July 5, Yellowstone

Hi folks, We left the Tetons this morning and drove into Yellowstone. We missed our turn to Fishing Bridge campground and it took us 52 miles away from camp. But it turned out well because we got to see the lower loop of the park. We had planned on jeeping it, but we had to make do with our motor home. Yellowstone is a geologic smoking gun that illustrates how violent our earth can be. One event overshadows all others: Some 600,000 years ago, an area many miles square at what is now the center of the park suddenly exploded. In minutes the landscape was devastated. Fast-moving ash flows covered thousands of square miles. At the center only a smoldering caldera remained, a collapsed crater 45 by 30 miles. At least two other cataclysmic events preceded this one. Boiling hot springs, fumaroles, mud spots and geysers serve as reminders that another could occur. I never stopped thinking about that either. Such wild activity under the earth! Unbelievable! We visited Old Faithful and saw it erupt. What a sight! That was enough for one day. Tomorrow the upper loop. Love