Broken clouds add some brooding drama to what would have been a plain photo of Castle Geyser splashing. I had hoped for a nice sunrise on my last morning at Old Faithful, but no such luck. So, I switched gears and used the clouds to my advantage, creating a moody image of one of my favorite geysers.
Marble Terrace in early morning light. The sunrise this morning wasn't all that I was hoping for so I scurried down to the viewpoint for Marble Terrace and waiting for light to strike the terrace. For a few brief minutes it did, bathing the terrace in a soft warm glow before the sun disappeared behind the clouds again. The Mammoth Terraces are always changing. With deposition in some areas being measured at feet per year, the flow, texture, and patterns are different whenever I visit. The green near the bottom of the photo is from thermophilic (hot water loving) organisms. The organisms are photosynthetic (they use sunlight for energy) so in the wintertime, they darken to accomodate the decrease in light.
A big horn sheep poses briefly before going back to the work of eating the dry grass on the hillside in Lamar Valley. If you look closes at the tip of closest horn, you can see a small piece of juniper lodged in the end. Makes you wonder what the story is behind that.
