Yellowstone National Park in the western United States was the world's first national park .
Established in 1872 , it is famous for its geothermal activity and wild animals .
It includes beautiful mountains , deep canyons , lakes and rivers .
Yellowstone is still one of the largest national parks in the U.S . It takes up almost 9,000 square kilometers .
Most of the park lies within the western state of Wyoming .
The park is unusual because of what lies underneath it .
It sits on top of an ancient super volcano , known as the Yellowstone Caldera .
The caldera remains an active volcano .
A lake of hot liquid rock is about six kilometers under the park .
Experts say this lake is under huge amounts of pressure .
The park is home to more than 300 geysers .
There are more geysers and hot springs in Yellowstone than any other place on Earth .
“Old Faithful ” is the name of the park's most famous geyser because it erupts about every 90 minutes .
Yellowstone is on a high plateau with an average height of 2,400 meters above sea level .
This makes the weather very cold in winter , with January temperatures averaging between -18 degrees and -7 degrees Celsius .
However , some areas of the park remain open to visitors throughout the year .
Yellowstone Canyon is about 365 meters deep .
The Yellowstone River runs through it and drops 93 meters in the Lower Falls .
Visitors can walk on a path that brings them very close to the top of the falls .
There , they can see and hear the powerful falls .
In summer of 1988 , forest fires burned large areas of the park .
Most of those areas are now covered with plants and young trees .
Yellowstone is home to the largest group of wild animals in the lower 48 United States .
These include bison , grizzly bear , elk , deer , moose , fox , beaver , coyote and wolves .
In 2024 , park officials estimated the bison population to be about 4,500 animals .
That makes it the largest group of wild bison in the world .
There is still a wild west in America…and its name is Yellowstone .