Page 5 of 5
Jackson Hole, Wyoming
I've got friends in all the right places, I know what they want and I know they don't want me to stay
I really didn't spend all that much time in Jackson, really only stopping to get gas or groceries or to walk around a rainy downtown to see those elk horn arches, constantly trying decide whether to take out my umbrella or to put it away and just get drenched like everyone else. I even ended up staying pretty far out of downtown at Teton Village, specifically the Hotel Terra, a great (and quite unpopular that weekend) hotel and one of only a few LEED certified hotels in the country, recommended if you ever find yourself in that part of the country and in need of a place to stay.
Even unending slideshows eventually come to an end, and what better place is there for all things to come to end than Yellowstone National Park in northwestern Wyoming. A (really) big National Park (about half the size of the state of New Jersey), it features a series of geological oddities created in the Yellowstone Caldera, the smoldering top of the 30 mile wide massive Yellowstone Supervolcano, one of those big, scary, (potentially) end of the world things that make for great episodes of The History Channel's "Mega Disasters" series but all things considered is also one of those big, scary, (potentially) end of the world things that is probably best not to think too much about. Suffice it to say that if there is ever another explosion there you're probably best to make sure that you're east of I don't know, let's say Louisiana.
The best collection of scolding hot geysers and dangerous hot springs in the park are accessible from a no-railing-provided boardwalk that starts at Old Faithful and connects all sorts of sulfur smelling spectacles. As you gaze off into the distance you see steam rising from the fields and from beyond the trees at most every point and most every turn. Of the geothermal activity I witnessed that day, my favorite just had to be little Grotto Geyser (take that Old Faithful), an erupting, spurting, splashing little geyser that had the extra benefit of being surrounded by some well placed, grotto like rocks.
In between the action of the geysers there are all sorts of other wonders. Morning Glory Pool is a geothermal hot spring, one made all the more impressive by the varying temperatures in the water as it nears the surface. The blue water is warmer than the green water, the green water is warmer than the yellow water, a very important fact to the bacteria that lives there and inadvertently creates a colorful composition in what would otherwise be nothing more than a hot water filled hole in the ground.
For anyone already sick of all this unbridled nature (if that's even possible), you'll be happy to learn that there is at least some architecture in the park. Over a hundred years old, Old Faithful Inn is the world's largest log building and easily the best known and most beloved building in any US National Park. It was built with a clear view of the geyser, but the real view is inside. Trees cut down in 1903 still support the main open lobby, although not quite as well as they probably once did. Everywhere you look and walk there are visibly crooked floors and stairs, with all other kinds of non code compliant features glaring at you in every direction. Devastating (nearby) fires, the ravages of time and frequent earthquakes (Yellowstone is located atop a Supervolcano you know) have caused all sorts of problems, most notably the still (and forever) closed "Crow's Nest," the overlook at the top of the second photo that is no longer structurally safe enough to accommodate visitors. Luckily all of those naturally crooked logs make all of the otherwise unsafe safety features easy to overlook, part of a composition instead of a clear distraction from one.
I did not stay in the park but instead drove up from Jackson, a good idea at the time but one (like all one time good ideas) I came to at least partially regret. One of the results of that decision was that I only had enough time to really see the lower loop of the the park road's figure eight shape, a still ambitious 250 mile round trip day trip from Jackson, all on two lane, recreational vehicle plagued low speed park roads. Despite this I still had enough time between the rain and thunder to see two of the park's many highlights- the Lower Geyser Basin and this, Lower Yellowstone Falls, one of those few great, perfect sites that Yellowstone and Wyoming and the entire country have to offer.
The "unending" part of the unending slideshow thankfully seemed to more of a threat than a promise. Finally after after all these pictures, after 12 months of travel, after 79 individual flights and after over 75,000 actual flight miles, the slideshow thankfully has come to its exhausted (and exhausting) end. And what better way to end it all than with one last picture in Yellowstone- a buffalo traffic jam where a rental car with rolled down windows, an impending violent thunderstorm and an approaching wild herd all worked together to create one of those rare, quick, fleeting one of a kind moments that remind you yet again exactly why it is that you love to travel.