Life and Yellowstone

a hot pool in the White Creek area of Yellowstone

Life is a strange ride.  There are highs and lows, joys, and sorrows, and everything in between.  One of the great joys of life for my brother-in-law, Bob, and his wife (my sister) Debbie, was Yellowstone National Park.  I'm not completely sure about the number of years they have been visiting but I believe it is 30 or more.  Some of those years included two visits.  They loved being part of the park's "geyser gazer" community, a group of volunteers who watched the geysers, frequently sprinting from one geologic feature to another when hearing on walkie-talkies that a particular geyser was erupting in the geyser basin or on the parimeter of it.  They recorded vital information including the length of time and frequency of activity.  Anyone who has visited Yellowstone and stayed more than a hour, knows that there is much more to this stunning geothermal landscape than Old Faithful.  Faithful is the operative word - it is very consistent in its eruptions.  But there are many other features that erupt irregularly, and when one of those starts to become active, the buzz among the gazers who are waiting in and around the basin, is palpable.

Bob and Debbie literally drove people to Yellowstone, and coerced, cajoled, and begged others to visit the park so that they could share its unique and spellbinding qualities.  Their knowledge of the park would fill volumes, and they could answer just about any question a visitor had.  The goal - to spread the magic of Yellowstone around the world and from generation to generation.  They did just that.

Bob died earlier this month, but I would lay wager on the fact that right now, he is doing one of his favorite things - watching geysers in Yellowstone.  Although Beehive was particularly special to him, I have no photographs of it.  The images below were scanned from Fujichrome Velvia slide film and taken on a trip with Debbie and Bob in September of 1994.

Castle and Lonestar are not in the geyser basin per se but a nice hike beyond it.

Castle

Grand

Lonestar

Here's to you, Bob.  Happy Gazing!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image