Yellowstone preserves the largest collection of hydrothermal features on the planet. This amazing hot springs has been forming over thousands of years, dumping calcium carbonate in elaborate and beautiful terraces. This type of limestone is called travertine.
Très cool
Sunday, 28 July 2013
Yellowstone: Grand Prismatic Spring
Grand Prismatic Spring one of the real natural wonders of the world and I'm so glad to have seen it. This is the third largest hot spring in the world with a diameter of 90 metres. It's up to 50 metres deep and 70 degrees Celsius. The centre of the spring is too hot to support life. The peripheries are home to pigmented thermophile bacteria and algae which give the spring its vivid colours.
We were there on a beautiful evening, which was the perfect time to see it. It was so beautiful it took my breath away.
We were there on a beautiful evening, which was the perfect time to see it. It was so beautiful it took my breath away.
Saturday, 27 July 2013
Gross Ventre Landslide
One night we stayed in a great little camping spot, Atherton Creek, just outside Grand Teton National Park in the Gross Ventre ("Big Belly") wilderness of Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming.
Before 1925 there wasn't a lake here. Lower Slide Lake was created in June of that year by a giant landslide following snowmelt and heavy rain. 38,000,000 cubic metres of primarily rock slid down the north face of Sheep Mountain, crossed over the Gros Ventre River, creating a huge dam over 61 m high and 370 m wide across the River. More info on this event can be found here. The landslide lasted just minutes and was one of the largest ever documented.
In May 1927, a portion of the dam failed, and resulting in a massive flood that wiped out the nearby bustling town of Kelly. Kelly is now just a hamlet serving tourists, but it was once in line to become the county seat. Now the town of Jackson Hole, 7 miles away, has that honour and has become an ugly, touristy, and very affluent town.
The area has exposed partially vegetated limestones and shales which make for some striking scenery:
Before 1925 there wasn't a lake here. Lower Slide Lake was created in June of that year by a giant landslide following snowmelt and heavy rain. 38,000,000 cubic metres of primarily rock slid down the north face of Sheep Mountain, crossed over the Gros Ventre River, creating a huge dam over 61 m high and 370 m wide across the River. More info on this event can be found here. The landslide lasted just minutes and was one of the largest ever documented.
In May 1927, a portion of the dam failed, and resulting in a massive flood that wiped out the nearby bustling town of Kelly. Kelly is now just a hamlet serving tourists, but it was once in line to become the county seat. Now the town of Jackson Hole, 7 miles away, has that honour and has become an ugly, touristy, and very affluent town.
The area has exposed partially vegetated limestones and shales which make for some striking scenery:
Beautiful Canyonlands
Some images from Canyonlands National Park, southern Utah, June 2013. A dusty, rugged, out-the-way place. Includes some truly beautiful images of the Green River.
Grand Tetons
We had the pleasure of spending a few days in Grand Teton National Park in northeastern Wyoming.
The Tetons mountain range is just 40 miles long, but the most striking I've ever seen. They rise up out of the floodplain of the Snake River so high and so abruptly with no foothills they look almost unreal.
The Tetons are only a few million years old, making them the youngest mountain range in the Rockies. They continue to uplift today in this active tectonic region. The distinctive pinnacle shape of the peaks are the result of glaciation. The small glaciers near the peaks are retreating but remain all year round.
The Tetons mountain range is just 40 miles long, but the most striking I've ever seen. They rise up out of the floodplain of the Snake River so high and so abruptly with no foothills they look almost unreal.
The Tetons are only a few million years old, making them the youngest mountain range in the Rockies. They continue to uplift today in this active tectonic region. The distinctive pinnacle shape of the peaks are the result of glaciation. The small glaciers near the peaks are retreating but remain all year round.
This here is bear country
Images of wee (and not so wee) beasties from travels in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, June 2013. Sadly this collection is lacking in bear shots, but we did see some. But we didn't see any Moose. Oh well, we'll just have to go back ;)
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