Tranquil stillness
Near field expanse
Winter experience
Serene tranquility balances exterior sensations with a feeling of inner peace. It promotes awareness of life’s wonders, fully connected to the universe and to ourselves.
“Nature is the best medicine for serenity. Peace, calmness, stillness. It’s good for the heart.” – Karen Madwell
Enamored contact
Inspire wonder
Idealistic view
Lacking judgment of why things are, natural fascination starts at an early age as life unfolds. A higher knowledge emerges with curiosity and a sense of wonder.
“To contemplate is consciously to possess meanings; to behold them with relish; to view them so absorbingly as to revel in them.” – John Dewey
Fluid dynamics
Hydrogeologic regime
Tectonic position
Changes are always taking place in Yellowstone’s dynamic hydrothermal fields. Tree-kill areas result from active geothermal fluid flows issuing from fault zone migration pathways.
“The surface manifestations of a geothermal system in a volcanic area are generally the features that first stimulate exploration.” – Kenneth Wohletz
Surface route
Common course
Linear agglomeration
At close range, trees border many roadways in the eastern states, stimulating feelings of confinement even when traveling at high speed.
“There’s more to getting to where you’re going then just knowing there’s a road.” – Joan Lowery Nixon
Twin trestle
Water transverse
Highway network
At the mouth of the James River, the Monitor–Merrimac Memorial Bridge–Tunnel connects the independent Virginia cities of Newport News (north end) and Suffolk (south end). The bridge portion is 4.6 miles long crossing an impressive expanse of tidal water slowly flowing into the Chesapeake Bay.
“We require from buildings two kinds of goodness: first, the doing their practical duty well: then that they be graceful and pleasing in doing it.” – John Ruskin
Basin gradients
Heat transport
Thermal signature
Within the ancient active caldera, there are nine geyser basins situtated in Yellowstone Park. A mountain fur trader reported in 1830 that on a frozen winter morning the steam rising from the various geyser basins reminded him of emissions from industrial smokestacks.
“The whole country beyond was smoking with the vapor from boiling springs, and burning with gasses, issuing from small craters, each of which was emitting a sharp whistling sound.” – Joseph Lafayette Meek
Particular details
Ultimately grounded
Ascendancy contemplation
Tangibly assessing the authentic, immersed in the unlimited integrity of the ponderable presence, it is essential to embrace extremes. Aesthetics presses to the limits of rational knowledge and projects the possibility of spiritual transcendence.
“Because of the uncertainty of temporal existence, life is always an experiment.” – Karl Jaspers
High point attention
Adrenaline rush
Solace in silence
Establishing a fortuitous position in anticipation, early morning effort is rewarded as the sun first illuminates the apparent juncture that separates earth from sky. With coherence and progression, such moments fill the present with memory into the future.
“Nature is one of the most underutilized treasures in life. It has the power to unburden hearts and reconnect to that inner place of peace.” – Janice Anderson
Vibrant erosion landscape
Abundant rhyolite lavas
Canyon rim
Chemically altered by reactions with geothermal steam and hot water, the walls of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon are colored with vibrant yellows. The area’s name, however, is derived from indigenous Americans referring to yellow sandstones hundreds of miles downstream of the Park, along the banks of the Yellowstone River.
“As we passed on, it seemed those scenes of visionary enchantment would never have an end.” – Meriwether Lewis
Low level path
Least resistance
Flow meanderings
Looking downstream from a bridge overpass, river geology offers an interesting perspective. Of course overlooking such a vista evokes an eternal question that asks to what extent appearances relate to reality.
“I mean, you could claim that anything is real if the only basis for believing in it is that nobody’s proved it doesn’t exist!” – J.K. Rowling