Lindsay Cure-Hendrickson | Blue Basin, Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone | Digital photograph | 2004

Geothermal wonders like this area are evidence that Yellowstone is one of the worlds largest active volcanoes. Norris Geyser Basin is the hottest and most changeable thermal areas in Yellowstone. It consists of many geysers and springs. This picture is actually a hot spring. The color indicates the presence of minerals. In a blue pool, the water is absorbing all colors of sunlight except one, blue, which is reflected back to our eyes.

Putting all science aside, standing in this area makes you feel very small and all the stupid little problems we have in our lives not so important. The smell of sulfur filled the air, and we continually received face-fulls of hot foul smelling steam. If there were to be the slightest change in what was going on beneath the surface, the gas could have killed us or the ground could have erupted. We were warned to stay on the wood walkways for our safety, but we see animal tracks and buffalo chips out in the middle of the hot acidic mud and wonder how the animals can survive this place.
There are rivers of steaming bright green algae and orange bacteria. It is said that these bacteria are the links to the emergence of life on earth a billion years ago. We truly feel like we are on another planet….