Pincredible Parks

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National Park Service

an aerial view of a geyser with steam rising from it's center

Yellowstone National Park

Grand Prismatic Spring

Grand Prismatic Spring from above

Grand Prismatic Spring was noted by geologists working in the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871, and named by them for its striking coloration. Its colors match most of those seen in the rainbow dispersion of white light by an optical prism: red, orange, yellow, green, and blue.

an aerial view of a blue crater in the desert

Nature

Dazed And Confused Movie

Nature Style

National Park Service

Yellowstone National

Beauty And Fashion

Grand Prismatic Spring

a green and yellow substance in the middle of a body of water with steam rising from it

Thermal Features

Yellowstone National Park preserves the most extraordinary collection of hot springs, geysers, mudpots, and fumaroles on Earth. More than 10,000 hydrothermal features are found here, of which more than 500 are geysers. #nationalpark

an aerial view of the yellowstone river in winter with snow on the ground and trees around it

Art Facts

Scorpio Rising

National Park Vacation

Belleza Natural

Hot Springs

Microorganisms called thermophiles, or heat lovers, make their homes in the hydrothermal features of Yellowstone. Although individually they are too small to be seen with the naked eye, so many are grouped together in the park's hydrothermal features—trillions!—that they often appear as mats of color. These microorganisms are also called extremophiles because they inhabit environments that are extreme to human life. Imagine living in water at near-boiling temperatures, with the alkalinity of baking soda, or with acidity that can burn holes in clothing. Microorganisms in Yellowstone not only exist in such conditions, but require these extremes to thrive.

an aerial view of a geyser with steam rising from it's surface

Grand Prismatic Spring

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone’s largest hot spring, is 200-330 feet in diameter and more than 121 feet deep. #yellowstone #nationalpark #travel

an image of a hot spring in the middle of nowhere

National Park Camping

Science Experiment

Road Trip Usa

Parks And Recreation

Yellowstone National Park

the mountains are covered in snow as the sun sets over the sand dunes and hills

Us National Parks

Travel Colorado

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Great Sand Dunes

Sand Dunes National Park

Mountain Road

Colorado Travel

Sandbox

Great Sands Dune Sunset

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is a sandy playground where you can marvel at towering dunes and try to convince yourself that sand in places it shouldn't be is just part of the experience. Sounds legit. But wait, there’s more. Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve spans over 30 miles and contains over 5 billion cubic meters of sand to create the largest sandbox in North America. (Please don’t tell your cat.)

the mountains are covered in snow and brown grass

Outdoorsy Aesthetic

Desert Environment

Mountain Valley

Layer up

The dunes were formed by the right combinations of wind, water, and sediment. Creeks and streams brought in large amounts of sediment and sand into the valley. The wind then blew the sand toward the bend in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, where opposing storm winds helped squeeze the sand into the tall dunes you see today.

Dark Sky Park

Brain Parts

Moonless Night

Great Sand Dunes

The dune field with the tallest dunes in North America spreads across 30 square miles (78 sq. km), a unique high-altitude desert environment.

some yellow flowers are in the middle of sand dunes and there is no image here to provide a caption for

Ripples in the sand

Sand dunes are created when wind deposits sand on top of each other until a small mound starts to form. These dunes form when complex wind patterns alternate direction and change the way sand is piled onto the dune. By changing wind direction, the sand piles up on multiple sides of the dune and is unable to reach the angle of repose so the dune never collapses. This is how the tallest dune at the park, known simply as the Star Dune, reached over 750 feet in height.

two elk walking through the desert with mountains in the background

Alpine Tundra

Great Sand Dunes Elk

Elk prefer open grasslands, avoiding forests when possible. In the San Luis Valley, they may seasonally migrate up into montane meadows or alpine tundra, but some herds stay on the valley floor year-round. I

Dream Vacation Spots

Aesthetic Nature

Great Sand Dunes

The tallest dunes in North America are the centerpiece in a diverse landscape of grasslands, wetlands, forests, alpine lakes, and tundra

wildflowers and other flowers in a field

Mid July

Mount Rainier National Park

Rainier National Park

Flowers of Mount Rainier

Mount Rainer's renowned wildflowers bloom for a limited amount of time every year. The "peak" bloom for wildflowers is heavily dependent on weather and precipitation patterns, so accurate predictions are difficult. In most years, many flowers will be blooming by mid-July, and by the first of August the meadows should be very impressive.

wildflowers, daisies and other flowers in a field

Mountain flowers

Mount Rainier National Park

Ascending to 14,410 feet above sea level, Mount Rainier stands as an icon in the Washington landscape. An active volcano, Mount Rainier is the most glaciated peak in the contiguous U.S.A., spawning five major rivers. Subalpine wildflower meadows ring the icy volcano while ancient forest cloaks Mount Rainier’s lower slopes. Wildlife abounds in the park’s ecosystems. A lifetime of discovery awaits.