25th July 2016 - Mammoth Springs Yellowstone NP, WY - Kms to date 7058

 
Kms today 0 (except a few with Chelsea)

I tried to have a telecon with Morag but the line kept dropping out. We assembled in front of the Mammoth Hotel at 6:30am to meet up with Chelsea and head off for our first hike.  We drove to a place called Swan Lake to observe the water birds including Swans. I told them that all Swans in Australia were black which they found hard to believe.


Swan Lake early in the morning.

A ground squirrel checking out the lie of the land.

Then we started a 3.5 mile hike along the ridge above the road we had just come along through the forest. 
Before we started Chelsea gave us the drum on bear safety and I volunteered to be tail end charlie, mainly so I could have a can of bear spray. This is a spray laced with pepper that affects bear’s sensitive noses and hopefully makes them retreat. Chelsea told us of her encounter with a female bear with cubs and how she handled it. Later I told her of the bear encounter Morag and I had where we were within 50m of a Grizzly Bear at Many Glacier.
The hike was easy and mostly downhill back to the hotel. Chelsea showed us bear claw marks in an Aspen grove just to prove they were around. We met up by chance with a group of university researchers and high school students (all NSITS). Bruce Fouke, the leader told us what they were doing and it was related to the fact they had discovered that the crystal terraces grew their carbonate deposits in the same way as coral reefs and that they were trying to figure out how this could be used to save the Great Barrier Reef (among others) from the effects of climate change. They were also helping the oil industry in recovering oil from the ocean floor - the reason we have climate change in the first place! This contradiction didn’t seem to dawn on them.

The crystal terraces near Mammoth Springs.

We had a look at the crystal terraces on the way back to the hotel. They form from the precipitation of carbonate from hot springs that had passed through an ancient reef under Yellowstone, picking up the minerals on the way. The deposits form shallow basins in the shape of a clam shell as the water flows down the dome of the terrace. This is what the Pink and White Terraces at Rotarua must have looked like before they were buried in the explosive eruption of Tarrawerra.

The Frenchman's cap ????

These are the buildings of the military camp for the soldiers that controlled Yellowstone.

When we got back at 3:00 Alan and I crashed on our beds for a couple of hours. We eventually surfaced and went for a couple of beers and some food. We had managed our first day of hiking though it was pretty easy, so felt game to attempt the following days which would be more demanding.