USA 2018 (10), Mud pots and fumaroles

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!

 

USA 2018 (9) Old Faithful!

Tags

Bison, Bombadier, Old Failthful, Old Faithful Snow Lodge, Snowmobile, Sprinter, Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park

USA 2018 (9) Old Faithful! Monday 19th February was the very best day for me on the Yellowstone adventure, in terms of experiences. Masses of snow on the ground, none falling, Old Faithful, clear skies for much of the time, excellent wildlife sightings, and I had the privilege of being in the seat beside the driver all day. We were not due to leave until 10 a.m., but baggage had to be outside our rooms for collection by 7 a.m., so there was no chance of a lie-in.  I chose not to go out for a group walk at 8.00 a.m., so was able to enjoy a somewhat more leisurely breakfast than usual. I heard a rumour that Old Faithful was due to blow next at around 9.00.  (Formal predictions don’t start until a little later in the day.) I was planning to go out for a little walk on my own before departure, so my destination was clear.

Quietly steaming away

False alarm

Around 9.15, she did blow. I tried a couple of videos.

 

I’ve since read that the difference between the temperature of the emerging steam and that of the ambient atmosphere on a really cold day can be some 115 deg C/240 deg F.

I dawdled back to Snow Lodge.

A snow plough had cleared a broad path – the bank seen here came almost up to my waist.

We shortly set off in our Sprinter, a yellow one this time. (All our vehicles were Sprinters; they were just adapted for different road conditions.) Maximum speed allowed: 25 mph, but we were able to do considerably less for most of the time – all the better for enjoying the views.

The eye can disregard the smoked glass of the windscreen, the camera does not lie.

Bison enjoying the steam/water vapour – I am reminded of the picture at the Museum in Jackson Hole.

Snowmobiles and a Bombadier, the predecessor of our snowcoaches

Some had seen bison on their walk earlier in the morning.  I saw my first on this drive.

Some found their faces menacing.  I thought they were lovely and gentle – though it was safer to take these pictures through a wound-down window!  The animals were just feet away.

This video shows one of them using its strong neck muscles to shovel the snow out of the way with its muzzle to reach the vegetation.

 

It’s only 11.30. Such a full day still to come!