Please enjoy this link...I play it several times for my students during the school year. We have even documented the chain of things that were affected by the return of the wolves to Yellowstone...

How Wolves have affected Yellowstone


I have been to a magical place!


A day spent at Yellowstone certainly has become a highlight in my heart and memories.
Yellowstone National Park was the very first National Park designated in 1872 and was named after the major river running through it, the Yellowstone River. 
Yellowstone is like a tale of many environments. We came in via the west side of the park which took us past five geyser basins, including Old Faithful. Old Faithful is the worlds largest known geyser. It erupts  about every 90 minutes. People fill up the viewing area to watch it erupt. When Old Faithful is done, it fills up with more people for the next eruption. I enjoyed watching Old Faithful but was much more intrigued by the mud pots which looked and sounded more like a gurgling bowl of hot cereal.  A mud pot is like a natural double boiler. Hydrogen sulfide gas is usually present, giving mud pots their characteristic odor of rotten eggs. Some microorganisms use the hydrogen sulfide for energy. The microbes help convert the gas to sulfuric acid, which breaks down rock into clay. The result is a gooey mix.
The colors surrounding the geysers is beautiful brought out by living microorganisms and sunshine.
Yellowstone is considered a volcano. Over the past 2 million years there have been huge volcanic eruptions here. The magmatic heat that fueled those eruptions still powers the geysers that people go to see there everyday.
The elevation for us got as high as 10,000 feet in some areas. (eek)
Vegetation in the park is so diverse. It ranges from desert sagebrush to subalpine Aspens to forests of Douglas Fir, spruce and Lodgepole pines.
And then there is the wildlife! Did I mention my favorite animal is the buffalo.
The American buffalo has come to symbolize the Native American Culture, which I feel a spiritual connection too. It also serves as a reminder of what greed can cost us, as we almost lost the American buffalo from our own irresponsibility,  as is the case with many animal and plant species. The American buffalo was a huge part of Native American life. They hunted the buffalo and used every part of the animal.  Nothing was left to waste, a lesson we all could learn from and live by.
We saw so many buffalo at Yellowstone that I was in buffalo heaven. People actually sit in lawn chairs alongside their vehicles and watched the buffaloes. There were no fences and no cages. It was spiritual. My heart was smiling.
We also encountered two bears. One I watched lumbar down the hill.  The other, a smaller Grizzly (I think) walked out of the trees and basically stood on a log and looked right at me. I thanked him for allowing me to take his picture and we drove on. Our evening was filled with elk, antelope, two baby wolves and deer. What a glorious place for a lover of all things natural!  I must go back again...

Look at this guy!

walked right past our car

eating so peacefully

tail waging

A herd of buffalo living freely

This is so neat! In case you don't know what this is.....I was standing on the spot where all the
water on one side of me runs toward the Pacific Ocean and all the water on the other side of me runs into the
Mississippi River.   Who discovered that???

Beautiful wildflowers

Old Faithful

Friendly Park Ranger

Didn't have to tell me twice!