Yellowstone

A grizzly bear saunters off after digging up a meal.

Hello, Ladies!

I would have said "Scholars," but there are more possible readers for this blog than originally intended. First of all, I'm writing to Milana and Nellie, the twin scholars. But I'm also including in the notification email the mother (Svetlana) the grandmother (Larisa) and mycritic, Marilyn. Four of you have never met Marilyn, but I have known her I think since I was a high school sophomore. She was a year ahead of me in school, and has never let me forget that, so she has gleefully decided to correct my writing.

Note: The twins didn't point out any errors in my first blog. I was aware of two, and Marilyn claims to have found others, although there is some disagreement over this. At any rate, the twins missed out on a chance to earn $2 by discovering my errors. They were: 

1. a missing "s" that should have followed the apostrophy on Mary's name. The mistake appeared thus:  "Mary'". 

2. This sentence:  I will be staying with Mary Fraser the cousin of my deceased wife, Betty." is missing a comma. Can you tell where it should have been placed?

A bison slowly ambles across a valley. No need to hurry.

I am writing this after my first day at Yellowstone National Park, America's first national park, which was created in 1872, when Ulysses Grant was president. The park has stunning geology, small herds of wild bison who will gladly gore you with their horns if you get too close, and the grizzly bear, which is the second largest terrestrial flesh-eating mammal. (Can you name the largest?) Check out this photo of a bison -- it looks like God grew tired and didn't finish making him a decent outfit. The last half of him is naked. Do you think he gets cold in the winter?

The weather started out foggy today, but then it cleared up and the sky was a beautiful blue. I wish Grandmother Larisa could have come along -- she wants to travel in good weather, and this weather is quite comfortable. And since summer is gone, the roads aren't crowded, which can make it difficult to stop and take in the views. 

Today I decided to go to Mammoth Hot Springs in the northern portion of the park. The road there takes me past some lovely vistas, such as this waterfall. . . 

. . . and past this vista as the road descends to Mammath Hot Springs: 

The view at the beginning of the descent to Mammoth Hot Springs

I say "descends," but the elevation here is quite high. My visit to the hot springs involved some hiking uphill, and the elevation is 6,500 feet above sea level and higher. I could feel the effect as I climbed up a wooden staircase.

Yellowstone is a volcanic area, and the ground water turns to steam is changes the surface of the ground as it emerges. It's dangerous to walk near steam vents such as this one, because the ground can collapse under your feet with deadly consequences. For example:

Hot stem and gasses escape from a fumarole along the highway.

You don't want to walk close to this steam vent, because the ground beside it has likely been hollowed out from under-surface flows, and you can fall into a very hot death.

The outflow at Mammoth Hot Springs builds new ground and structures.

Over thousands of years, percolating water built this terrace.

Some of the formations are quite beautiful.

However, the poisonous water is drawn up into trees, killing them. They look like skeletons.

The volcanism at Yellowstone creates all sorts of opportunities for discovery. For example, there is an "Obsidian Mountain" -- obsidian being a type of volcanic glass, usually black, and frequently with other minerals incorporated. The rock below was taken from that mountain and placed at an information marker along the highway. It's small enough to fit in the trunk of my Honda Fit, but just barely. But you're not supposed to take them home, and it would likely ruin my gas mileage.

I hope you enjoyed this posting. And look for errors! You're bound to find them, because I didn't proofread this posting very closely. It takes a while to create it, and I want to get back into Yellowstone!

Love,

Robert