Tags
Bison, Bombadier, Fountain Paint Pot, fumarole, geyser, hot spring, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen sulphide, Lower Geyser Basin, Madison Information Station, Mud pot, Old Faithful, red-breasted nuthatch, snow coach, Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park
USA 2018 (10), Mud pots and fumaroles. Our next stop for a walk in Yellowstone National Park, this Monday, 19th February, was at the Lower Geyser Basin.

Dead lodge pole pines, with petrified bases. They have absorbed the prevailing silica material through their roots, and ‘frozen’.

More evidence that bison like warm water
Here we learned more from Drew about hot springs, fumaroles, and mud pots, having already learned about geysers, such as Old Faithful. We saw for ourselves how vegetation and even small birds could thrive in well below freezing ambient temperatures. At 7.30 this morning, it had been minus 2º Fahrenheit, which sounds even colder in Celsius – minus 19º. Photos can show the water vapour/steam – but not the rotten eggs smell of hydrogen sulphide, H2S, (“very poisonous, corrosive, and flammable” – Wikipedia) which invaded the nostrils from time to time, and had done the previous day also.

Red-breasted nuthatch, at the edge of the field of mud pots.
Regaining our yellow snowcoaches, we found one of those dark red Bombadiers, the precursors of the modern vehicles we were travelling in.
Onwards and northwards.

Snowmobiles approaching, and in the distance, the northern edge of the most recent (640,000 years ago) Lava Creek caldera

This is my very favourite bison portrait

Not a human footprint in sight
After a short while we reached our next warming hut, Madison Information Station I think, where we took lunch (in the company of a load of snowmobilists) – and were visited by a coyote.
I saw no-one give him/her anything to eat!
Wonderful atmospheric pictures, I have seen thermal places in New Zealand but never in so much snow, breathtaking.
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Yes, quite astonishing.
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Extraordinary place ~ Amazing pictures !
Barbara xx >
>
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Thanks B.
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Love the photos and you should definitely be congratulated on the bison portrait. Thanks for sharing all those pictures and for increasing my word knowledge with ‘fumarole’. Never heard of it before..
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Nor me!
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I can quite see why you liked that bison picture. It is a winner.
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That is a compliment indeed from someone who takes and publishes on a daily basis, thank you.
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Superb picture of snowy bison and amazing shots of everything else. That’s one ‘warning’ notice that it would be hard to ignore!
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At least the boardwalks were not slippery, the snow was so lush.
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Remarkable area and enjoyed your excellent pictures recording the scene. I can see why you like that bison portrait. Had not heard of fumeroles before.
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I hadn’t heard of mud pots either!
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I remember well the rotten eggs smell in Rotorua !
Magic winterland indeed. Your bison reminds me of photos by Vincent Munier (that’s great praise from me, my colleagues would tell you, as I’m a great fan of Vincent Munier !)
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I must look him up!
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