Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Hot Springs, Hiking, Geysers and Even More Hot Springs

This weekend was awesome because we finally had time to get in and explore the park!

Friday after work we went down to Mammoth (which is about 5 miles south of us and the park entrance) and roamed around the hot springs there and just mellowed out after a long day. I love the hot springs. My favorite parts are the blood red-orange streams and the way grass and trees just sprout up right along the edges of these extremely hot volcanic things. 

Part of Mammoth Hot Spring
 Thermophiles are the organisms that line the hot spring and make it such a beautiful color

Saturday started with a drive to Canyon that was disappointingly cut short due to road closings and our forgetfulness of the huge amount of snow around that area. But we turned the day around with a nice long hike on the Lava Creek trail out of Mammoth. About 5 miles in, the hike took us near the top of Undine Falls, so we naturally  hiked off trail for awhile to sit at the very top. It was awesome. The hike itself was a mostly uphill challenge, but I love the chance to go up against a good challenge, especially when it involves beautiful waterfalls. 



Sunday was a pretty mellow day too, we did a lot of driving. The drive took us about an hour and a half south into the park to Old Faithful and the geyser basin there. Of course we HAD to watch Old Faithful go off a couple of times (which we didn't think to get pictures of....) but that was not my favorite geyser anyways. My favorite is called the Pipe Geyser. It goes off almost constantly, pulsing out splatters of steamy water. I love it. And I also really liked the Solitary Geyser, which is (as the name states) secluded about a half mile up a hill from the others. It erupts every 5 to 7 minutes in a slow, lazy, burpy kind of way... if that makes sense. 

Pipe Geyser
Solitary Geyser used to be a Hot Spring, now it erupts 
And that was our weekend! Yesterday we took a dip in the Boiling River to unwind after work, which was a pretty neat experience. It's like mother nature's jacuzzi. And tonight we just did normal stuff.. grocery shopping... hanging around the apartment... nothing too productive. 

This guy is the best.

I hope all is well with you, have a good week!

Peace and Love.

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