Steaming Stinkholes

Don’t let the sulfuric stench hold you back from exploring the magic of geysers. Yes, they smell like rotten eggs. But they look—oh they look—like liquefied gemstones. They appear so inviting, Mr. W and I kept joking about how we wanted to jump into one. But then we remembered that would melt off all our skin.


Mixed into the surrounding runoff near a lot of them, you see vibrant oranges and rusts and yellows. We learned that these colored areas are inhabited by thermophiles—microorganisms that live in extremely high temperatures. Given how hot it is in my apartment right now, I’m pretty sure a family or two of them have taken up residence here for the summer.


It was interesting to see dead trees standing in the vicinity of a lot of these hot spots. I can’t quite understand how trees grew there at all, given how old most of the geysers are. Perhaps the trees are really old too…or maybe certain geysers are really sneaky and conniving and they make the tress think it’s totally chill for them to sprout up nearby, then when they least expect it, the geysers shower them in liquid hot magma water…


One of our last stops in the park was Old Faithful. The last time I was in Yellowstone (16 years ago), OF was erupting every hour and six minutes. That has increased to about every hour and a half. Apparently, Old Faithful is getting older and having some trouble getting it up regularly…perhaps a little Viagra would help…sorry, couldn’t resist…


In addition to the scents that wafted our way as we trekked the wooden pathways of the various geyser basins, there may have been an episode in the hotel room when Mr. Wonderful walked into the bathroom after I’d been in there and immediately ran back out, doubled over with his arm slung over his nose, crying, “How does that smell come out of you?!” But I won’t tell you that part of the story.

Here’s the bathtub from our room, by the way. Rockin’ awesome.