Stamps of the Day: American Records

A few years ago the US Postal Service issued a series of 40 stamps highlighting the places, animals, and plants in the US that were the largest, loudest, tallest, deepest, fastest, oldest, etc., called Wonders of America.   They also made a puzzle featuring the stamps (in larger than natural size, of course), and it is one of our favorite puzzles here at home.  Tonight when I sat and looked through some of my stamp images to decide which one to pick to write about, I realized that it is actually amazing how many of these record places and organisms I have seen or been to after living in the US for nearly 20 years (yes, it has been that long, incredible).  

So, here it goes, the list of American records:

You can see these in Central Park these days, the peregrine falcons are back!  But one of the best observations I had was in Yellowstone National Park.
(FASTEST BIRD - Peregrine Falcon)

There is nothing like bumping along an old railroad track in the American west over vast sage brush areas (Colorado to be precise) after a vintage steam train and look out the window and see a couple of pronghorn staring at you.
(FASTEST LAND ANIMAL - Pronghorn)

Ancient ruins at the mesas in New Mexico, such as Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde, makes me wonder what kind of threats made people live like this - with the whole village only accessible by ladders.
(LARGEST CLIFF DWELLING - Cliff Palace)

Oh, Mississippi - I love the name of that river.  4 s's, and 4 i's and 2 p's.  And a single M, alone in the beginning.  The delta at its mouth might be as large as half of Sweden, or something like that. 
And New Orleans is of course set in the middle of it.
(LARGEST DELTA - Mississippi River delta)

Just a bit south of where we live, a few hours, is a giant bay along the Atlantic coast... the funny sounding Chesapeake Bay, once full of oysters, blue crabs and fish, but now overpolluted and overnutrified. It is still gorgeous, but it needs to get healthier again. 
(LARGEST ESTUARY - Chesapeake Bay)

Oh, the bullfrog's noises in the night wakes you up in the early mornings around here on the mountain... It is like a giant toad, fat and fleshy, and rather pompous in its behavior.

(LARGEST FROG - American Bullfrog)

Buffalo, bison, same thing.  I have only seen wild bison in Yellowstone, and there we saw them really close, actually too close for comfort when they suddenly changed direction and went straight in among the parked cars where we stood photographing them crossing the road.  I had to jump into the back of a minivan.  Nobody was hurt, but it gives you a lot of respect for these animals. 

(LARGEST LAND MAMMAL - American Bison)

Alligator meat is not bad.  It is lighter-colored than beef, a little fishy in texture, but not taste, more like chicken.  They can move fast too - I have seen 8-feet alligator lay still for 20 minutes and then be gone in 3 seconds with a giant splash down the bank to the water. Never trust a reptile :)

(LARGEST REPTILE - American Alligator)

I have only visited Rocky Mountains in bits and pieces, here and there.  New Mexico (oh Taos!), Colorado (wow, it was incredible), and up in Yellowstone, of course.  But this summer I think we will see the real thing when we visit Idaho and Boise.  This is something else than the Swedish mountains called 'fjällen'. A bit taller, steeper, fiercer, and younger. 

(LONGEST MOUNTAIN CHAIN - Rocky Mountains)

Speaking about mountains, the ones on the East Coast are the sister mountains to the Swedish mountains, same age, formed at the same geological time, and even if maybe taller in the US with the same feel of a bit worn-down, eroded landscapes, and with sequences of ridges and peaks blueing in the distance.  

(OLDEST MOUNTAINS - Appalachians)

In Hawaii, the mountains are so young they don't exist yet.  They are being formed, right now, tonight and tomorrow.  I have stood and looked at the spouting lava at the Kilauea crater in Hawaii, using binoculars since you weren't allowed very close.  Magic magma, lovely lava, and deadly.  

(MOST ACTIVE VOLCANO - Kilauea)

Here is a manmade record piece, which is something you see if you arrive in New York by boat from Europe - the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connects Staten Island with Brooklyn over the narrow sound (The Narrows) that leads into New York City.  They are starting to grow oysters again under the bridge.  In the past there were lots of oysters here, more than people could eat, but then they disappeared because of pollution.  Soon we might have New York oysters again! 

