Need a geyser picture? –how about another hydrothermal feature (there are 10,000 of them in the park!...and I think we saw them all but 3! ;-) ) such as a hot spring, fumarote, mudpot???? Got ‘em—by the hundreds! Today we went first to Old Faithful (called that because of its predictability, not size) —quite an experience. Eruption times are posted and folks start gathering up to sit on the provided benches. It is so exciting! We then took the 2+ mile walk around the entire Upper Geyser basin. Geyser, after geyser, after geyser! The pools are really very beautiful because of their coloring—which is determined by heat loving organisms, algae, bacteria, and archaea. Believe it or not, scientists extracted an enzyme from one of these bacterias which contributed to developing DNA finger-printing! Maybe they could find an enzyme to take care of that Pine Bark Beetle that is destroying all those beautiful pine trees in the Black Hills. ;-) The different rings of colors in the pool are attributed to the type of organism that can live in the temperature of the water…blue-160 degrees, green-140 degrees, yellow-120 degrees, orange-100 degrees, and red (my favorite color) 80 degrees. They are difficult to photograph because the steam rising from them clouds the picture. But they are spectacular to view. Jeremy and Jacalyn…not sure you could stand it up here…so much Burnt Orange! My pictures almost don’t look real, the colors are so vivid!
It got cool here today. We left the camper at 9:00 (after sleeping almost 11 hours!) and the temperature was 46, but the sky was clear with the sun shining. As we progressed on our walk the wind would pick up in spots and blow straight through us. Seems even cooler tonight.
We crossed the Continental Divide twice today, well, actually 4 times if you count coming back to camp and stopped to take a picture like all the other tourists!
I am getting so many beautiful photos. I am trying to keep up with my printing and getting them in my album, but am starting to lag behind. Mary Alice was right…I’ll probably need 2 albums for this trip!
So, that is all the news today from the McCamper, where the women are tired, the men cooking frozen pizza for dinner, and as far as we know the above average children are still at home after an extra long weekend!
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....and the good news about the truck breaking down, is that it allows you more time to work on your album! Bet you didn't see that coming.
ReplyDeleteOn my childhood trip to Yellowstone we, of course, visited Old Faithful as well. I don't know if we were early of it was late, but we were there a LONG time (maybe because of the earthquake that would happen later). Anyway, I remember thinking, and I think even voicing, that I can't imagine what they're waiting for, why don't they go ahead and turn on the water. lol