(17) Yellowstone NP, Wyoming (Part II)

One of the most famous views of Yellowstone is Old Faithful. The name of the geyser suggests that it is very reliable: it allows tourists to admire its spectacular eruptions every 90 minutes or so (S):

Old Faithful shoots boiling water to a height of about 45m. The eruption that I saw lasted about 2.5 minutes (S):

One more snapshot of Old Faithful's spectacular activity (S):

Midway Geyser Basin area is particularly interesting as it contains two largest hot springs, Excelsior Geyser and the unforgettable Grand Prismatic Spring. Below is the picture of a map of the area:

The steaming earth on the way to the hot springs promises a hellish spectacle. In my diary I labeled this view as an "angry earth";)

Walking on the ridge of Excelsior Geyser Crater felt like walking on the edge of the pit of hell. The last eruptions of this geyser were recorded at the end of the 19h century (there was also one in 1985, but it was totally unpredicted and isolated), but the steam and the noise produced by this once largest geyser in the world provide enough horror and excitement. No wonder Rudyard Kipling called the area "Hell's Half Acre" when he visited the Park in 1889 (S):

The water in the hot springs contains elements and mineral particles which add color to it. The yellow-green belts might as well be algae; however, I preferred to continue associating everything with hell, so for me they meant "sulfur";):

The hot water flowing from hot springs into the Firehole River makes it inaccessible to potential swimmers (though the temperature of the river's water must be inviting;)(S):

Finally, I'm approaching Grand Prismatic Spring. The legend contains all the necessary information:

Because of the size of the Spring, the pictures capture only fragments of the spectacular steaming lake. I loved the contrast between the oranges of the ridge and the turquoise water visible below the steam:

Another snapshot of Grand Prismatic Spring captures the richness of its colors. Mind you, the day was rather overcast, so I could only try to imagine what it would look like in the sun:

And, finally, a sort of panoramic view of the Spring's section - to give you an idea of its huge size (S):

Below is what I would have seen if I had flown in an aeroplane or a helicopter (not that I saw any hovering above) over Grand Prismatic Spring on a sunny day:

Yellowstone is not always so colorful: sometimes the area is grey and desolate, as if something poisonous contaminated the earth and killed all life here:

The cadaverous yellowish color of the water in the spring below may provide an answer:

On the second day of my peregrination through Yellowstone I traveled north to visit the area known as Mammoth Hot Springs. The map below explains that the springs are called "mammoth" because of their size and shapes:

Here is a picture of the most spectacular Mammoth Hot Spring, where the water trickles lazily, but the effect is that of the proverbial still waters that run deep:

Mammoth Hot Spring in close-up. I had to touch the water: it felt warm and didn't burn my hands but I didn't dare to taste it, though the view suggests it must contain a lot of minerals;)

Below Mammoth Hot Spring. Lucky me I didn't taste the water - look what it has done to the trees;) I have a sneaking suspicion though that the trees have not decayed because of some poison contained in the water (like in Poe's pond surrounding the House of Usher) but because the minerals created a crust which prevents water from soaking in the ground. The resulting landscape would fit a fairy-tale world:

The variety of views that Yellowstone offers reminds me of Death Valley, where a kaleidoscope of changing landscapes has a dazzling effect on a traveler:

A panoramic view of northern Yellowstone's beautiful meadows (S):

The picture below shows a very characteristic feature of Yellowstone: every now and then travelers can admire contrasts between the skeletons of burnt trees and the fresh green grass and new little trees, which will provide shelter for the Park's animals. Wildfires are a necessary element of Yellowstone's ecosystem not only because they burn old trees and allow new life to bud in the sunlit areas. Fire is also necessary for lodgepole pine trees to exist: it takes about 25 seconds for a tree to burn down and cones have to open within those precious 25 seconds and release the seeds. Well, timing is very important in nature;) (S):

