A Snapshot and The Scoop: The World's Tallest Geyser

Clocking in as the tallest active geyser in the world, Steamboat Geyser is highly unpredictable. Major eruptions, spewing water and gas over 300 feet into the air, are irregular at best, but it just so happens there was a major one right before my sister and I arrived in the park, and another shortly after we left. Go figure. More minor eruptions of 10-40 feet occur a little more frequently but still unpredictably, and yet my sister and I were still denied even though we stuck around for something like 20 minutes just to see it blow. Better luck next time!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Sulphur Caldron

Right on the edge of one of the most active areas of Yellowstone's geothermal activity, Sulphur Caldron churns away, bubbling with hydrogen sulfide released by gasses rising from the magma chambers below. While supporting a pH roughly equivalent with battery acid, Sulphur Caldron is still full of life! Microbes called thermoacidophiles survive by converting the hydrogen sulfide gas into sulfuric acid for energy, thriving in the extreme environment in a way nothing else on earth could.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Nature-Made Pincushions

Yet another desert plant I seriously want to add to my collection, the Pin Cushion Cactus just looks so cute! Sure, I wouldn't particularly want to snuggle up to its prickly-spun stem, but I can once again see myself having one or two in my home. And honestly, as far as cacti go, this little guy is hardly one that will hurt too bad if you accidentally get poked. Am I a crazy cactus lady? Probably. Do I care? Nope!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Tuff

In all my years of traveling, all my miles in the car and on foot, I have never been tired of saying "that's something I haven't seen before." The tuff cliffs comprising the Frijoles Canyon of Bandelier National Monument are certainly in this category. Tuff is compressed volcanic ash, deposited in this area by two enormous volcanic eruptions more than a million years ago. Over time erosion carved canyons and mesas into the land, exposing tuff in places like the cliffs picture above. It's density depends on how quickly it cooled, and tuff can range from very hard to incredibly crumbly. The cliffs of Bandelier National Monument err on the side of crumbly, which, in addition to the perennial water source, attracted ancient Pueblo people to populate the arid land. The bigger caves in the cliffs above aren't all natural - most of them have been enlarged by hand to provide living spaces for the ancient dwellers, and most of the post-holes pecked into the walls to provide roofs over the shelters still exist. Look closely at the picture and you can see masonry in the bottom third, leading up the slope to the cliff, as more evidence of ancient civilization. I truly hope I never get tired of seeing new things.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: The Ocotillo

Introducing one of my all-time favorite desert plants, the Ocotillo. This plant (oh-ko-TEE-oh) looks exactly like straight, barbed sticks poking up from the ground. At least, it does until it rains. Then leaves burst from the woody stems, only to quickly wither and drop once drought returns. The tops of the stems support brilliant red flowers in February and March, but return to dried-out, pokey looking upside-down octopuses for most of the year. People in the region still use cut ocotillo stems planted in a line as a living fence, and something about a towering fence that hurts would definitely dissuade me from coming onto somebody's property! At times like these I seriously wish I lived somewhere a little more arid than the forests of East Texas - I want so many desert plants in my life!!