Inspired by a recent trip to Yellowstone National Park, this gallery contains some of the country's most spectacular national parks, as seen from space.

Yellowstone's geothermal features are strange enough from the ground, but from orbit they seem even more incongruous (above). The Landsat 7 image below shows Yellowstone Lake and the entire park in false color, which highlights certain features that might not stand out in true color. Water appears dark blue or black, and snow is light blue. Grass fields appear light green, the dark red-and-green is mature forest, and young forest, such as has grown back since the 1988 wildfires, is pink.

This collection of 21 national parks and one monument includes many of our favorites we've visited and a few we hope to add to the list someday.

Location: Wyoming, Montana, Idaho
Established: March 1, 1872
Size: 3,468 square miles
Visitors in 2010: 3,640,185

Yellowstone was the first national park in the country, and in the world. Its famous geothermal features -- including the Grand Prismatic Spring (shown above), Old Faithful and more than 200 other geysers -- are fueled by a mantle hotspot. The park's other main attractions are its many large mammal species including grizzly bear, moose, gray wolf, lynx and bison. And of course, the excellent trout fishing.

More info at nps.gov

Images: Above: GeoEye. Below: NASA.