YELLOWSTONE
NATIONAL PARK
INTRO
On this Earth where almost everything has been touched, terraformed or changed in some way by people, few places have the privilege to stand as they are or as they have for thousands of years. Yellowstone National Park which conquers an area of 2 million acres is one of those that are maybe not completely untouched, but that is rather in this case helped as if to create the closest atmosphere and ecosystem that was present long before people walked its land. The way that this park exists through it’s harsh winters, hopeful springs, warm summers, lukewarm autumns, and the way it serves its inhabitants feels like a simulation trapped under one of those snow globe spheres. I am of course speaking about the parts of the park where humans don’t really venture and leave the animals to roam as they were always intended to. At the mercy of nature and its food chain.
As for the human presence, and their usually complicated relationship with nature, this is where the aforementioned “help” comes into play in the form of park rangers who must always stay vigilant against the natural curiosity of the park's visitors. But still, this relationship between the staff and visitors starts with the notion that without the staff, visitors would destroy Yellowstone, and ends with the notion that without visitors, Yellowstone would not be a national park.
Canyons, ravines, waterfalls to rival Niagara, magnificent bison herds, cougars and wolves always on the prowl, condors building their nests, people coming for beautiful vistas and some semblance of a simpler life long gone, and all of it lies and exists in harmony over what can be best described as the Earth’s fiery core itself.
Furthermore, what makes this park a true titan among its counterparts, which is surprisingly not only its size, but the clear juxtaposition between its peaceful surface and fiery depths where an active volcano lurks and rages, seeping a bit onto the surface through thermal pools and almost boiling geyser water, making itself known to its visitors every hour, every day.
So the question stands, how does this specific park bring peace and beauty instead of a looming anxiety that should come with the long overdue, continent destroying eruption?