Total Trail Mileage: 26 miles
So I finally got to do my sermon on Old Faithful/Supervolcano analogy. I was actually able to do it twice. Once in the morning at the Chapel and then again in the evening at the campground ampitheater. We had about twelve show up for morning service at the chapel. The message went pretty good but it was a little short. After the service and before the evening service I worked on lengthening it a little bit and I felt that it went much better at the campground service. We had about eight or so people at the evening service, however, all of the eight except for two were associated with ACMNP in some kind of way. But nonetheless, it was a good service altogether.
I was able to visit the Old Faithful area and the surrounding basins which is where a good bit of the thermal features are. I didn't do any hikes, but mostly boardwalks through the basins. Old Faithful was pretty awesome to see and to photograph. Just some facts. It erupts every 90 minutes or so. Each eruption lasts about 2 to 5 minutes. Each eruption puts out about 5000 gallons of water. And the average height of an eruption is 145 feet. The only downfall of Old Faithful is that it is so built around. There is an inn, a lodge, and a visitor's center within 500 feet. I realize that it's a main attraction and everything, but I wish that we could at least maintain some of the wildness and naturalness of these things. With all the buildings and parking lots around Old Faithful, it really does take away from the experience.
The other basins with smaller geysers were a lot better. The continuous steam and vapor are pretty incredible, as is the boiling and spurting ponds. It's pretty unreal that you are standing above ground that is so thermally active.
Just Monday, I went on a short hike with a friend, Abigail, who is part of the Mammoth ministry team. The hike was to Grizzly Lake and guess what, we saw a grizzly. But it wasn't even on the trail that we saw the Grizzly, but at the pulloff for the trailhead. There was a bunch of people parked there and we figured it would be a bear somewhere off in the distance. However, while we were still in my truck, the grizzly crossed the road, close to everyone's vehicles and made his way into the field. We sat, watching him in the field for about half an hour, waiting for him to make his way away from the trail so we could start the hike. Yes, we did hike with a bear in the area but he was far away, we kept our eyes on him, and he seemed to be too busy digging in the wet ground for food. And so we continued to Grizzly Lake, apparently aptly named. The hike was two miles in through burnt forests from a fire in 1988 with some burnt trees still standing. The trail was more like an obstacle course as we had to climb over and under fallen trees, and meneuver through muddy and almost marshy ground. Needless to say, it was really fun. We made it to the lake which was surrounded by small mountains with bigger mountains in the background behind. It was pretty, but it still showed evidence of a forest fire.
There are two characteristics of a Christian that I'm finding that makes others' days at least a little better. One is peace, the other is joy, and I guess you can go ahead and tag appreciation along with them. And I'm finding that by simply being calm and joyful at work and with friends that they kinda feed off of that and become more at peace and more happy, even if just a little bit, and even if it is just around you. And really, a simple thank you or I appreciate so and so, it really brightens up someone's day, especially in the work force when people are being dragged down with hard work and long hours. This is where we can be a light in the darkness and in releasing some burden.
I finally was able to find some scenery that allowed me to do some black and white scenes.
Old Faithful
Biscuit Basin (maybe, I can't remember)
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