Yellowstone, the first national park in the world, was established by the U.S. Congress in 1872 and has welcomed millions of visitors in the 139 years since. Last year, Yellowstone recorded its highest number of visitors ever, as some 3.6 million people passed through its gates. Its well-known geothermal features -- geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles -- owe their existence to the massive Yellowstone Caldera, a 45-mile-wide volcanic system beneath the park. Tourists are also drawn to Yellowstone's hundreds of species of wildlife, massive waterfalls, and incredible vistas. Collected below are a few recent views of Yellowstone National Park. [41 photos]
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A rainbow appears at the base of the Yellowstone River Lower Falls in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, on June 21, 2011. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart)
A rainbow appears at the base of the Yellowstone River Lower Falls in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, on June 21, 2011. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart)
Tourists watch the "Old Faithful" geyser, which erupts on average every 90 minutes, in Yellowstone National Park, on June 1, 2011. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images) #
Grizzly bear cubs play on the snow in the Hayden Valley in Yellowstone National Park, on June 24, 2011. Picture taken June 24, 2011. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #
View of the "Morning Glory" hot spring with its unique colors caused by brown, orange and yellow algae-like bacteria that thrive in the cooling water, turning the vivid aqua-blue to a murkier greenish brown, in Yellowstone National Park, on June 2, 2011. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images) #
The Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest in the United States and third largest in the world, in Yellowstone National Park, photographed on June 22, 2011. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #
The view of the Absaroka Mountain Range of the north eastern stretch of park at sunrise in Yellowstone National Park, on June 22, 2011. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #
A wolf walks with a pair of elk legs in the Hayden Valley, after killing and eating the elk, in Yellowstone National Park, on June 20, 2011. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #
Michael Smith, center, prepares dinner for son Parker Smith, left, and wife Stacy Smith, right, at their camp site near Norris in Yellowstone National Park, on June 23, 2011. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #
The shadow of a pine tree on a eroding cliff face composed of columnar basalt, near Tower Falls, in Yellowstone National Park, on June 22, 2011. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #
A bison rubs scratches itself against a fire hydrant to help remove molting fur, outside the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel in Yellowstone National Park, on May 15, 2011. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images) #
A calf in a herd of bison in the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park, on June 22, 2011. On average over 3,000 bison live in the park. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #
A gray wolf and its nursing pups are pictured in Yellowstone National Park in this photograph obtained on May 4, 2011. Federal protections for some 1,200 gray wolves in Montana and Idaho officially ended on May 5, under unprecedented legislation passed by Congress last month removing them from the endangered species list. (Reuters/National Park Service) #
Silica from geysers (front) and the partially frozen Yellowstone Lake (back) at the West Thumb Geyser Basin in the Yellowstone National Park, on June 2, 2011. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images) #
Sunset Lake hot spring, lined with unique colors caused by multicolored algae-like bacteria called thermophiles that thrive in the cooling water, turning the vivid aqua-blues to a murkier greenish brown. Photographed in Yellowstone National Park, on June 1, 2011. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images) #
A black bear runs across a road bridge spanning the Yellowstone River near Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park, on June 24, 2011. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart) #
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