blogs about yellowstone national park

A week in a geologic roto-tiller (VII)

Bill-on-the-Hill — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 20:02:28 -0700

All good things must end, including this trip. After a fairly unsatisfactory night in West Yellowstone, we packed up and went back to the Upper Geyser Basin for one last bit of gazing, of which I must make an admission: that great shot of Grand Geyser from my earlier report was actually taken on this day. Poetic license and all that. Still no action from Giant Geyser, so I won't repeat the description of the joys of "the Cage", even though we did spend more time there before heading south. I will, however, make some remarks on geyser-gazer sociology.

A week in a geologic roto-tiller (VI)

Bill-on-the-Hill — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 11:17:53 -0700

The destination (Yellowstone National Park, specifically the Upper Geyser Basin) and goal (geyser gazing, particularly at the elusive Giant Geyser) today were the same as yesterday, so let me dispense with the travelogue and get to the fun stuff: the sociology of the Geyser Gazer, including some really remarkable people, one of whom became our companion for an eerie and memorable evening. Still no Giant, alas, but a day to remember anyway.

A week in a geologic roto-tiller (V)

Bill-on-the-Hill — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 21:07:35 -0700

Mainly more of the same today, with the main attraction (Giant Geyser) continuing to be coy. There was some fine wildlife watching to go along with the geyser gazing, however, and some excellent advice from the hard-core gazers led to a surprisingly good dinner in a place that I didn't know offered any edible food at all.

A week in a geologic roto-tiller (IV)

Bill-on-the-Hill — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:17:58 -0700

Labor Day, and the start of some serious geyser gazing. We saw a number of things we had never seen before, and had some close-up wildlife encounters. However, the thing that will stick in our minds from this day, entirely consistent with our experience on the Italian volcanoes, was the one we did not see -- just barely.

A week in a geologic roto-tiller (III)

Bill-on-the-Hill — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 14:24:36 -0700

From here on for a few days, it's geysers, geysers, geysers, so if you're not interested in the subject, I suggest you give this and the next few entries a pass. For that matter, I suggest you seek therapy, because if you can't get into the idea of staring, jaws a-gape, at the spectacle of boiling fountains of incredible scenic beauty bursting from the ground in quantities unparalleled anywhere else on earth, there's probably something wrong with you, IMO.

A week in a geologic roto-tiller (I)

Bill-on-the-Hill — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 10:34:08 -0700

So what is a "geologic roto-tiller"? Well, that's the colorful description applied to the terrain of Yellowstone National Park by a reference work that I'll get back to later (and recommend). Emily and I spent most of the past week at Yellowstone, seeing extraordinary things and meeting extraordinary people, and I will report on the trip at length. This first installment, however, simply deals with getting there, which was not as straightforward as it might be ...