The area visible in the picture below won't see fire for the next 50 years or so - it was probably burnt in the recent fires of 2001 or 2002. The average area destroyed by wildfires (that is those started by lightnings) amounts to a few hundred hectares. In 1988 massive wildfires, known as the Great Fires of 1988, swept through Yellowstone but - contrary to what some feared - the park began to renew itself very quickly. This view is then not sad but promising (S):

(16) A Trip to Yellowstone NP, Wyoming (Part I)

(S) In order to get to Yellowstone NP from Idaho, we set foot (or, rather: wheel) in Montana, where the western entrance to the Park is situated. Montana is the fourth biggest state in the U.S. (bigger than Poland), but its population is scarce: only about a million inhabitants. The most well-known city in this northern state is probably Billings, but the capital city is Helena. Montana is associated with one major historical event that may ring a bell to the Readers of this blog, namely the most famous battle in the Great Sioux War of 1876-77, the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

The map below (grows if you click on it) illustrates the most popular routes in Yellowstone NP, whose shape looks like an 8. We entered the Park from West Yellowstone and traveled down the lower loop on the first day and up the northern loop on the next day of our peregrination through vast Yellowstone (with the area of about 900 thousand hectares it's bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware taken together). We left the Park through its southern exit leading to Jackson Hole.

Visible in the picture below is the main street, called Yellowstone Avenue, in the tourist town of West Yellowstone, which lives solely on visitors to Yellowstone NP. The town is full of motels, souvenir shops and restaurants (well, diners). Despite the huge number of motels, it wasn't easy to find lodging for two nights but, at long last, we managed to get a shabby (and stinking) room for the extortionate price of over $160 per night! And we considered ourselves lucky because finding a room without prior reservation, when the Park is visited by 3 million tourists a year sounds like a miracle indeed;) (S):

The most striking feature of Yellowstone are its geysers (2/3 of the world's total number of geysers), which are the result of the fact that the Park is situated on a volcano boiling 6 km below the earth's surface. Because of this the earth emits heat, and geological processes can be observed in the Park's hot points. The first picture taken upon our entrance to the Park captures a strange view of steaming grass. (S):

The trip to the first area of geysers in Norris Geyser Basin was an unforgettable experience: the smell of sulphuric acid (like that of rotten eggs) was at first a nuisance, but one can easily get used to tolerating it when the view is so fabulous (S):

Walking among geysers is like walking on the precarious surface of a dormant volcano, hence tourists must walk along the network of wooden trails. The guardrails make sure that people do not fall off the bridges into the hot poisonous mud below (S):

Here is a spectacular outpour of steam getting out straight from the inside of the earth:

The Steamboat Geyser discharges fumes like a chimney on a boat:

Visible below is Dragon's Mouth - not an orchid but a hot spring which is only partially visible: the activity takes place in the cavern and tourist only hear the belching and see the steam over undulating muddy water:

Another mud volcano, still active, if you look closely. The earth around it is very dry:

Yellowstone takes its name after the Yellowstone River, which flows across it, carving a huge canyon in the soft yellow rocks. It seems that the river was named to celebrate the effect of its activity: the uncovered interior of the earth. Click on it to see how spectacular it is (S):

And, finally, the picture of the Yellowstone River's Falls taken from the vantage point situated a little bit lower (S). Everybody's reaction to the spectacle was: "WOW"! I stood amazed at this fairy-tale view and had to pinch myself to believe my eyes: the river's greenish color must be the effect of mixing the water's blue color with the yellow sediment carried from the rocky terrain.

