Driving through America�s National Parks
Yellowstone - Part 2
by Quamrul Haider
Our second day at Yellowstone started on the morning of August 16 at the Firehole Canyon Drive. Its a two-mile long, one-way side road hugging the Firehole River which meanders through the western part of Yellowstone. The name of the river may lead one to believe that the water is fiery hot. No, it isnt. Its temperature is similar to that of a river on a hot summer day. The fire refers to the geothermal activities of the area. On the drive we passed the gorgeous Firehole Falls and the impressive Great Fountain Geyser wildly exploding in all directions. Its eruption time varies from 9 to 15 hours, lasting one to two hours.
Next, we drove to the Biscuit Basin, so named for the unusual biscuit-like deposits. The basin is home to a medley of fumaroles, mud pots, geysers and colorful pools of water. Fumaroles are steam vents near a volcano through which hot, malodorous sulfurous gases emerge while mud pots are hot springs with very little water. The small amount of highly acidic water is more than enough to transform nearby rocks into mud.
A walk around the basin allowed us to take a closer look at the beautiful, bright blue Sapphire Pool, yellow coloured Mustard Spring and Jewel Geyser which erupts every 7 to 10 minutes. It was a big disappointment to see most of the biscuit-like features of the basin missing _ blown away by Sapphires violent eruption in 1959.
Our next destination was the Midway Geyser Basin, home to the Grand Prismatic Spring. While walking on the wooden bridge across the Firehole River, we saw an unusual landscape called Bacteria Mats. They are fascinating colourful formations _ pink, green, brown, yellow and orange _ of multi-layered sheets of bacteria that are ubiquitous in Yellowstone.
From the bridge we headed up a slope towards the Excelsior Geyser, a steaming crater containing a vibrant blue pool. Excelsior was once the largest geyser in the world, but now it is effectively dormant _ just a thermal spring.
Ahead of the Excelsior was the brilliantly coloured spectacle of Mother Nature _ the Grand Prismatic Spring. It is a rainbow coloured spring, similar to the spectrum of white light through a prism. The acidic steam of the spring is green at one end, blue at the center followed by a band of yellow that fades into orange at the other end. The colourful display was nothing short of magical. The spring is a marvelous example of brilliant colours caused by thermophiles _ heat-loving microorganisms that gave colour to the various thermal features in Yellowstone.
As we moved away from the Prismatic Spring, we passed the Opal Pool and the Turquoise Pool. The Turquoise Pool, named because of its beautiful milky white bottom and gem-like blue coloured water, is a hot spring.
The Fountain Paint Pots in the Lower Geyser Basin was the next attraction in our must see list. The Pots got its name from the thicker pink, yellow and brown colour of the mud permeating the area. After crossing a wooden bridge, we were greeted with a fabulous collection of mini geysers, emerald green paint pots, near-pastel springs, steaming fumaroles, bacteria mats and the slowly belching pinkish mud pots creating a dancing effect while emitting the obnoxious odor of rotten eggs.
From the lower level of the walkway, we saw the Celestine Pool whose colour resembled the deep blue colour of the sky and the Leather Pool named as such because of the thick brown bacterial mat that is often found in its lukewarm waters.
A short way down the boardwalk was the active Red Spouter and the Silex Spring, one of the hottest springs in the park. The colours of all the attractions in this area were great and the little popping hot spots added to the wildness of the area. We also walked up the stairs of the trail to get a better view of the other geysers in the area.
It was well past noon and we were hungry. The nearest eateries were at the Mammoth Hot Springs Basin, 35 miles north of our present location. We decided to have lunch there and then continue with our visit to other principal attractions of the park.
The writer is Professor of Physics at Fordham University, New York.
Photos: Mahjabeen Haider
