I think Mother Nature is angry. Between New England trying to wash away and the southwest doing a good imitation of a broiler, she's acting out at the very least. It's just hot here but that's nothing out of the ordinary for this time of year.
Still, it was enough to make me restrict my #WednesdayWalk to the archives this week. Ended up back in Yellowstone National Park, where Mother Nature always seems angry and more than a little threatening.
Considering the park sits atop an old supervolcano that's hardly surprising. Alien, otherworldly, I'm having a hard time finding a word that aptly describes its hostile strangeness but you damn sure ain't in Kansas no more.
Alright by me, I never want to set foot in that state again anyway. Stole the title of this post from Robert Heinlein just because I love that book. Maybe one day I'll grok Mother Nature but until then WTF will have to do.
I've been hiking plenty of places where you're not supposed to go off trail because it damages the ecosystem but Yellowstone is the only place I've been where the ecosystem is just as likely to damage you. The hot springs here aren't for bathing so much as for cooking.
They've got lots of fun bacteria growing in them, forms mats that give the springs their array of colors. You can't really tell it but that's Grand Prismatic Spring in the background.
You know you're in a strange place when the earth is belching water and steem steam out of the ground. Yellowstone's perfume only adds to the impression, there's more brimstone in the air than in a Pentecostal sermon.
The bison don't seem to mind the smell though. Just don't try to pet them, they don't take kindly to strangers.
Now who is up for a little swimming?
