The first day in Yellowstone we drove north of the Lake Lodge where we were staying. I knew something about Yellowstone but this was the first time it really became clear to me exactly what was so unusual about the area.

Yellowstone is a caldera, a large volcanic area where activity has raised the earth up and then collapsed back down. Under the caldera area is lots of very high heat near the surface which heats water that seeps below. The result is hot springs, steam vents, and geysers. We saw the first evidence of this while driving in late at night; it was cold but the water in the streams was warm, creating drifts of mist. It was very eerie.

We came to the first fumarole of the trip the first morning. Yep, we were to run across a bunch over the course of a couple of days, but this was the first. Lots of steam vents rising from cracks in the ground. Most areas were fenced off because the steam is... well, steam. It's hot. Like, hotter than boiling water, you know? Get to close and you parboil.

We hiked around this area for about 30 minutes or so. There was a very light rain that came and went, too light to be a bother. It was sort of nice.

It was just over the hill to the left of this that we ran unto a bison sitting about 5 feet from the pathway. Damn those things are big.