United States 2005

In the dark night, a few kilometers before Yellowstone, we find a developed area in the forest and oh surprise the next morning... It's snowing!!!

YELLOWSTONE: UNESCO World Heritage Site, this park is a gigantic crater which after a huge explosion, collapsed on its magma chamber, 630,000 years ago. Today, magma is located only about 3350 meters from the surface. Various geothermal phenomena result from this such as geysers, hot springs, mud pools, fumaroles, etc.

Several places in the park have seen their forests disappear under flames. This first vision of the park with its entire fields of tree trunks without branches really gives the impression of being at the end of the world...

Several herds of deer are visible in the park

A little house on the prairie. 

The places to see are scattered all over nature, but are very well indicated and framed by wooden walkways. Here, a bubbling hot water spring.

This secluded little corner really plunges us into another world. The weather is cloudy and humid, and as often in Yellowstone, you really get the feeling of arriving after a cataclysm that transformed nature. Thus, fumaroles, hot water or mud pools, and dead trees take us to another Earth...

A mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides).

Its blue was so pure that it seemed improbable that it could live in such a setting... It is also the emblem of the states of Idaho and Nevada.

Muddy pool with occasional eruptions of large bubbles

A superb red and blue that microorganisms imagine... We are at Artist Paint Point don't forget it!!!

Autumn and apocalypse colors

A tiny stream crosses Artist Paint Point, this close-up shows the astonishing colors of the algae that develop there.

Here too, we really feel an end of the world atmosphere... Unless it's a strange hostile planet...

Emerald spring

Cistern Spring

Steamboat Geyser (yes yes, look closely, the geyser is active!!!)

PANORAMIC

In the Mammoth Hot Springs area, this large mound is the result of water flow and very slow limestone deposit. Bacteria and algae add the different colors.

Also in the Mammoth Hot Springs area, an area covered with very white or colored limestone formations depending on microorganisms.

No need for skis here, this limestone-covered slope owes its shine to sulfur-dependent filamentous bacteria.

Water glides over the smooth rock colored by bacteria.

The hot water spring (about 70°C) flows over platforms formed by limestone deposit.

At the very bottom of the valley, the village of Mammoth Hot Springs

Village at the bottom of the valley where a stag and his harem have taken possession of the premises.

This tree is made of stone and is 50 million years old!!! It was buried and petrified by a lava flow at the time.

40-meter high waterfall

A river runs through it...