Skywatch Friday: The ground is on fire
This morning I got up early and headed into Yellowstone to visit the Norris Geyser Basin. Even though I left at 7:15 I still had to wait in line for about 10 minutes to get through the gate. Yellowstone is already overcrowded and it's only early June.
When you arrive at Norris you are greeted by these signs. Why, you ask. Because in 2018 Steamboat Geyser came back to life and its spray reaches the parking lot and the acid can damage your paint job. I bet there are people who still try to sue the Park Service even though they've been warned.
Norris consists of two geyser basins--the Back Basin and the Porcelain Basin. I started in the Back Basin which is in a densely treed area. Above is the Emerald Pool.
Then I continued on to Steamboat Geyser. I've never been lucky enough to catch an eruption of Steamboat. It is the tallest geyser in the world with eruptions reaching up to 300 feet. Today it was just steaming and bubbling.
Next stop was the Cistern Spring.
This is the point where the boardwalk turns into a path and where most visitors turn back. My goal was to do the entire Back Basin loop.
This is the Echinus Geyser, another geyser that I've never seen erupt. I love the colors.
There are a lot of areas that aren't so beautiful, but I still find them fascinating.
Some parts of this area look like they're from another planet.
So now I'm about half a mile away from the parking lot and I have the whole place to myself. 95% of Yellowstone tourists never step foot on a trail. They miss a lot of great stuff.
Here's me in full hiking by myself mode. Notice the bear spray. In the last couple weeks we've had grizzlies on the boardwalks at Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic. I am always prepared for an encounter.
There are lots of geyser that I don't know the name of. They're all amazing.
A look across this barren land where nothing can grow.
There are huge geysers like Steamboat and then there are small ones like Vixen pictured above.
Right after I passed Vixen it decided to put on a little show for me. I was very appreciative.
Before long I reached the Porcelain Basin which is one of my favorite geyser basins in the park. I think it was named perfectly. The blue pools and the barren landscape make it look very fragile like a porcelain plate. The vent in the foreground goes off continuously. It's called the Black Growler Steam Vent.
Another out of this world view of the landscape.
Microorganisms live here and cause these beautiful colors.
This green is very beautiful.
Last stop on the loop was Crackling Lake. Beautiful!
I walked about three miles with most of it by myself. My batteries are recharged and I'm ready to go back to work tomorrow and greet the thousands of visitors who come through the gate each day. It's a physically and mentally demanding job. People seem to loose all manners and common sense when they come into the park.
I will tell you one thing that almost makes me break every day--old men who think it's okay to call a ranger in full dress uniform honey, dear, sweetheart, babe, etc. And then there was the old man who actually blew me a kiss as he drove away. Disgusting, creepy, inappropriate. When will these types of men start to learn how to behave?
Then there was the older woman who stuck my pen in her mouth and when I said something she said she didn't care if I or anyone else died of the virus because of her reckless behavior. There are some real winners out there.
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