1. Yellowstone is bigger than two U.S. states.
Yellowstone Falls, Yellowstone National Park, Montana (MT). (Credit: dszc/Getty Images)
Yellowstone Falls, Yellowstone National Park, Montana (MT). (Credit: dszc/Getty Images)
At 3,472 square miles—over 2.2 million acres—Yellowstone is larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. The vast majority of its territory is situated in Wyoming, but it also creeps into neighboring Montana and Idaho. Though not the largest of the United States’ national parks, it is noteworthy for its dense concentration of geysers, mudpots, steam vents and hot springs. According to UNESCO, which has designated Yellowstone a World Heritage Site, half of all the known geothermal features on the globe are nestled within the park.
2. A veteran of the Lewis and Clark expedition may have been the first American to see Yellowstone.
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The Grand Prismatic Springs in Yellowstone National Park. (Photo Credit: Lisa Dupenois)
While there is evidence of human habitation in Yellowstone dating back more than 10,000 years, its geographical wonders were completely unknown to Americans until the 19th century. The site’s first non-Indian visitor was most likely John Colter, a former member of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery expedition who had embarked on a career as a fur trapper and mountain man. In the winter of 1807-08, he made a solo journey into the Yellowstone region and supposedly returned with stories of its canyons, waterfalls and gurgling hot springs. A nearby area even became known as “Colter’s Hell” after his seemingly unbelievable descriptions of its geothermal activity. While historians still debate the extent of Colter’s travels, many now believe he was the first white man to lay eyes on what later became Yellowstone National Park.
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