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Wyoming

A big hot pool in the Old Faithful Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone sits atop a super-volcano, one of the largest in the world -- it much bigger than any single volcano in the Northwest, though it's deceiving because it does not have a conical shape. For perspective, the last time Yellowstone blew -- about 640,000 years ago -- it ejected about 8,000 times more ash and lava than did Mt. St. Helen's in 1980.

Morning Glory Pool, the colors of which are caused by different types of bacteria that are capable of living in different temperatures zones. The bacteria near the top are the least heat resistant, while the bacteria deep down in the pool are the most heat resistant.

The oddly-shaped Grotto Geyser, which erupts about every 80 hours, 10 feet up and for 1.5-10 hours. It is believed that its log-like features may be the trunks of trees that once grew in that area, until the trees were killed by the coating of geyserite.

Another geyser in the Old Faithful Geyser Basin. If it were located almost anywhere else, it'd be worthy of a state park or major tourist attraction, but since it's surrounded by even more impressive geothermal features it hardly even gets a look.

Giant Geyser, the cone of which stands about 12 feet high, erupts infrequently and sporadically. It's an impressive thing when it does go off, though: it goes 200 feet in the air (about 50 percent higher than Old Faithful) and lasts for about an hour.

Old Faithful's last visible show of the day. It never fails to disappoint.

Heart Lake, one of a handful of backcountry lakes in Yellowstone. In 1988 Yellowstone had a horrible fire season, with about 36 percent of the park burning; the snags in this photo are form that year, and you can see that life is slowly starting to come back.

Two Oceans Creek splits at this point, with about three-fifths of the creek heading to the left (towards the Atlantic) and about two-fifths heading to the right (towards the Pacific). This is one of the most unique things I have ever seen anywhere, and it certainly is the most unique thing about the Teton Wilderness.

Commercial outfitters have done significant damage to many sensitive areas in Teton Wilderness (including here, in the North Fork of the Buffalo River Valley), the Bob Marshall Wilderness, and other public lands that are heavily used by outfitters. The damage is due to their using of pack stock to transport supplies and equipment for their extravagant base camps; the hooves of mules and horses chew up trails (particularly when they are wet) like rototillers do to gardens.

Cliff faces in the Teton Wilderness taken near Brooks Lake Lodge.

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