This first picture is taken through the window of our snow coach. The buffalo like to travel from place to place on the road. Two similar snow coaches are visible to the left. The buffalo are milling about trying to decide what to do after breakfast. Some seem to support going up the road, others support going down the road and some argue for chewing their cuds.
Roaring Mountain. Used to be Hell Roaring Mountain. Note the runoff channel in the foreground. Steam pours off this mountain constantly summer and winter. And it does roar from time to time.
Another look at Roaring Mountain.
A view of the runoff from Roaring Mountain. The temperature of this runoff probably stays pretty much the same year round. It is heated from the bottom a little as well.
A close-up view of the runoff. The green in bacterial growth. Note the ripples in the water make the picture somewhat abstract.
Another view of Roaring Mountain. Note the snow accumulations or lack thereof based on the underground heat. There are many steam vents on this mountain. I don't know how th e trees survive in the middle of this. There is a limit on how big they can get.
Another view of Roaring Mountain with a little wider angle.
Yes, this is the road. It can only be traversed by tracked vehicles. It had come a good a couple of days before I arrived. And there was a bit of snow on the day we made this trip.
A snow coach approaching.
Another view of the road.
This is actually a color photograph. The lake is Nymph Lake. Thermal springs under the lake keep it ice free all winter.
Buffalo in the distance. There is a steady light snow falling and the buffalo are in the steam of a hot spring.
More buffalo enjoying the winter weather. These are cows and calves.
A view of more of the buffalo. This herd is near the monument geyser basin. (actually visible in the distance. The buffalo are strung out along the Gibbon River.
A crop highlighting the buffalo enjoying a thermal feature.
Now. That herd of buffalo, cows and calves, in the road. Not that some are going up the road, some are coming back and some appear to be gossiping.
Now they have all decided to come back this way. There appear to be a few still gossiping. Buffalo have the right-of-way and know it. They eventually let us get by.
The Gibbon River below Gibbon Falls.
And another view of the Gibbon river. It is fed by a number of hot springs, a number of which are just up stream, so this portion of the river probably rarely freezes.
