Travel Information for Wyoming
Posted By:
Floyd Zamarripa
on 2 January, 2007
Wyoming is a beautiful state filled with natural wonders and really evokes a sense of the American West. The name has origins in the native Algonquin word meaning, "large prairie place". Appropriate names aside, the state also is home to incredible mountains and is like no other place on earth.
The western spirit thrives in Wyoming and may consider it the essential cowboy state. The history is rich with Native American culture, including the Crow, Arapaho, Sioux, and Shoshone. The first white American to enter the state was probably John Colter in 1807. As part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition it was his job to report back information on the area. His reports over the Yellowstone area were largely considered fictional, on the count that such a place could never exist. Today, this beautiful park is one of the most visited in the nation.
Yellowstone National Park is the first and oldest national park in the world. Covering nearly 4,000 square miles filled with geysers, hot springs, supervolcano, and other geothermal features. The world's most famous geyser, Old Faithful, is located at the heart of the park, where it shoots an average of 6,000 gallons of boiling water over 100 feet every 60-90 minutes.
Over six million people visited Wyoming's national parks and monuments in 2002 alone, but only three million visited Yellowstone. Grand Teton National Park offers visitors a part of the Rocky Mountains and the incredibly popular Cathedral Group of mountain peaks. The Pony Express National Historic Trail is represented in Wyoming with exhibits and centers for historical information for visitors.
The weather in Wyoming is cool, dry, and windy, compared to the rest of the nation. Temperatures range from 90 degrees Fahrenheit in the warm summers to surprisingly varied winters. The winters are always cold, but range from extreme cold to mild without any advance warning. Hail is one of the leading causes for damage and the state is known for it throughout the nation. Thunderstorms are more likely to occur during the late spring and early summer. Southwestern Wyoming is the most vulnerable to tornado activity, although activity diminishes rapidly the further away you are from the corner.
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