Virtual Vist During Quarantine: Park Unit 133 - Yellostone National Park

We were really missing the opportunity to travel, so we were so glad to be able to do a virtual visit to Yellowstone National Park.

The website has a graphic map of all their content on the kids' page and you can click on the hyperlinks to visit the different locations and animals in the park. This allowed us to go virtually to all the main areas in the park. We started at the North Entrance with the wonderful Roosevelt Arch built by the CCC.

Next we explored Mammoth Hot Springs. In addition to the photos and information on the NPS website, we also watched some videos that we found on yellowstonepark.com. We were especially interested in the geology of the park, so we clicked on that link next and learned about the geological history and processes that formed the various areas and attractions in the park.

The website also has links to the many types of animals in the park.
 

We learned what a pika is: These small mammals inhabit rocky alpine and sub-alpine areas and feed on the vegetation that fringes their preferred talus (rock) slopes.

• They live in colonies and are active in the daytime.
• They have a high-pitched chirp or call to warn their group of danger.
• They do not hibernate in winter.

Next we visited the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. Scientists continue to develop theories about its formation. After the Yellowstone Caldera eruption, about 630,000 years ago, lava flows and volcanic tuffs buried this area. Hydrothermal gases and hot water weakened the rock. The river eroded this rock, carving a canyon from Tower Fall all the way to the Lower Falls.

Next we went to West Thumb Geyser Basin and learned about the geology of geysers and watched another video on yellowstonepark.com.

The final stops were Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic. We tried hard to figure out why Old Faithful is so regular in its eruption and never quite got the answer, but we learned a lot about how to predict the timing of the next eruption based on the amount of time the geyser takes to erupt.

We also visited the other entrances to the park and marveled at our favorite CCC architecture:


We finished our virtual visit by watching the live webcam. It was surprisingly interesting and meditative to watch the camera slowly change views of the park - which of course was completely empty of people. We watched long enough to see Old Faithful erupt. It was a beautiful and peaceful site!