Hot Water

August 11, 2007—I headed back into the park from West Yellowstone and started winding my way south. The central part of the park is within a massive volcanic crater, hence all the geysers, hot springs, etc. First stop was Firepot Falls…

Then I came into the Lower Geyser Basin and took a nice little informative walk. This area until recently was grass and trees, but then one day there was an earthquake and scalding hot, toxic water started spewing up from the ground. Here some of the former trees still stand, drown in the caustic water.

Then there were some beautiful blue hot spring pools…

Surrounded by vivid sulfur and other mineral deposits.

Another type of volcanic activity—paint pots. Crazy boiling mud.

And these fumaroles… which made a crazy sound like wind through a tunnel.

The landscape of lower geyser basin…

And a little geyser


On my way back along the nice little walk I spotted this idiot… trying to collect some of the corrosive, toxic water in a water bottle. I’m sorry, but being foreign (Japanese, in this case) does not give you an excuse to be plain stupid. Even worse--his little wife holding her dainty umbrella, patiently waiting by his side making sure he didn’t fall in.

Next I went on a long hike to Fairy Falls. Since I was in Wyoming, I decided to play it up and pull out my cowboy hat (I was also hiking in the sun, so I had some reason!).

The trail skirted the Middle Geyser Basin, so I got a far-off view of this crazy hot spring, called Jewel Pond. A dense blue steam was rising off the huge spring, and—most amazing—actually turning from blue to green to yellow to red as it was blown off the surface. You can somewhat see the progression in this picture…

I took this picture of the “pond” from a hilltop nearby—

Then the trail turned away from the basin toward the falls. As with most of the western part of the park, the area was badly fire scarred. You can see the old dead trees and new spruce coming up. I imagine in another 10 years this place will probably actually look like a forest again.

With all the dead trees that had toppled over, it truly looked in some spots like the gods were playing Pick-up Sticks.

Finally I got to Fairy Falls. It was totally worth the trek—in close to the falls was shaded and cool, plus there was a spray of mist continually blowing out from the base of the falls.

The falls were absolutely mesmerizing. The water fell a long way, turning it to whitewater, but the base of the falls was a rocky slope where the whitewater trickled down, making dynamic patterns on the rough wall.

The area around the falls was pretty as well…

Finally I came to Upper Geyser Basin, the home of Old Faithful. While I waited for it to blow, I took another boardwalk tour over more dangerously beautiful formations. This one was so pretty I wanted to take a dip… maybe I’ll just remember the cool scalloped edges and shallow shelves for my future pool’s design when I’m rich, instead ;-)

I picked a spot among the crowds and waited for Old Faithful to blow. This is what the area looks like most of the time…

And here’s the requisite picture of Old Faithful.

I took a video, too, but sorry I forgot you can’t rotate a video and you’ll have to rotate your head instead.

Thus with the necessary sights seen, I continued south out of Yellowstone. On the way I caught a glimpse of yet another massive fire (that’s Yellowstone Lake in the foreground).

I crossed over into Grand Teton National Park, and was saddened to see yet more fires had nearly obscured the famous big titties.

I did see some wildlife, though, including a moose in the river (very far away, sorry bad photo quality) and herds of antelope and gazelle.

The smoke also made for a very interesting light effect at the oft-photographed Snake River Overlook.

And my favorite, a little down the road.

I went down to Jackson Hole for the night. This is a rich tourist trap… with old-west false fronted buildings housing traditional shops such as Coldwater Creek.

I stopped at the brewery in town and befriended a young tour guide for the night. He had to run an errand first, so he told me to go ahead to Cowboy Bar, the typical Jackson tourist watering hole, where he would meet me. I was horrified to find the entire bar lined with these—saddle-seated barstools.

Being alone at the bar, and wearing short shorts no less, I refused to sit astraddle the saddle. I instead sat sidesaddle to look slightly less like a prostitute. I got bored waiting for my tour guide and chatted up the three guys standing at a bar table behind me. They never really answered what they did for a living, saying only that they were in town for business. They bought me a beer, and eventually my tour guide showed up. As he and I headed on to the next bar, I said bye to the guys, and one of them handed me this—a secret service business card!! (details blurred for publication, sorry) Note he had written his cell phone on it… I guess he thought I might get myself in trouble that night (no… me??).

Then, as we were walking down the street to the next bar, a big black Suburban with tinted windows and lights on top drives by… and out of a loudspeaker I hear in an intimidatingly official voice, “Goodnight Sara!”

Had I been paying any attention to current events on my travels, I would have known that Dick Cheney was in town at his vacation home in Jackson… causing all kinds of local protests including parading a huge statue of him through the streets and toppling it right outside his gate in the fashion of the Saddam Hussein statue toppled in Baghdad. I guess the USSS men I met were taking a much-needed break from the action in the bar that night.