150 Yellowstone Facts On The 150th Anniversary Of America's First National Park

Happy 150th birthday, Yellowstone National Park!

As the U.S. celebrates — all year long — a milestone anniversary of this treasured American national park, here's a collection of fascinating facts, featured players and sometimes-forgotten but always interesting details, numbers, quotes, and more connected to our remarkable national preserve.

Yellowstone's beginnings 

1. Established on March 1, 1872, Yellowstone National Park became the first national park in the U.S.

2. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone Protection Act into law for "the benefit and enjoyment of the people."

3. President Grant never visited Yellowstone; but he explored areas of the American West such as Washington state, Nebraska, the Dakotas and Colorado, all of which piqued his interest in wildlife preservation.

4. Archeological sites, trails, and oral histories prove that humans have inhabited Yellowstone for the last 11,000 years. 

5. Yellowstone National Park was the site of 27 Native American tribes for more than 10,000 years before the park was founded.

6. The first organized European American expedition explored Yellowstone in 1870.

7. The railroad arrived at Yellowstone in 1883 — expanding accessibility to the park. 

8. The U.S. Army was put in charge of watching over the park in 1886.

9. In the early 1900s, the federal government launched a campaign that killed off nearly all predatory species and bison.

10. The National Park Service was founded in 1916. 

Yellowstone's geography

11. Yellowstone exists across 3 states — mostly in Wyoming (96%) and in Montana (3%) and Idaho (1%) as well.

12. The highest point of Yellowstone National Park is 11,358 feet, at Eagle Peak.

13. The lowest point of Yellowstone National Park is 5,282 feet at Reese Creek.

14. The park is comprised of forest (80%), grassland (15%) and water (5%). 

15. The park is located at the convergence of the Great Plains, Great Basin, and Columbia Plateau.

16. Yellowstone National Park is bigger than 2 U.S. states. It stretches for 3,472 square miles and across more than 2.2 million acres — making it larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined, according to Yellowstone.org.

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Yellowstone's recreation and visitation

79. There are about 3,200 employees working for concessioners during the summer peak at Yellowstone.

80. Yellowstone National Park has 11 visitor centers, museums, and contact stations.

81. The park has 9 hotels and lodges, with more than 2,000 rooms.

82. Yellowstone has 7 campgrounds managed by the National Park Service (NPS) and 5 concession-operated campgrounds.

83. Yellowstone has 52 picnic areas and one marina.

84. The park has a total of 466 miles of paved roads and more than 15 miles of boardwalk.

85. There are approximately 1,000 miles of hiking trails throughout the park.

86. Yellowstone has 35 ski and snowshoe trails.

87. Yellowstone's Grand Loop is 142 miles of road; it curves in a figure-8 throughout the park, according to Planet Ware.

88. Driving the entire loop can take 4 to 7 hours, depending on traffic.

89. Scattered throughout Yellowstone’s back country are 301 campsites and 92 trailheads.

90. The year 2021 marked Yellowstone’s busiest year on record, at 4,860,537 visitors — up 28% from 2020 (the year the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S.).

91. July 2021 was the most visited month that year — and the month of July continues to be the most popular month for visitors every year.

92. In July 2021, the park exceeded 1 million visitors in that month alone, which marked the first time it had done so in recorded history.

Read the rest of the 150 facts about Yellowstone on Fox News here.