Back to the Yellow Zone, I mean Yellowstone, pictures.

[urbpan]

When Yellowstone was created as a park it was before Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho were states. Being a big area full of edible animals and interesting mineral resources that were suddenly all protected by the U.S. government, it needed protection. That job went to the army, who did the job in tents until they got tired of camping in fifty below, so they put some buildings up.

Then the Parks Service was created, and protecting the park became the job of Park Rangers, so the army cleared out to kill Spaniards or something. The buildings became a little tourist village called Mammoth Hot Springs. This village has watered lawns and a lack of predators, which suits the local elk population just fine. They have given up migrating, and they hang out surrounded by tourists (being yelled at by Park Rangers) an awful lot of the day.


Uinta ground squirrels also take advantage of the watered lawns and lack of predators.


The actual hot springs are up the hill a bit, oozing calcium rich water which hardens into a mineral called travertine into flat topped formations called terraces.




















At many active thermal sites, there are warning signs.


I've thought long and hard about why this sign made me laugh so much, and I've decided it's either the hat flying off, or the altitude making me light-headed.

Comments

[elainetyger.livejournal.com]

I went to Yellowstone with friends in 1999 and then to Pozzuoli, near Napoli in Italia, with my husband and daughter in 2000. Having found the sulfur springs at Yellowstone beyond delightful, I was excited to find springs mentioned in the Naples guidebook.

My family could not understand why I dragged them on a train ride to Pozzuoli for a visit to a small but beautiful park of ruins near the station, and then a very long walk along a nearly deserted local highway with almost no signage and with the two food stores closed for the 3-hour lunch. However, they forgave me upon arrival at the Solfettare, as they darted in and out of the small caves labeled 145 and 165 (degrees F about 6 feet in from the cave mouth) and watched the steam coming out of the ground near the pathways.

Unlike Yellowstone, which had warning signs everywere, Pozzuoli just had instructions to stay on the path. They didn't tell you not to lean on the walls in the cave or warn you that your sneakers would melt if you wandered into the bubbling mud. I guess either they don't have so many personal injury lawyers over there or they figure if you're too stupid to follow instructions, you'll smarten up pretty fast.