Yellowstone National Park
Joni with bull elk remains, Lamar Valley, Yellowstone Anyone who has had the good fortune to visit Yellowstone National Park is not likely to forget the experience. Yellowstone is often referred to as a great national treasure. But in truth, this massive, slumbering volcano is a great world treasure, unique and apart from anywhere else on the globe. Cool, breeze-swept mountains gently wrap themselves around broad meadows of vibrant green, where wildflowers crowd into every possible inch as they celebrate the warm season. Bright sun glitters on creeks, streams and lakes, dancing through vivid rainbows of color strewn about on the ground. Butterflies flit about, birds chatter and sing and animals go about the business of simply being who they are. Nothing obstructs their instincts here. The natural process of life continues on just as it has since the dawn of time, in this most primeval of places. But just beneath our feet the earth’s core groans, restless and full of torment, ever belching, bubbling, hissing spitting, spraying and complaining. This hot inner core cannot contain itself here, where the earth’s crust is paper thin. The apparent torment is constant and relentless. A visit to Yellowstone reminds us of how vulnerable and insignificant we really are on this living, breathing planet. The result of all of this geological activity is spectacular. Man could never create anything as stunning and bizarre as this. Bacteria’s that form vivid swirling rainbows on the ground, muddy bubbles belching up from tiny, steaming holes, sulfur streaming out of the mud and rock, thick and choking, in amounts that nearly block the sun, deep emerald pools of scalding water evaporating in brilliant turquoise steam, geysers shooting water and steam to the sky… These are ordinary, everyday occurrences in this strangely unique and highly volatile place. The following is a photographic tribute to nature’s brilliance in Yellowstone. A picture really is worth a thousand words. But the real thing is beyond a picture, or even our wildest imaginations…
Click on these trips to view images taken on the trips.
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