The Yellowstone River's Lower Falls are 93 meters high, no wonder the water is tumbling down with great speed and rumble (S):

The view of the more peaceful section of the Yellowstone River (still speedy though) (S):

The Yellowstone is not the only river in the Park: its many rivers create over 300 spectacular waterfalls:

Yellowstone Lake is the largest body (over 350 square kilometers) of water situated so high (over 2 thousand meters). When you look at it on the map, you see it has a very irregular shape (S):

This picture of Yellowstone Lake was taken on the next day - the comparison of the sky with that visible in the previous picture gives you an idea how changeable the weather was (S):

Yellowstone is associated with bears, especially one very famous Yogi Bear;) However, I didn't see any bears in the area, although they do live in Yellowstone Park. For me, the most memorable encounter with the Park's inhabitants was that with bison (S):

Bison are the largest mammals in the Park and they have survived here since prehistoric times. It seems that Yellowstone's huge meadows providing enough space to graze on and the fact that the habitat has been protected since 1872 have contributed to the animals' growth in number (S).

The beautiful bison couple only looks so friendly and disinterested: you never know when they can become angry and dangerous (S).

Bison feel at home in Yellowstone: they treat vehicles as animals representing another species, dangerous only at night when, unfortunately, many bison get killed because of speedy driving (S).

A bison in close-up: can he mean anything evil? The young bull (I guess) looks friendly and docile, but when he almost put his head inside our vehicle through the open window, I got scared (S):

So, where does the buffalo roam in Yellowstone? Well, anywhere it wants - the buffalo is the king of this place after all, and we were just guests. Thank you, Mister, for your kindness and hospitality;) (S):

(15) Wendover, Utah/Nevada; Craters of the Moon NP, Idaho

Below is the picture of the main street in the little town of Wendover, which is situated literally on the border separating Utah from Nevada. We took a walk up the mountain visible on the left, from which we admired the panorama of the town and its environs (we had a beer or two on the top, but that's off the record;)( S)

(S) A view from the mountain: the plain (still Utah) bathed in the light of the setting sun. One can see a long row of wagons standing there, as if waiting for the engines (usually four) to pull them to their destination farther the West.

Wendover, with its population of slightly over 1500, owes its existence solely to the Transcontinental Railroad, as it served as a station stop on the Western Pacific Railroad (now Union Pacific). The town is quiet, the people living here are rather less than well-off. One might say: "nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes";) (S)

(S) Union Pacific wagons in close-up:

However, life seems to focus in the western part of the settlement, which makes up a separate town called West Wendover, easily confused with Wendover, Utah. West Wendover belongs to Nevada, so it prides itself on casinos and a bigger population of almost 5 thousand. The lights are already on, inviting gamblers from Utah, or simply those who want to DO SOMETHING in this sleepy area.

The biggest casino in West Wendover was so kitsch inside that it was beautiful;) And, to my surprise, it was full... of older people: pensioners searching for a thrill and an opportunity to spend their well-deserved pension money. We were the youngest visitors to this temple of hazard in the middle of nowhere.

After the night in a Wendover motel we traveled north: our next destination was Yellowstone NP, so we had to make a trip through Idaho (S):

In Idaho we visisted Craters of the Moon. The area was once described as "the surface of the moon as seen through a telescope". The area's weird landscape made President Coolidge establish Craters of the Moon National Monument in 1924. We took a scenic ride along the park loop road, as illustrated on the map.

The strange landscape in Craters of the Moon is of volcanic origin (not of meteorite impact, as the name would suggest). However, the lava did not spew from a volcano but from the "Great Rift" - long fissures across the Snake River Plain, where the NM is situated (S).

The lava which produced this vast sea of rock started surfacing about 15 000 years ago, but about 2,000 years ago there was another eruption. Geologists say it's not over;)

The bizarre shapes made of basalt: the blocks of lava grow from the surface like trees in an orchard, except that they look ominous (S):

A walk along accessible trails felt like a walk on the surface of the moon indeed - not that I know what the surface of the moon looks like, but the view was unearthly (S):

Surprisingly, the lava fields only look so barren: plants and trees are quite frequent here:

A walk up this cone took me about half an hour (when you get to the top you see another hill of equal height but steeper!). Exposed to the heat and thirsty (I did not take the water, thinking my trip would end soon), I finished the climb almost crawling, but it was worth the effort (S):

A final glimpse at the lunar surface, which some might find even depressing (S):