Yellowstone is world marvel and must-see destination

To the Editor:

I loved Rhonda Kelley’s story about Yellowstone. It is amazing. A few more things.

What makes it so unique is, one of the world’s largest volcanoes is under it. The volcano powers the 10,000 hydrothermal features and more than half of the world’s geysers. Yellowstone is a high plateau in the heart of the Rockies. It’s surrounded by rugged peaks. In the winter cold air settles in the park and temperatures are possible of -40 degrees and lower. The park sits on the North American plate which is drifting southwest at about the same rate fingernails grow. So every 150,000 years or so, the volcano is covered by the plate, pressure builds and a huge eruption blasting away mountains or smaller ones causing lava flows. This blow-away area moves southwest and over numerous times created the Snake River Canyon. In the winter the Pacific moisture laden water clouds are funneled up the canyon and Yellowstone can get up to 40 feet of snowfall.

Yellowstone is a hugely popular international destination so you can meet people there from all over the world. The park is big, like 60 miles by 60 miles but it gets a lot of traffic in the peak summer months. You might consider visiting off season early or late. It can snow in any month in the park so be aware.

Spring-early summer has the advantage that the animals are in the lower valleys because of snow in the mountains. So to see the baby young animals it’s a good time. Many animals go up into the mountains to escape the summer heat. Predators follow the prey animals during each season. Late summer-fall you may see bison bulls fighting over breeds rights. The same with bull elk, bulging and fighting.

For me a highlight was hearing wolves howling at dawn. A call to arms for them before heading out to hunt. Re-introducing wolves to the park in 1995 was a game changer for the park’s health. Thirty-one wolves were brought in in 1995. The elk herd was about 20,000. The wolves eat the old and sick animals rapidly, wolf numbers up to about 150. Then with the remaining elk herd about 7-8,000 but healthy animals, they stopped over grazing the range. Brush appeared along the streams and beaver populations surged. Beavers are keystone species. Slowed high stream flow, raising the water table, providing habitat for fish, waterfowl and predators like otters.

The park rangers let nature do its thing. They do not help injured animals. They do not fight and put out fires, as some tree seeds only grow after a fire. Rhonda mentioned the Grand Prismatic Spring. Its vivid colors are from the boiling hot water with bacteria in it. As the water cools different bacteria live at different temperatures creating the multicolors seen.

So I’d encourage everyone to visit Yellowstone, a world marvel. Drive slowly, every year hundreds of animals get hit by cars. There is lodging at the park but is booked far ahead. Really important, bring bear spray or do not leave parking areas without it. Grizzlies can be anywhere but in the summer heat tend to be up in the mountains to escape the heat. For wildlife viewing take good binoculars or spotting scopes as animals can be at distances in the big mountains.

Have a great trip!

Wayne Loht

McClure