I’ve had a really good go at finding some natural phenomenon beginning with Y that would fit both my A to Z theme and my Local Heroes Reading Challenge. I failed.
Yellowstone National Park is not local to me, but it is full of natural phenomena. It is famous for its geysers, of course, but the only place I’ve seen geysers was in New Zealand, so I’m giving you a picture of Waiotapu! There’s a very similar photo of Yellowstone on Google images.
Yellowstone is a caldera, or large central area of a volcano, formed when it had a massive explosion on one of its eruptions: it’s still active. That makes it a good place to set many disaster movies and books! It’s also got many habitat zones that have wildlife unique to the area. It’s such a large place that these small populations are nevertheless sustainable. The dependencies between the various life forms are so interesting that it was the basis for one entire term of a course on ecosystems that I did. I was searching for some of the media for it, but couldn’t find it, which is a shame, as there were some great photos and graphics.
There was some new research out on the underlying magma chamber, published on Monday, which you can check out here. Or watch the video link (if it works!). It really is an extraordinary place.
I’d love to get there some day, having not had time the last time I was in the area, and spent a couple of days in Estes Park instead. But since the total eclipse of the sun will be going through Yellowstone in August 2017, that might be a good opportunity. Accommodation may be sold out already, though!
Now for my monthly Challenge update, and I’ve still only read 2 books towards my Local Heroes target of 6.
If you’ve already signed up, leave a message in the comments on how you’re doing. If you haven’t signed up yet, there’s still time – the details of what’s involved and how to sign up are below.
I’ve now read 17 books towards my Goodreads target, reviewed 15 for my Mad Reviewer Challenge, and included 3 for the Oddity Odyssey!
Happy reading, but above all – have fun!
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Yellowstone is fascinating. I’ve been there twice as a child, and my parents just did a winter trip there – I think it is more beautiful in the winter. I would love to get Darling Daughter there before she graduates. I hope all is well! ~Cool Mom
I hope she does too – but you have plenty of wilderness places – as long as she gets to some of them, it’ll be okay. The forests in New York state are fantastic!
Yellowstone IS fantastic. But it’s also on top of an unstable layer – I think Nat Geo did an article on it a while back, which said if it blew, it would basically take out the whole western part of the US. That’s a pretty scarey thought!
Yellowstone IS unstable. But so is most of the Western U.S. (see my post on volcanoes!), one way or the other, if not both (Seattle, for example, has volcanoes and earthquakes, and not just in potential).
Hey, you come out for tht eclipse, and we’ll find a way! There’s lots of National Forest and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land around there…there’s always someplace to camp.n Might have to watch the eclipse from somewhere else, and move in to tour Yellowstone when everyone else has gone.
Oooo…wonder if the eclipse will be complete over the Wind River Mountains. It would be cool to be backpacking up there during one!
I know there are plenty of detailed tracking maps for the eclipses of the future. Try these: http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/maps.htm.
That video link has some interesting data – and the page link has some interesting comments about ashfall.
Yellowstone is on my list too, would love to see it.
August 21st 2017 is the eclipse. I tend to avoid school holidays for my holidays, but if we are starting to talk about a party meeting up, I might make an exception!
That would be some experience!
Yellowstone is a place I want to visit one day.
~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Member of C. Lee’s Muffin Commando Squad
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author