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Angelika Yellowstone is of volcanic origin and offers a unique worldwide concentration of 300 geysers, as well as bubbling mud pots and hot springs. We often felt like we were in a witch's cauldron, as it bubbled, steamed, and puffed everywhere quite intensely.
Geysers form when three components come together: water, heat, and a natural system of underground pipes and cavities connected to the Earth's surface by a narrow channel. Rain or snow water seeps deep into the Earth into underground cavities, where it is heated by volcanic magma. Because the water column above the reservoir exerts pressure on the water, the water at the bottom heats up well above the boiling point of 100 degrees Celsius before turning into steam. Steam bubbles rise through the channel, displacing the water in the water column, causing the pressure in the channel to drop, and the highly superheated and pressurized steam in the cavity shoots up through the channel. A fountain of steam, condensed water, and sometimes minerals or rock particles then erupts from the geyser hole.
Now geysers erupt in the most diverse patterns. Some simmer for years without anything happening, while others shoot water out twice daily with beautiful regularity. In Yellowstone, we encountered many geyser enthusiasts who patiently waited for hours for a particular geyser to erupt. They knew how to interpret every bubble or gurgle.
As we all know, Michael can't sit still in one place for very long, so we had to be content with the eruptions of the "Old Faithful" and "Riverside" geysers. "Old Faithful" erupts in a tourist-friendly manner every 60 minutes, and the whole thing resembles a Disneyland set more than a national park. Benches are set up in front of Old Faithful, where crowds of people settle shortly before the eruption and then scatter back to the parking lot like startled chickens shortly afterward.
Even more than the geysers, I was fascinated by the hot springs, which often shimmered in the most beautiful shades of blue in the sunlight. At the edges, microorganisms create shades of green, yellow, red, and orange. The water is boiling hot, and multilingual warning signs caution visitors not to leave the wooden walkways or even think about putting their hands in the water.
However, it is alarming how foolish some tourists can be. We witnessed with our own eyes how an unsuspecting tourist left the wooden walkway to get a better position for a photo. Thankfully, her husband immediately called her back. In the somewhat eerie but very fascinating book "Death in Yellowstone" by Lee H. Whittlesey, I read that most accidents in Yellowstone occur because people behave carelessly and fall into the boiling springs.
In 1981, for example, a 24-year-old Californian jumped headfirst into a hot spring with a temperature of about 95 degrees Celsius to save his friend's dog. Since dogs cannot assess the temperature of water, they are not allowed on the hiking trails and boardwalks around the thermal fields. However, the dog in question had escaped from a car parked nearby. Neither the dog nor the man survived the incident.
- More topics you might be interested in:
Fire in California 
Oil in the Bay 
Yellowstone-Nationalpark 
Waldbrände 
Do not Feed the Bears 
Bisons 
Namensforschung 
Party canceled: Halloween in the Castro
Fire in California
Oil in the Bay
Yellowstone-Nationalpark
Waldbrände
Do not Feed the Bears
Bisons
Namensforschung
Party canceled: Halloween in the Castro
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