The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone as seen from Artist Point. Wyoming. Photographs and paintings of sights such as this—the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone—inspired Congress to create the park in 1872. It was a revolutionary step.

See 150 years of Yellowstone in these iconic Nat Geo images

The first national park in the United States marks a milestone. Here is Yellowstone through the eyes of our photographers.

Inspired by early reporting of marvels such as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone River, seen here, the U.S. Congress established Yellowstone as America’s first national park in 1872.
Photograph by Michael Nichols
ByNational Geographic Staff
February 25, 2022
15 min read

It’s been called America’s “Wonderland” for good reason. Generations of travelers have embraced Yellowstone—the first national park in the United States—and explored its marvels, spread across some 3,472 square miles, mostly in Wyoming, but with portions in Montana and Idaho.

This unmatched wilderness, now marking 150 years as a national park, is vast and varied, comprising a rugged panorama of forests, lakes, mountains, valleys, and canyons. Some 90 percent of the park and its surrounding region remains untamed, constituting one of the last large intact ecosystems in the northern temperate zone.

Bisons are herded to a trap for tagging and testing for disease in Yellowstone National Park
In this photo, carefully monitored bison are herded before scientists tag and test them for diseases. Just over a century ago, Yellowstone’s bison had been hunted to the brink of extinction. They are now flourishing, with nearly 5,500 animals living in and around the park.
Photograph by William Albert Allard

Yellowstone was established as a national park in 1872 “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” Its founding marked the birth of the U.S. National Park System and represents the beating heart of a complex of interconnected public wild lands known as the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, nearly 10 times larger than the park.

(Yellowstone is ‘where we began to negotiate a peace treaty with the wild.’)

The region’s geological history reaches back at least 66 million years, when volcanism produced spectacular features. The park includes three calderas, formed from volcanic eruptions 2.1 million, 1.3 million, and 640,000 years ago, respectively. With more than 10,000 spouting, steamy, kaleidoscopic, sometimes smelly geothermal features, Yellowstone holds more geysers than the rest of the world combined.

Elk with fog bow in the sky in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
A male elk stands in a meadow in Yellowstone National Park. An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 of the animals spend their summers here.
Photograph by Norbert Rosing
A brown bear leans on car door and peers in window near young boy.
In this 1966 photo taken in Yellowstone, a grizzly bear approaches a car to beg for food. Today, regulations stipulate that visitors stay 300 feet from all bears in the park.
Photograph by Dean Conger

Indigenous Americans, arriving after the melt-back of the Pleistocene ice sheets, have lived in the region for more than 11,000 years. The ancestors of the Blackfeet, Cayuse, Coeur d’Alene, Shoshone, and Nez Perce people, among others, used the resources of this land for food, shelter, medicine and religious purposes for millennia.

(Here’s why most U.S. wolves have been re-listed as endangered.)

Some societies left behind arrowheads, petroglyphs, pictographs, and dwellings. Today, Indigenous communities in the area take an active role in shaping the future within and beyond the park, from documenting their own history to bison management and ensuring protection of cultural sites.

National Geographic’s vast photographic archive includes William Henry Jackson’s images from the pivotal 1871 geological survey of Yellowstone, photographed a year before the founding of the park. The magazine’s first feature article on Yellowstone was published more than a century ago, in May 1908. Since then, our coverage has included features on the region, as well as travel articles, books, and atlas entries.

William Henry Jackson, shot for US Geologicial Survey, first photograph of Old Faithful, 1872
Old Faithful, one of nearly 500 geysers in Yellowstone National Park, gets its name from the regularity of its eruptions, which happen every 60 to 110 minutes. It’s shown here in an 1872 photograph taken by William Henry Jackson for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). 
Photograph by William Henry Jackson

(Enjoy Yellowstone’s elusive wildlife and iconic vistas—without the summer crowds.)

“What I see in the early historic photos is grandeur, vastness, the bounty of wildlife, the sheer power of Earth. Humans are almost always tiny specks in these images,” says Julia Andrews, photo editor of the National Geographic Image Collection. “Fast forward to contemporary coverage of Yellowstone, and everything is reversed. Now photographers show just how vulnerable this ecosystem is to the impact of humans.”

Zoom in to see more locations.

Here are a few of our favorite images of Yellowstone from National Geographic’s photographic archive. While these images present the perspectives of past photographers, they also capture the timeless inspiration, joy, and reward of exploring this awe-inspiring region.

