the road trip element and not to hang out camping.
Hillsides of Destroyed Trees
I have no idea what happened but we passed long stretches where trees had been knocked over and lay flat on the ground.
It's hard to imagine what would have happened to this beautiful land if President Grant hadn't approved a law creating Yellowstone National Park. It was the first national park ever created in the United States and we who get to benefit from it's existence today can be thankful there were people in the late 1800s who wanted to protect this land instead of develop it.
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If laws hadn't been created to protect this park these waters might be filled with pollution from factories or may have suffered from over fishing. Logging and mining companies back in the late 1800s and early 1900s would have destroyed land and trees to capitalize off of natural resources. If this land hadn't been protected then today Walmarts and fast food restaurants would probably be all over the place instead of the natural beauty of the Earth.
First Time I've Seen Horse and Big Horn Sheep Crossing Signs
My first visit to Yellowstone National Park was wonderful and I gained an appreciation for the existence of national parks. I'm so glad nature is preserved so that corporations and humans in general can't destroy all the natural wonders of the world. I get so sick of driving and passing by big businesses and love seeking escape routes into nature to see what beauty is hidden around every corner I explore.
Thank God there are still people who love and defend nature and keep natural beauties. It is hard to understand what people understand by making factories buildings to everywhere.. How they live without seeing green colour..
going with husbands is very fun let alone see the beautiful scenery make our heart more enjoyable,,,
Nice post!!! We did the loop of Grand Canyon, Brice, Zion, Lake Powell, Vegas years ago, but I always wanted to go to Yellowstone. I remember the fires years ago and now there's all this FUD about super-volcanos, etc. One day I'll get there.
a fun trip, also can take the experience for me.
I've always wanted to visit Yellowstone National Park. Looks like a really peaceful trip.
Nice photos! I really, really wanted to get out there in September, to see that total solar eclipse. It went right through the park!!! How amazing would it have been to find one of those geysers with the strange coloration and get the eclipse in the water reflection...
Alas, it was the first day of class and I had to be here to start teaching.
Nice photos. We visited Yellowstone for a week last summer. We drove in from Idaho 5 of the 7 days we were there. Had a great time. Did a lot of hikes to waterfall locations, and saw a lot of wildlife.
Some of the paintpot exhibits were amazing...and all the geysers everywhere. I never knew there were so many.
A buffalo literally walked right past our car. It was holding up traffic on the opposite side of the road and walked right past us, was amazing to see up close like that.
Thanks for sharing, cheers!
Thank you so much for sharing these pictures! Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks are in my bucket list!
Great post! I really enjoyed it!
Yellowstone is one place I've never visited. But after
seeing your photos I think I need to! I live in the west
so am accustomed to seeing the horse and other signs.
That must have been strange to see the first time!
Beautiful photos, thanks for sharing!!
This is so beautiful and can be a very good fishing point too. It is always fun to enjoy nature. Followed for more such beautiful posts.
Beautiful photos! Yellowstone is definitely a place I want to visit one day. When I visit a national park, I always feel grateful that someone took the time to preserve the area. They are always so peaceful and serene!
I think that the wealth of the earth is greater than the wealth of economy and globalization, human beings must protect the environment, livestock and plants, it is a treasure and a blessing of God we have to deal with.
But today, humans are totally dependent on economics and globalization rather than the environment and livestock.
We ask governments to look at this wealth and take care of it and provide protection.
Thank you dear @marxrab for your beautiful pictures and much interest in this wealth
It sure is on my bucket list to head out there one day!
I am so glad that Hayden didn't like what he saw at Niagra Falls. It continues to be destroyed to this day. His idea of having national parks to preserve nature was spot on!
Thanks a lot for your nice post photography
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Nice photography
I also heard about Yellowstone National Park but never gone ... its excellent park there has a natural beauty.... thanks to share with us lovely photography and precious post@marxrab
When young fast-growing trees get hit by a fast hard freeze they can keel over like that. We had one fall when we had young alders here and there along stretches of our roads topple. It was sad but they grew back with no trouble. What really hurt was that the university had bought up quite a few acres on either side along the road near my folk's place and they were testing out some strains of fast-growing trees for their use in producing goods like paper. The trees had been growing about 3 years when that freeze took out ~2/3 of the trees. As the university didn't come to harvest them or clean up the area for at least a year after that I assume that the trees were wasted.