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This image captures the moment we first spotted wolves in Yellowstone NP. We were a little above Norris in the park which would put us in the range of the Wapiti Pack. #yellowstonenp #wapitipack #yellowstonewolves
... e anche qui un bel temporale in arrivo... Presi! :-))
La mia povera Nikon ha fatto il muschio....
Però... che cielo!!!
The Yellowstone gorge was depressed on the day I visited the canyon. Menacing drizzles, which hardly wet anything but thrust gloom on souls, were on the prowl. Walking past the ‘inspiration’ point on the trail where most visitors stop to ogle at the distant upper Falls, I came across a melancholic bend. From there, I saw the raging Yellowstone River epitomizing the canyon’s tear trail while the canyon itself looked sad and wounded. Standing beneath soft thuds of sporadic raindrops on my umbrella, I lost the context as my mind engaged the surreal.
“You should go back”, a whisper said. I turned back but saw no one.
“Who are you? Why should I go back?” I said somewhat perplexed and also a bit alarmed.
“I am the sorrow of this valley. Don’t you see me? ”
Did I? I looked deep in the gorge and saw slender threads of mist build up from keening geothermal pores on bare earth. The bare soil has been crucified since the dawn of time with rusting iron rendering it with the cerise of subdued rage and the yellow of depression. Absence of vegetation reflected the fury of the land that could stand no happiness. Yes, I did see her; the valley’s sorrow. I glanced at the phantom’s eyes. She looked uncannily familiar.
“Why are you so unhappy?” I asked.
“Counterintuitive as much as it may sound” she said, “Nothing makes me sadder than happiness. If you think about it, happiness is a desirable virtue on one hand and a rather ruthless compromise on the other. A happy mind tends to accept the status quo and seeks no further. It lets you persist but not live.”
“That’s baloney. How can anyone excel unless they are happy? Happy with what they have?”
“When you say happy, I guess, you mean ‘peace’? In peace with what they have? Well then, you are right. But being in peace is not always being happy. As drops of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine drip in that happy valley of the brain (nucleus accumbens), the mind feels content like a python after a deer repast and becomes equally lazy for greater tasks. But pure happiness is fleeting. Sadness, if harnessed, can propel equally as happiness or better. ”
“I do not know if I should believe you.” I stood confused.
She smiled. “Your happiness is like your umbrella. Both give you a sense of security but when torrents pour, they are equally useless. I say, go back to your happy world and remain happy. Sadness is not for everyone. ”
Perhaps she knew I would not budge. Maintaining my eye contact I said, “I’ll stay.”
She smiled again. “Then drop that umbrella. Get wet. ”
Unnoticed meanwhile, the wind and the rain had picked up a few notches. I pulled the umbrella down and spread my arms as wings while the rain ran down my body and drenched my soul in august company of the beautiful and sad gorge of the Yellowstone.
PS: Thank you all. Yellowstone's sorrow is now explored by flickr.
Today is the last day of National Park Week. Here are two more shots previously not public: The beautiful Jenny Lake in Grand Teton NP (yes, the water really is that color), and me and Lucky at the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone in YNP. It's been fun revisiting some great memories of past trips, and we are looking forward to another one in June now that we are all vaccinated. This time we will hit 4 NPs in northern CA and OR!
Driving from Canyon campground to West Thumb, we passed a gorgeous view of Yellowstone Lake. I don't really have a landscape lens, so this was taken with a Canon Elph, which did a reasonable job of capturing the beauty, though I can easily imagine what some my Flickr friends with such lenses would have produced..
Yellowstone NP
6-23-14