Aerial view of Yellowstone's Grand Prismatic Spring, Wyoming
Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring gets its blend of colors from the heat-loving bacteria living in its steamy waters. It’s one of multiple geothermal features travelers can see on hikes and nature walks near the Old Faithful geyser.
Photograph by Michael Nichols
A remote camera captures a prowling cougar on Everett's Ridge in Yellowstone National Park.
A photo of a prowling cougar (also known as a mountain lion) was captured via remote camera in Yellowstone National Park. There are just 34 to 42 of the elusive animals across the entire park.
Photograph by Drew Rush
High school friends enjoy a thermal spring near Gardiner, Montana. - 10 min outside park entrance there
In this 1997 photo, women soak in a thermal spring near Gardiner, Montana, just outside Yellowstone National Park. The park itself contains over 10,000 geothermal features, including mudpots and boiling springs, but it’s illegal to bathe in most of them—they’re dangerously hot.
Photograph by Annie Griffiths
Archival photo of Thomas Moran, a landscapist, photographed at Mammoth Hot Springs. Jackson's photographs and Moran's sketches influenced Congress to name Yellowstone the first national park in 1872. Wyoming
William Henry Jackson’s 1871 photo shows landscape painter Thomas Moran at Mammoth Hot Springs in what is now Yellowstone. Jackson’s photos and Moran’s color sketches influenced U.S. Congress to create the national park in 1872.
Photograph courtesy Wyoming University of American Heritage Center, original photograph by William Henry Jackson
a lone bison stands in the snow
In the winter, Yellowstone’s bison can be found near hydrothermal areas and along the Madison River. They can migrate up to 70 miles between seasons.
Photograph by Sarah Leen
National Park Service biologist Doug Smith approaches a gray wolf that’s been shot with a tranquilizer dart. While it’s sedated, Smith will give it a quick physical exam and fit it with a radio collar. Recently, wolves were re-listed as an endangered species and researchers continue to monitor them closely.
Photograph by David Guttenfelder
The elk migrations in Yellowstone.
Elk herds migrate between their winter ranges in valleys across Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho to higher elevations in Yellowstone National Park in the summer.
Photograph by Joe Riis
Geologic formations underwater in Yellowstone National Park.
Large craters, spires, hydrothermal vents, and fissures—remnants of the lava flow from an ancient eruption—line the floor of Yellowstone Lake.
Photograph by Brian J. Skerry
Aerial of mist rising from Alum Creek in Hayden Valley
Alum Creek runs through Hayden Valley in the center of Yellowstone Park. It’s one of the park’s best wildlife-spotting areas in warmer months, when the marshy zone lures feeding bison, bears, and moose.
Photograph by Norbert Rosing
Two couples camp in Yellowstone National Park.
Campers pose at Yellowstone National Park, where overnight options range from primitive tent sites to the iconic Old Faithful Inn, a circa-1904 log lodge.
Photograph by Erika Larsen
Elk in chest deep snow in view of cross country skiers. Yellowstone
Photographer Frank Jay Haynes (1853–1921) caught elk and cross-country skiers in the deep snow of a Yellowstone winter in 1908. Though many of the park’s roads are closed in colder months, some of its lodges and facilities remain open to visitors.
Photograph by F. J. Haynes
Tourists horseback ride in Yellowstone's Lamar Valley. Wyoming
Nicknamed “America’s Serengeti” due to its easy-to-spot populations of bison, pronghorns, and other animals, Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley can be explored by foot, car, or horseback.
Photograph by Erika Larsen
Archival photos of Fountain Paint Pots, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
In a 1971 photo, tourists walk along the Fountain Paint Pot Trail, which wends past geothermal formations including hot springs, geysers, mudpots, and fumaroles.
Photograph by Sam Abell
Helicopter flies over forest fires in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.
A helicopter flies over forest fires in Yellowstone National Park in 2008. Forest fires play an important role in the park’s ecosystem, where some vegetation has evolved to depend on sporadic blazes.
Photograph by Michael S. Quinton
The Mollie's wolf pack investigates grizzly bear tracks in Yellowstone's Pelican Valley. Wyoming
Gray wolves investigate grizzly bear tracks in Yellowstone’s Pelican Valley. Once endangered, the wolves were reintroduced to the area between 1995 and 1997; as of late 2021, 95 lived in the park.
Photograph by Ronan Donovan
Wolves and black billed magpies scavenge at Yellowstone National Park's carcass dump for dead animal removal. Wyoming
Wolves and black-billed magpies scavenge at a carcass “dump.” These posted areas throughout the park keep animal remains away from crowds of visitors.
Photograph by Michael Nichols, Ronan Donovan and the National Park Service
Birds fly near nests built into a cliff. Yellowstone
Cliff swallows—one of 150 bird species that live in Yellowstone—fly near their cliffside mud nests.
Photograph by Melissa Farlow
In Yellowstone's Hayden Valley a classic car drives by a bison resting in the sun. Wyoming
A man drives past a bison sitting in the sun in Yellowstone’s Hayden Valley.
Photograph by David Guttenfelder
Archival photos of visitors sitting on an overlook to see all the scenic views. Yellowstone Falls Wyoming
In this 1940 photograph, visitors gaze out at the Lower Falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River.
Photograph by Edwin L. Wisherd
A red fox, Vulpes vulpes, rests on a snowy hillside in the distance. Yellowstone, Montana
A red fox sits in the snow in Yellowstone National Park. Foxes, coyotes, and wolves all make their homes here.
Photograph by Robbie George
With reporting by Jon Waterman (from National Geographic’s Atlas of the National Parks), Todd Wilkinson (from National Geographic’s Yellowstone: The Science and Splendor of the Park), Joe Yogerst (from National Geographic’s 100 Parks, 5000 Ideas), and John Briley.

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