As I took I took in this scene, I realized my own littleness, my helplessness, my dread exposure to destruction, my inability to cope with or even comprehend the mighty architecture of nature.  More than all this I felt as never before my entire dependence upon that Almighty Power who had wrought these wonders.  A sense of danger, lest the rock should crumble away, almost overpowered me.  My knees trembled, and I experienced the terror which causes men to turn pale and their countenances to blanch with fear, and I recoiled from the vision I had seen, glad to feel the solid earth beneath me and to realize the assurance of returning to safety.-Nathaniel Pitt Lanford

This is how the first sight of future Yellowstone National Park affected one member of the first official exploration party in 1870.  Langford would go on to campaign for creation of the park, and would be its first superintendent.