A Journey Through Three American National Parks
America has over 400 parks and 84 million acres of land and 4.5 million acres are oceans, lakes and reservoirs. The
National Park Service mission is to care for special places saved by the American people so that all may experience our heritage.
The concept of preserving our land first started in the 1800s by an artist named George Catlin. Congress caught on to Catlin’s passion and named Yellowstone as America’s first national park in 1872. Since 1916, the National Park Service was born and President Theodore Roosevelt had made great efforts in establishing and protecting the millions of acres of land in America.
Let’s travel to the first national park in the United States, The Yellowstone National Park and on to Grand Teton National Park and end our trip at the Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.
Yellowstone National Park
How to get there?
There are
three closest airports to Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone Regional Airport (COD), Jackson Hole Airport (JAC) and Bozeman Gallatin Field Airport (BZN). To find out small and major cities closest to Yellowstone National Park use Travelmath’s major cities calculator.
You can either start your trip by flying into Idaho Falls, ID, Jackson, WY or Billings, MT, pick up a car and drive to Yellowstone National Park or fly to the smaller airports like COD, JAC and BZN and pick up a car from there.
The Park Entrances:
Yellowstone has four entrances. The North Entrance is close to Gardiner, MT. The closest airport to this entrance is Bozeman, MT and this entrance is the only access to Cooke City, MT and is service by US Highway 212 east. The West Entrance is close to West Yellowstone, MT and the closest airports are West Yellowstone, MT, Bozeman, MT, Idaho Falls, ID and Salt Lake City, UT.
South and East Entrances have limited services and the closest airport to South Entrance is Jackson, WY and the closest airport to the East Entrance is Cody, WY.
The Northeast Entrance is near Silver Gate and Cooke City, MT and this entrance is open year round. The closest airport is Billings, MT. Billings, MT. Billings is
127 miles from Cooke City, MT.
The attractions:
Yellowstone is about the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined and extends into three states, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. You have a choice of four entrances to the park. The park has over 300 geysers and Old Faithful also known as Upper Geyser Basin has the largest concentration of geysers in the world.
The Old Faithful erupts the most frequently compared to the rest of the big geysers. Its average interval is between 60-110 minutes that lasts between one and a half to five minutes, expels 3,700-8,400 gallons of boiling water and reaches the heights of 106 to 184 feet.
Yellowstone is
home to grizzly bears, bison, elk, bighorn sheep, coyotes, moose and over 70 species of birds. Wild animals are unpredictable and dangerous. It is illegal to willfully remain near or approach wildlife and keep a safe distance from all wildlife when you are there.
Grand Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park is about an
80 mile drive from Yellowstone National Park. It has snow-capped landscape, pristine lakes, crystalline rocks, rough terrain that are great for photography, hiking and climbing.
This park has many outdoor recreation activities all year round, from camping, climbing, fishing, swimming, boating, snowshoeing to skiing.
Bison, elk, moose, bald eagles, ospreys, great blue herons, and beavers are among the wild creatures of Grand Teton National Park. The Jenny Lake Scenic Drive around the shore of Jenny Lake provides views of the peaks and the Signal Mountain Summit Road that climbs above 800 feet provides a
panoramic view of the Teton Range, Jackson Hole valley and Jackson Lake.
Bryce Canyon National Park
Driving south for
548 miles through the state of Utah from Grand Teton National Park is Bryce Canyon National Park. This park was named after Mormon pioneer, Ebenezer Bryce.
Bryce Canyon is famous for its unique geology and according to the National Park, it consists of a series of horseshoe-shaped amphitheaters carved from the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The erosional force of frost-wedging and the dissolving power of rainwater have shaped the colorful limestone rock of the Claron Formation into bizarre shapes, including slot canyons, windows, fins, and spires called "hoodoos".
Visitors are greeted with magical surroundings of natural structures and amazing colors. The canyons and plateau of this park are filled with hummingbirds, Peregrine Falcon, Rocky Mountain Elk, Pronghorn, mountain lions, mule deer, bears, sheep and many more.
Get a list of birds, reptiles and animals from their website before leaving home.
The millions of acres of American National Parks are waiting to be discovered. Take a road trip and encounter the natural wonders of America with its many unique animals, birds, geology, landscape and colors.
