Yellowstone National Park

Elaine, Me and Nicole at Yellowstone

I found the landscape and terrain at Yellowstone so different to anything I have ever seen before, it was fascinating, but I wished I knew more about geography other than the generic, landscape formed by volcanoes and placed on a fault line.  We saw so many incredible things including geysers, and hot pots, and dramatic waterfalls; as well as exciting animals.

One day we got up early to miss the crowds and went to Old Faithful, so named because it spouts hot water and steam straight up into the air at regular 90 minute intervals.  We had just finished watching it and were walking around some of the other curious holes in the ground, some of which were fairly dull looking and muddy, some beautiful and bright blue, some a peculiar shade of grey; when another started spouting huge shoots of water and steam into the air.  As soon as that finished another, named 'the castle' because of its shape which had a built up cone created over thousands of years, put on a performance, and then it was time for Old Faithful to go off again so we watched it for a second time and then enjoyed a late breakfast.

Some of the pools were a bright blue colour and filled with warm steamy water and looked terribly inviting.  It seems hard to believe that the water is boiling and dangerous, and that the caves at the bottom of them may be bottomless and lead to a molten centre of the earth.  Some of the geysers smelt terrible, and some didn't and some were quiet, and others hissed gently, or made funny bubbling noises or even roared and gurgled.  We walked around the whole area on wooden boardwalks, and you could see destruction caused by the geysers, vegetation had been killed off, and there were warning signs everywhere telling you to stick to the path as the earths crust was so fragile in places you could fall through, it seemed so contrary to the normal world we usually live in it was hard to believe, despite the evidence before my eyes.

Some of the algae and tiny creatures that live around the pools create brightly coloured patterns around the whole scene.  I was reminded of my reading and photographs of Roturoa in New Zealand, and I can't wait to go there and see what that is like - a shame I will be nearly two hundred years to late for the pink and white terraces.