Yellowstone - Part 1: Thermal Features

OK, lets get his part over with. Of course you go to Yellowstone to see the geysers, mud pots, hot springs, color pools and to get the smell of sulphur up your nose. This would be our third trip to Yellowstone and we have done the Old Faithful walk each time. It is amazing every time. One of the things that strikes me as odd is that as the crowds gather at the appointed time of eruption you can collect on benches that form a semicircle around the fountain. Everything is quiet. People are silent or talk in quiet voices as they wait. It is very much like a church before services. Perhaps it is THE American church. The eruption happens and then very quietly and gently, the crowd melts away. There is something about it. You don't applaud, you don't cheer, you don't jump to your feet. It seems to engender a quiet awe in your soul.

We went to the geysers on the days before the labor Day rush it. Not that Yellowstone wasn't crowded on Thursday and Friday, but better then than the weekend. It gave us time to wander and to spend time in the smaller geyser basins (Norris, West Thumb) and small thermal feature that we had not visited on previous occasions. If it was hot and stinking we checked it out. We also re-visited the Old Faithful basin (improved boardwalks and pathways here) and Mammoth. Mammoth was later on Friday and it was a zoo so we declined the option of walking through and did a wifi download and elk study.

Here are some pictures: