Yellowstone has more biomes in a relatively small area than I think nearly any place in the world. The conditions range from chaparral to desert to coniferous forest to freshwater lake to mountain deciduous forest to mixed-grass prairie . . . well, you get the idea. Our first day in Yellowstone was spent looking for animals (of the which we found at least eighteen distinct kinds) and visiting some of the smellier parts of the park. We first, though, went to Yellowstone River’s Upper and Lower Falls. What amazed me was the sheer volume of water that goes over the falls. Words and photos just can’t capture the power of that water. After the falls, we went to the Mammoth Hot Springs, most of which are currently dormant. We did see a few that were active, but none had extremely distinctive colors or activity. The more interesting–and pungent–of our geothermal area stops was the Norris Geyser Basin. I’m not sure what biome sulfurous forest is; maybe it’s a biome all its own. The trees all around the geysers and the pools were twisted and stripped of most of their bark, probably because of the fumes from the pools. The smell was sulfurous–rotten eggs. Although I can’t imagine living around these toxic pools, in the wintertime, animals often come to lie in and around them to keep warm. It’s amazing how even in these stinky pits, God has provided a survival mechanism for the animals of the area.

See the gallery for pictures.