Gentle viewer -- As noted before, while in Yellowstone, I discovered that it didn't make sense to record things simply in static images because I often ran into situations where there were sounds and motion needed to make a scene whole. So, I took massive advantage of the video feature on my camera and made many short (and the occasional not too short) film clips. The film clips have thumbnails that are much smaller but should play as videos easily if your browser is properly configured.
Our third day in Yellowstone was to be our last. We had arranged to go on a ranger guided hike early in the morning which made sense given the heat and had a few geyser basins to see before we began the trek back to Jackson and civilization and eventually home. To make the hike, we got up early, perhaps a little too early because I forgot to reset the flash
and so it wasn't until these pictures that you can see Suzanne's eggs
Ben's pancakes
and my vegetarian breakfast tacos. We were all too early in the day to have ourselves recorded while eating.
We drove to the start of the hike which was in an area of lodgepole pine forest where there had been damage in the fires of 1988
but it was explained to us that this pine cone which hadn't been exposed to fire was too tightly wrapped to allow its seeds (potentially 50,000 of them) to escape and plant new trees (so fire can be a good thing).
We made our way to Ojo Caliente Spring
and watched it bubble
and then after a wildflower picture
we saw the Firehole River
and this buffalo poop
before coming across the first mud pot of the hike. Because of the dry conditions, the mud pots we were to see were not as impressive as they might have been but we were still impressed.
As we learned about mud pots
we also looked out at geysers in the distance
and trees that had been destroyed by thermal patterns
with a pause to record this pine cone that will (or has) released its seeds to make new trees.
As on previous hikes, we saw a variety of thermal features but what made these different is that they were off the tourist trail and so were not labeled and were there just for us (we didn't see other tourists on our entire hike).
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On our way to the next geyser basin, we stopped to learn about the Nez Perce campaign with Ben taking these pictures at the road side pull out
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This crow greeted us in the parking lot
at Black Sand Geyser
where we began with Emerald Pool
and its description of life on the edge
before we recorded life on the edge
and moved on to Sunset Lake
and Cliff Geyser
and Sprouter Geyser
and on to Opalescent Pool which was the last of the features.
We drove back to the Lodge at Old Faithful where these were our lunch choices
and this salad
was Suzanne's choice
as this personal cheese pizza was for me
and Ben had chicken tenders with macaroni and cheese and potato salad.
As I took this self portrait
we watched Old Faithful get ready through the window by our table
and then went out after lunch to watch the geyser develop
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Next we did the Geyser Loop around Old Faithful
starting with Pump Geyser
and then moving on to Sponge Geyser
where we found this bison poop
even though conditions would suggest it wasn't a good place for the buffalo to roam.
Together Ben and Suzanne changed this sign
but not the thermal feature
and we made our way to Doublet Pool
and Aurum Geyser
followed by the Lion Geyser Group
pausing to look back at the Inn
before Beehive Geyser
and Anemone Geyser
which was supposed to be getting ready to explode
so we waited and surveyed the scenery
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