Yellowstone

 Hello, Lana and Nellie

(And Mother Svetlana, Grandmother Larisa and my critic, Marilyn)

I have been remiss by not writing more often, but I hope to make it up to you by including dramatic photos of my trip to Yellowstone. Some of these you have already seen, and others will be new for you. These are my favorite shots.

I also went to Coeur d'Alene Lake, but after Yellowstone I just didn't find much interest in shooting more photos.

This blog is going to consist of photos and commentary, where appropriate. Enjoy!

This is the Hangman's Building in Virginia City, Montana. Inside, there was a beam as wide of the  building, from which highwaymen (robbers) were hanged by vigilantes. Vigilantes are men who take the law into their own hands. Inside the building is a diorama depicting the hanging of several individuals while the vigilantes stand guard with rifles.

Hangman's Building, Virginia City, MT

Later, this building became the city water works office, which was run by Sarah G. Bickford, a former slave who came west in a covered wagon. The only black in an all-white community, she took over the business when her husband died. In the doorway on the right is a shop that sells rocks, and I purchased two rocks that are a variation of fool's gold. Instead of being iron pyrite (iron and sulfur), they are a fcombination of iron, copper and sulfur. I look forward to presenting them to my two young scholars when we meet next.

YELLOWSTONE! The "Porcelain Basin," bright white from mineral deposits

Below: A fountain you don't want to run through. It is scalding hot.

Below: A "hot tub" you don't want to soak in, unless you plan to be a cannibal's dinner!

Below: Probably small geysers that stopped spouting. They are actually covered by smooth, clear, and very hot water.

Does the photo below suggest a fried egg? The dark spot is a steaming spout. The colors are created by bacteria that laugh at scalding water.

Below: A mat composed of heat tolerant bacteria.

Water that boils up from the ground carries minerals that form a new land cover. The edges of this pool at Mammoth Hot Springs are created by minerals that solidified as streams of water poured out of the earth.

This is another photo of boiling mud which can become the source of clay. The bubble burst just as the photo was taken.

The weather was wonderful this time of year: cool, but sunny. This is the beginning of the descent to Mammoth Hot Springs. 

Although it looks like the chipmunk below is trying to smother a giggle, he's just gathering pine nuts for the winter.

This is the only good photo I took of a grizzly bear. This bear became accustomed to people. Normally that's a death sentence, but it's actually living a zoo life and earns its living partly by trying to break into food containers. If a container keeps the bear out for an hour, it is given a certificate of durability.

MONUMENT: I had seen this rock pictured below eight years ago and came back for a second look. Does it look like it belongs there? It shouldn't. But how in the world did it get there?

ANSWER: In the 1959 Yellowstone earthquake, there was a enormous landslide that created hurricane winds that ripped clothing off of campers and -- in some cases -- blew them away, never to be found again. The landslide descended one side of a valley and came halfway up the other. This boulder rode the slide like a skateboard. It didn't tip over! A similar boulder did the same, carrying a smaller boulder the size of your piano all the way without dropping it. 

This bounder sits atop the slide, which entombed 28 campers who were asleep in the valley. Their names are on a plaque on one side of the rock.

How big is this boulder? If you look really closely, you will see a small sign at its base with a light green top. That sign is between 3 and 4 feet tall.

I hope you have enjoyed the blog.

Love,

Robert