The First May Be the Worst

What is more fun than standing with a thousand sweaty tourists screaming at their children amid a smoking inferno of sulfuric-acid smelling steam? Yellowstone has so much more to offer than the geysers, but I suppose it’s something you just have to see. M stated, “This is sort of what I picture hell to look like” and I couldn’t agree more. The landscape is made a little starker by fire damage to the surrounding hills. The colors in the hot springs and geysers are caused by mineral deposits and bacterial colonies. The springs that are actually at or near boiling point tend to be very clear, because they cannot support even the most heat-loving extremophiles.

Yellowstone has the distinction of being the first park in the National Park system, but we did not stick around very long. It's a huge park and must have a lot to offer, but anything along the main roads seem to be congested with traffic and construction and the views were not that spectacular at all.