Revisiting Our National Parks

One of my visions of future camping trips includes exploring a few more of the national parks, including once again our very own in Oregon, Crater Lake National Park seen below.

First on my list is Yosemite National Park. It was way back in 1864 that the U.S. Congress ceded land in the Yosemite Valley to California to create a state park. (I think the Tea Party opposed the bill, but it still passed.)  Unofficially, it was the first federal park designated as a  sanctuary to preserve the natural landscape and wildlife, but it was not the first National Park. 

The trivia question this week:  What was the first National Park and when was it created?

Our first national park was created in 1872 and is located in the northern Rocky Mountains within a few miles of the first trickles of three different rivers that make their way down and into the Columbia, the Missouri, and the Colorado rivers.   It is not only the first National Park in the U.S. it’s the world’s first national park.  It has five park entrances, 9 visitor centers, 49 picnic areas, more than 1700 campsites, and 97 trailheads

It is larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined and is jolted by more than 2,000 earthquakes each year. 96% of the park is located in Wyoming, 3% is in Montana, and 1% is in Idaho  It has more than 300 geysers, 240 waterfalls, and 10,000 thermal features.  The record high temperature was 98F in 1936 and the record low was 66 below zero in 1933.

The name of the park derives from the native Americans who lived in the area and called its river Mitsiadazi.  French fur trappers in the 1800s translated this to Yellow Rock, and today we call it…..Yellowstone National Park.