I don’t know about you, but I am totally astounded whenever I see anyone step off the boardwalk at Yellowstone’s hot springs. As a summer seasonal park ranger I see this behavior all the time and can’t help but wonder. What are these folks thinking?
Last week I came across a perfect example of why it is best not to consider doing anything so foolish.
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| Good Godfrey! Collapsed travertine at Mammoth Hot Springs |
Whenever I travel I want to allow myself the gift of time. What might take three hours takes me six. What might take two days takes me five. There is so much to see along the way, so much scenery and history to absorb in this beautiful country of ours, that it would be a shame to pass it all by with the unrelenting goal of merely getting from point A to point B.
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| Bear Lake Valley |
If you blink, you might miss it, it’s that little. In fact, even if you don’t blink you could easily drive right past it.
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| Beaver buddies on the quartz monzonite boulder indicate the path to big views |
Living in southern Utah and hiking a lot of landscape over the past 20 years, you would think that I’d have seen at least one desert tortoise stroll past my boots. Sadly this has not been the case. The Mojave desert tortoise spends 95% of its life underground. It all comes down to chance, and whether you are looking in the right place at the right time.
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| It did not appear that anyone was home |
