Yellowstone NP (part 1)

Location: KOA Mountainside (el 6,800 ft); West Yellowstone, Montana

(click pictures to enlarge)
(all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia 929 cell phone)

Yellowstone National Park: Established in 1872, it is the first national park in the world, not just the U.S., but the world. Most of the park is sitting in the caldera of a Super-Volcano. The volcano is active which is what produces the geysers, mudpots and hot springs. It is so large that when it erupts, the ash and debris will cover all of the mid-western states and possibly even east of the Mississippi. Needless to say, if it happens, it will be very bad. The last time it erupted was about 640,000 year ago. 

Today, you can drive through the park and see:  

Valleys of green grass 

Waterfalls

Geyser fields

Dead trees in mudflats. The white
parts at the bottom of the trunk are
called "bobbie socks" (young people,
ask someone older what they are).
It happens when the live tree soaks
up rich minerals into the trunk.

Hot pools

Boardwalks have been built to make
easy walking to see the sights

The pools have different colors based
on which minerals are coming up from
down below. A lot of the time, they are
hard to see due to the steam. Windy
days are better because the steam is
blown away quicker.

Some bubble material up and over
the edge, creating a crater apperance

Some have grass and trees growing
right up to the edge

A panoramic view of one of the fields. Each puff of steam, is a hotspot with either a hot pool, small geyser or just a steam vent.

The water is crystal clear because it is too hot for any type of bacteria or algae to grow. When they are calm, like this one, you can see to the bottom.

This is what people expect Old Faithfull
to look like, but this is just another
ordinary geyser.

The geyser field with a nice dark blue river running through it

Heading to Old Faithful. You can visit
Yellowstone without seeing it.

People are 3 and 4 deep waiting for
it to blow.
 

That is the best picture I got of her erupting. It was sort of a let-down.

How about some bison wandering around. On two different trips into the park, traffic was backed up for miles while people stopped to take pictures. Sometimes, I think out of spite, the bison would walk down the road so as to stop traffic entirely. If you visit, make sure you have enough gas to travel less than 5 mph for several miles while waiting on these things. They are very large animals but seem peaceful.

It will take at least 2 more posts to finish up with Yellowstone. Tomorrow is moving day but I'll still have posts for Yellowstone.

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.