YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - CHAPTER ONE

How can one begin to describe the magnitude, the mysterious wonderment, the awesome beauty of the  first national park and largest active geothermal caldera in the world.

As author Ken Burns has stated, " When you're there, you feel like you are at the moment of creation."

There is a hushed reverence as visitors like myself walk over this landscape which holds a wealth of ancient geological history and yet continues to hiss, steam, bubble and spew randomly its contents from a trembling source beneath my feet.

My words are inadequate so I will quote John Muir from 1901.
"The park is full of exciting wonders. The wildest geysers in the world, in bright, triumphant bands are dancing and singing in it amidst thousands of boiling springs, beautiful and awful, their basins arrayed in gorgeous colours like gigantic flowers, and hot paint pots, mud springs, mud volcanoes, mush and broth caldrons whose contents are of every colour and consistency, plash and heave and roar in bewildering abundance. "

So here are my photos of a few of the 10, 000  geysers, hot springs, mud pots and fumaroles in Yellowstone.

WEST THUMB GEYSER BASIN

YELLOWSTONE LAKE and the ABSAROKA MOUNTAINS in the background

LITTLE CALDRONS SIZZLING ON THE LAKESIDE

FISHING CONE

ABYSS POOL

UPPER GEYSER BASIN

OLD FAITHFUL

BLUE STAR GEYSER

MILES OF BOARDWALK

MORTAR GEYSER

CASTLE GEYSER

SAWMILL GEYSER

SPASMOTIC GEYSER

BELGIAN POOL

WAVE SPRING

BEAUTY POOL

GIANT GEYSER

MASTIFF GEYSER

GROTTO GEYSER

SPA GEYSER

CHROMATIC POOL

MORNING GLORY POOL

RIVERSIDE GEYSERTHE THREE PHOTOS SHOW THE PROGRESSION IN OUR 1/2 HOUR WAIT 

BLACK SAND BASIN

CLIFF GEYSER

SUNSET LAKE

EMERALD POOL


BISCUIT BASIN

BLACK OPAL SPRING

 WALL POOL

Heat loving microorganisms called thermophiles construct coloured communities that tangle into fragile mats in the shallow water that is also fed by minerals rich in colour around the geysers.

 SAPPHIRE POOL

MUSTARD SPRING

 AVOCA SPRING

SHELL SPRING

JEWEL GEYSER



MIDWAY GEYSER BASIN

HOT SPRINGS RUNNING INTO THE FIREHOLE RIVER

EXCELSIOR GEYSER CRATER

GETTING A FACIAL SPA

GRAND PRISMATIC SPRING

circumference of 275 meters

TURQUOISE POOL

WHITE DOME GEYSER
The surprise of the day as we did not expect to see it erupt.



FOUNTAIN PAINT POTS

LEATHER POOL 

RED SPOUTER 

 SPASM GEYSER

And that was the end of a very full day of walking, observing, smelling and listening to the magnificence of the major geyser basins. We didn't see it all but what we saw left us with a sense of awe and wonderment of our God who has and is continuing to create.