(LONGEST SPAN - Verrazano-Narrows Bridge)

No records without the most amazing geysers of Yellowstone.  When I was a kid I used to look in books at my grandfather's house, and he had a book on Yellowstone.  I couldn't imagine the hot water spouts, sulfuric ponds, or bubbling mud pits, but they fascinated me, and I hoped that one day I would be able to see this crazy place.  Geology in action, of the most severe kind.  Well, volcanos might be a bit more severe, but Yellowstone is actually a giant volcano, and it is about to erupt at some point... About ten years ago I got the opportunity to visit Yellowstone during a workshop, and it was as crazy a place as I had imagined, or worse.  It is like a place out of a movie.  Moose grazing grass next to hot water springs that are deadly.  Geysers spouting giant fountains of water and steam on schedule.  Day and night. Incredibly.  I need to go back! (My grandfather's Yellowstone book is now in my house too.)

(TALLEST GEYSER - Steamboat)

When we drove up on Mount Washington in New Hampshire in June or July, they still had snow on the top.  It is the windiest place in America, this curved tip of an Appalachian mountain, and it felt like it.  It reminded me of the Swedish mountains, except our mountains in Scandinavia doesn't have giant weather stations on them.

(WINDIEST PLACE - Mount Washington)

And finally, another manmade thing, and this one is of utter impracticality and uselessness.  It just exist because someone had an idea, made it happen, and now everybody comes to see it. (Brilliant tourist marketing!)  I have never been up in the Gateway Arch in St. Louis by the Mississippi, but I have seen it from a distance.  You can take a little elevator inside to go up to the top, but if you are claustrophobic and or afraid of heights it is better to stay on the ground and look up.  

(TALLEST MAN-MADE MONUMENT - Gateway Arch)

our pizza are like Yellowstone's boiling mudpots...

our pizza are like Yellowstone's boiling mudpots..., originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

Just imagine these bubbles being replaced with hot mud, that is exactly how Yellowstone can be.  Except our pizza doesnt' smell like sulfur :)

Gorgeous: Octopus pond

Octopus pond in Yellowstone, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

Yellowstone National Park in USA is a magical place, full of contrasts. Hot water springs, like this, are mixed in with harsh winters, fluffy bisons, needly conifers and white-stemmed aspens. Geysers spout steam and water, and sulfuric fumes rise from the ground. The Octopus pond is unusual in that it has very high ph and calcium carbonate is being deposited in white layers around the edges. But don't jump in - many of these ponds are too hot or have dangerous chemicals or bacteria in them.

Stamp of the Day: Pronghorn

Last night I dreamed about these American 'antelopes', called Pronghorn. When we got to the border of the Yellowstone National Park the first day (for real, not in the dream), a big pronghorn male had positioned himself right inside president Roosevelt's large stone entrance arch. He was just standing there, slowly moving away from the people photographing him, like he had all the time in the world and not one thing bothered him a bit. I wonder if he was sick or mental, since all other pronghorns we saw the rest of the week were either far away or were running fast, fast, fast, past us. In my dream there were flocks of them on an African-like savanna, grazing under a blue sky and surrounded by tall golden grass.

This is of course not the fastest land animal in the world, but it is the fastest in North America (98 km/h!). Only the cheetah is faster in the world. But aren't there faster birds? Like peregrine falcons? Yes, they can dive at speeds up to 320 km/h.

Landscapes of Yellowstone: Lamar Valley

I woke up this morning from a very vivid dream, of me running among brushes on an old Indian trail on a ridge, surrounded by three friendly gray wolves, but in the valley below there were crazy bisons that would attack at any minute if they saw me. Earlier in the dream I had found the remnants of some people that had been attacked by something - all that was left was a few dry bones and clothing, and some pennies and folded bills that had been in the pockets. Ravens were sitting in the trees and on the ground, ready to pick on the bones. I guess these kinds of dreams are what you get after going to Yellowstone!

One of the most beautiful places in Yellowstone is Lamar Valley, a place that is not on the regular tourist loop, so fewer people see it. It is a large valley, U-shaped by the ice age glaciers, and you can see far, far over to the other side. Bison and antelope is common here and we also saw bald eagles and a grizzly bear (at a safe distance, at least a mile away).

Usually the bison are really busy with their own life, you just have to watch out if you get too close. The bulls are enormous, and considering how they bang their heads together while fighting, no wonder they need to be so heavy in the front. They also like to have little dirt spots on the ground where they roll around in the mud or dust, like horses do.

Lamar Valley and its branch northwards along Soda Butte Creek. This part of Yellowstone didn't burn in the giant forest fires of 1988 so the forest is thicker and older.

One of us photographing drinking bisons by hiding in the sage brush. Note how the bisons don't care about cars, they just walk right across the road and expect all cars to stop for them. Sometimes they stand still on the road for a long time and stop all traffic.

