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Yellowstone
National Park is famed for being the world’s first national park (thank you
president Ulysses S. Grant for being so far-sighted). It is also famous for its
hot springs and geysers, notably Old Faithful, that dependably squirts about
8000 gallons of steamy hot water up from the ground every one and a half hours
or so.
We drive
the circular route that takes us past the various geothermal activities,
stepping out of the car for short hikes and to view the sights (and smell the
odours). It is a landscape of contrasts. On the one hand the heat and chemistry
of the hot springs cover the landscape with death and desolation and emit a
nauseous smell of sulphur. It is as if hell itself has breached the earth’s crust
and bubbled over. On the other hand some of the hot springs are like colourful
abstract paintings, with hues coming from mineral and microorganic activity.
Next day,
we escape the vapours and smells of rotten eggs and enjoy instead the fog and mist
of a morning sunrise in the flat and lovely Hayden Valley. Here the air is crisp
and cool, tinged with the refreshing fragrance of pine.
Suddenly, tons
and tons of bison block our way. They ramble and rumble on and by the roadside and take
dust baths in the loose soil. There are calves and cows and bulls. They pass
very close past the car, close enough to touch, if we were so foolishly inclined.
They are not in a hurry, so we wait patiently for the parade to pass.
The day
also offers sightings of bald eagles, golden eagles, pelicans, Canada geese,
heron, osprey, ravens, mule deer, chipmunks and the ubiquitous squirrels.
