Geyser Basin

Ariel and I drove through Yellowstone Park yesterday.  We entered at Gardener in the morning and exited at West Yellowstone late in the evening.

I snapped dozens upon dozens of photographs, capturing all of the stock images: bison giving themselves a dust bath, steam vents, panoramic shots of open parks with snowcapped mountain surrounds, and a crooked aquamarine river convulsing through a volcanic gorge.  I happily joined the human flocks alongside the road (with folks from Great Britain and Illinois, and the proverbial Japanese male tourist with two long-lensed cameras in hand) whenever a group assembled around some hapless bear or bison.  At West Thumb, Ariel and I got swept up into a colorful stream of Chinese tourists who came pouring from a coach and enthusiastically drifted down along the boardwalks of Geyser Basin along the shores of Yellowstone Lake.  Caught in this wave of floppy hats and black hair, we were carried along until we managed to spin free at the first junction in the walk.

There, at Geyser Basin, I found myself tightening down on my camera focus.  The small scenes and the play of patterns and colors created otherworldly visions.  The photos posted today are easily my most favored from the day.   Both are from Geyser Basin.

--Mitchell Hegman