Solitary Tree at Sunrise © 2010 Bo Mackison
Early light from an autumn sunrise gave a magical quality to this tree in the Black Sand Basin in Yellowstone National Park. The mountainside in the background shows the new growth and the remnants of the destroyed lodgepole pines from the 1988 fire that affected nearly a third of the park.
Viewing Black Sand Basin © 2010 Bo Mackison
Black Sand Basin is a rather isolated group of thermal features in the Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. There are several jewel colored pools and geysers in the area, but I had a hard time concentrating on the specific geysers because the earliest light from the sunrise hitting the steam in 40˚F weather had turned this area, already a Wonderland, into a gigantic, purplish-yellow kaleidoscope of almost unnatural, but dazzling color.
There were only two other visitors at this time of the day, but it was one of the highlights of my three days in Yellowstone. Later, when I watched Old Faithful–the big geyser draw in the park–amongst a noisy crowd of onlookers, I kept thinking I had already seen the real show — at sunrise in Black Sand Basin.
Emerald Pool © 2010 Bo Mackison
Emerald Pool is sometimes a lovely shade of green. That makes sense when you consider the water is a deep blue and the lining of the pool is a bacteria-laden yellow. However the pool has been decreasing in temperature because of a combination of natural debris and materials thrown into the pool by visitors. This is causing the rim of the pool to darken to a brown color.
Twin Trees at Black Sand Basin © 2010 Bo Mackison
When I’m camping and I’ve sat by the late evening campfire admiring the red embers of the dying fire and gazed at the Milky Way until the early hours of the morning, it takes extra effort for me to be ready and in the car before sunrise the next morning. But it is often worth it. It surely was a few mornings ago, when I took this magical photograph.
This basin is a smaller part of the Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. It was just past sunrise. We had finished exploring this basin and were headed to the Old Faithful complex. Sherpa had already headed back to the parking lot. I was lingering in the eerie, early light.
This place with such an ancient feel, with steam curling out of the earth and hovering thickly in the cool morning. (It was 28˚F, so the hot springs were steaming almost everywhere you looked in the thermal part of the park.)
I am so grateful that in my photo practice, I always make it a point to turn around to check on what is behind me before I stop shooting.
