Beauty Pool, in Yellowstone, sure is a beauty

Beauty Pool, in Yellowstone's Upper Geyser Basin, reflects the sky in this wide angle image taken July 31, 2019. You can get to it by starting out from the the Old Faithful area and hiking along the boardwalk on the east side of the Firehole River. It's just north of Grand Geyser, another feature worth watching. Beauty Pool is connected to the nearby feature called Chromatic Spring. When one of these features has their water rise and overflow, the water level in the other decreases. This back-and-forth between the two can take weeks or even years.

We were lucky to have no wind despite the cloudy conditions, so the reflection of the clouds turned out as we hoped. To fit the whole pool in the image, we used a wide-angle lens on a smartphone. It's capable of capturing images of 180º and 360º. This image was captured with 180º setting and edited for levels, local contrast, and sharpened.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Minerva Terrace in Yellowstone NP, at Mammoth Hot Springs

Minerva Terrace is located at Mammoth Hot Springs, at the northern end of Yellowstone National Park.  This photo was taken in the mid-1980s and these terraces have changed over time so they no longer look like this.  Over the years, shifting water flows can cause some terraces to dry out and crumble and new terraces to form elsewhere.  This view is looking northward toward the Gardiner River Canyon where storm clouds threatened rain.

 This picture, taken during a previous trip, shows the terrace engulfing trees that used to grow on this hillside and are now dead and nearly buried.

This image, taken on the same trip as the one above, shows a sign placed on the terrace by the Park Service being gradually covered over by the minerals of the hot spring.

March 1st is Yellowstone National Park's anniversary.

Happy 144th Birthday Yellowstone!

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.