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The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Cut by the Yellowstone River. |
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One of the many waterfalls in this striking place. The abundance of
water and the mountains running through the park, produce many such wonders. |
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Another look up the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. There are walkways,
and stairs leading down to the rivers, and along side the falls. I did not
take advantage of this on my first trip, but did go down, years latter when
I returned with my brother. |
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An area flooded by the water escaping from underground. There were many
such areas around the geyser basins. The "rotten egg" smell of sulfides permeates
all of the thermal areas, but does not seem at all offensive or unpleasant
in these surroundings. |
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Crossing the bridge over the hot water area, I was immersed in a cloud
of steam. In the cold weather, it actually felt kind of good. |
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A geyser with a raised edge deposited around it. This looks like a thermal
pool until the rising water in the center is noticed. |
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Another shot of the pool, this time in the midst of a minor eruption.
This is not one of the more spectacular geysers, but the eruptions are almost
constant. |
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People dressed for the weather of early fall in the mountains. They
were crossing a bridge over one of the many flooded thermal areas. |
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These trees were flooded, killed, and are in the process of being petrified
by the encroachment of the mineral rich waters of the thermal features. |
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A particularly desolate and sterile looking image of one of the geyser
basins near the end of the day. Night falls quickly, and unevenly in the mountain
areas. The woods had already turned dark, and the geyser basin I was in had
been faded into twilight. |
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A hot, natural pool billows steam across the landscape. |
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Make a wish, anyone? I am no strict conservationist, but I sometimes
marvel that people are able to do such things. It would not occur to me to
throw a coin into a pool which it took thousands of years of geologic activity
to create, but perhaps I lack imagination. |
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A close up look inside of a boiling cauldron. |
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A look up the river, at one of the Geyser basins. |
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The river of smoke, or so it seemed to me. This is the Firehole River
again. |
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A fair amount of the runoff from thermal features finds it's way into
the Firehole River. This doesn't seem to harm the fish, and may even be beneficial. |