— On this day on March 1, 1872 — 145 years ago — the first national park was established in the USA. Yellowstone National Park was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant. That event took place years before the National Park Service was created on August 25, 1916, by President Woodrow Wilson. The park is approximately 3,500-sq.-mile (9,065 square km) and sits atop a volcanic hot spot. Yellowstone NP has half of all the world’s known geothermal features and also the largest concentration of geysers (more than 300 geysers). It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This particular hot spring in this photo is located in the Upper Geyser Basin, not too far from the famous Old Faithful. The pool diameter is 60 feet (18.3 m) and reaches a depth of 25 feet (7.6 m). Although misleading in the beauty of the colorful waters, the temperature in the pool ranges from 164 to 175 °F (73 to 79 °C). As one of the largest springs in the park, it is also one of the prettiest thanks to the greenish-blue waters edged with strong orange and yellow bands created by cyanobacteria.
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