Before sunset we climbed a 600 ft high hill on the side of the valley to see wolves on the other side of the valley. It was a hard climb - steep, at high altitude, and we were so tired when we got to the top. But it was certainly worth it! They were there, a pack of 22 wolves, black and grey ones, at least a mile away across the valley on a terrace invisible from the road below. We saw them howling in our spotting scopes, and my binoculars were great! (That is a birthday present that really has been fantastic! Thanks!) They were sleeping, running around, some of the 8-month pups were playful - it was wonderful to see. Then the sun set, stormy clouds came in, and we walked down the hill after an amazing evening.

A contribution to LS trip to Yellowstone

Calling the buffalo

This is a picture of an artist I much admire. Bev Doolittle, with a lot of interesting nature motives. In most her pictures you´ll find animals hiding, in the structures of trees stones etc. You find more of her pictures here http://www.artifactsgallery.com/, just choose her name in the scroll list.

EH

More pond(erings) in Yellowstone

Octopus spring, famous for its white sediments around its edges. Also, there is an elk skeleton in the bottom that has been there for over 8 years. This spring is not acidic, so the skeleton last longer than in the springs with a ph of 2-3 or so.

Mushroom Spring, the source of Thermus aquaticus, a bacteria that gave us the TAQ enzyme, which has revolutionized PCR and molecular biology. This is the source of the Nobel Prize!

Grand Prismatic Spring, a large, hot pool surrounded by orange bacterial mats.

Lake Yellowstone, a large cool lake that is in the old caldera remnant of the volcano that blew up here 600 000 years ago. Under the surface there are hot vents where magma-heated water squirts out into the cool lake water. Many people have drowned on this lake too.

älvdans i Yellowstone

(Title: The dance of the elves in Yellowstone)

When I was a child in Sweden, we were entertained with folklore stories about elves, gnomes, giants, and other mythological creatures. Some people even believed in them. I always loved the elves, which in Sweden are female, fog-like and wispy creatures that dance over meadows at dusk and dawn. If you breath in their fog, you can wish for something dear.

When I was in Yellowstone I was reminded of the Swedish 'älvor' at several occasions. Not only do the hot springs and fumaroles (steam vents) create foggy clouds night and day, but there are also chilly nights perfect for 'älvdans' (dance of the elves) over lakes and meadows. One night when we drove back late to the hotel the road was covered in fog in the moonlight - the steam vents in the geyser basins helped to create low mist that covered all valleys. We had to drive really slow, in case a bison had decided to take a nap on the road, and a car ahead of us actually hit an animal and had to be towed. We were luckier. Here are some steamy, foggy shots to show you the dance of the elves in Yellowstone. Enjoy!

Daytime steam at Grand Prismatic Spring. The orange in the foreground are microbial mats of heat-tolerant microorganisms, among the oldest bacteria on Earth.

Steam vents at Norris geyser basin, early morning. About 3 miles (4 km) under us is molten magma, and you can feel it!

More steam at Norris geyser basin. This place has the hottest geysers and hot springs, many boil all the time.

Early, early morning, before sunset at Mammoth Hot Springs, with terraces of sediments and a hot spring in the background. It was beautiful, mystical and eerie all at the same time.

A small first taste of Yellowstone National Park

Simple fact: Yellowstone is fantastic! Here is a sample until I can write more about it.

Yellowstone River falls into Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park.

We saw thousands of bison (buffalo, bisonoxar), giant beasts that don't care about cars.
They use the roads as travel paths.

Very active steam vent (fumarole) in the Norris geyser basin. Those yellowish colors are microorganisms that love to live in hot, acid environments.

Mammoth Hot Springs can be an eerie place. Springs that bring mineral-laden water to the surface deposit large layers of chemicals that can kill trees.

Stamp of the Day: Wolf

This stamp from Slovenia features Canis lupus, the grey wolf. A few days ago I saw my first wild wolf ever, in Yellowstone National Park where wolves were reintroduced in 1995. They started with 31 wolves, now there are 13 packs and a total of over150 wolves. I saw wolves three different times in the park, all very far away, but you could still make them out as large dogs living in packs. We heard them howling too, together with coyotes. I remember 'moster WM' talk about how she saw a wolf pack on the ice of a lake in northern Sweden in the 1920s from a train - it was probably one of the last before they became extinct. Now Sweden have wolves again of course, but they are not doing as well as in Yellowstone where there is more space and less people than in Sweden. Many of the Yellowstone wolves are black, totally black, which I thought was unusual. We heard the wolves howling when we were watching a meteorshower one early dawn, before the sun came up. Talk about magical moment - shooting stars and howling wolf packs.

I loved seeing and hearing the wolves, it made me so happy. I much rather meet a wolf in the forest than a bear or a mad moose.