We’re learning a tremendous amount about our impact on the planet. And it is really easy to get down about what’s happening. The earth is as hot as it has ever been. Arctic ice is melting at a scary pace – the number of animals and humans around the world facing adverse weather is on the up.
My philosophy when it comes to thinking about this is to embrace reality and deal in hope. And one way I become more hopeful is when I think about the many people around the world who get to experience incredible sights. For every 10 who sees something spectacular, I’m hopeful 3 contemplate the challenges ahead, and 1 takes systemic action.
The US National Park system is one of those avenues of hope. They do fantastic work protecting some incredible sights. And perhaps none more incredible or wondrous than Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872, was the first national park in the US and (likely) the first in the world. One way to make sense of this fact – it must have taken something wondrous for man to stop plundering nature and think about conservation. Yellowstone National Park is indeed all that.
There are so many incredible facts about Yellowstone National Park. One that sticks with me is that it has more than half the world’s known geysers and geothermal features. It is also the equivalent of the Serengeti in North America with free-roaming herds of bison, elk, bears, and wolves.
There are three things that stayed with me from our visit to Yellowstone National Park.
The geysers are wondrous. This geyser “Grand” erupts up to 200 feet for 9-12 minutes every couple of hours. And, of course, there’s the Old Faithful that faithfully erupts every 45 minutes.
The sights from the geothermal features are incredible – they need to be seen to be believed. The greatest of them all is the Grand Prismatic.
And then the wildlife. The Bison roaming around are majestic and nimble (they possess ridiculous acceleration). And there are few sights more amazing than seeing a North American grizzly bear playing with her cub off the side of a road. We spent a couple of hours just transfixed – watching another mom and son pair playing.
The word that best describes Yellowstone National Park is wondrous. Its uniqueness inspires wonder and appreciation for our world.
(One more in a newly formed “Our world is awesome” series: Grand Canyon National Park)
