Yellowstone National Park was created in 1872 as the USA's first National Park and some even say it was the first National Park in the modern world.

 

Yellowstone sits on top of a huge supervolcano that caused several climate disruptive VEI 8 eruptions in the past. A new eruption whould cover most of the USA with a thick layer of ash and cause a large drop in worldwide temperatures.

Paleo-Indians used the Yellowstone area as big game hunting ground well before 9000 BC, and left stone tools and spearpoints to prove it. 

 

Everywhere in the park you find geothermal activity with the famous Old Faithful cone geyser as its posterchild.

Other major volcanic hotspots can be found at Mammoth and Norris Basin.

 

The landscape in the park is very diverse, sporting geysers, hotsprings, canyons, forests, thundering waterfalls like Yellowstone Falls, lakes and lush valleys like Hayden Valley.

 

Add to this grandiose setting a megafauna of Bison, Elk, Moose,Grizzly Bear and Wolf and it becomes clear why Yellowstone is a tourist magnet. Each year four million tourists visit the park, most of them in summer. when wildlife sightings can create large traffic jams.

 

Wildfires are part of the ecosystem and the park's policy is to not interfere with natural fires unless they become an immediate threat.