Rivers, Waterfalls, Mountains, Hot Springs, Mud Pots, Basalt Columns, and a Buffalo… Yellowstone Has It All: Part 2

October 23, 2026October 23, 2026 / Curt Mekemson / 6 Comments

Our journey today takes us up the northwest side of Yellowstone NP from the Firehole River, shown above, to Mammoth Hot Springs. The latter will be the subject of another post.

This map shows our route. We will start at Firehole Falls just below Madison, make a brief detour toward the West Entrance and then begin to work our way north, stopping at Gibbon Falls, the Artist’s Paint Pot, Roaring Mountain, and Sheepeater Cliff before journeying on through impressive scenery up to just this side of Mammoth Hot Springs.

You may recall that I used this photo in my last Yellowstone NP post to show the Firehole River in its calm, peaceful stage just before it dropped off the edge of the world…

And became a raging torrent, the type that extreme white water rafters and kayakers love.

Imagine you are on a raft and glance behind you to see this monster wave with its mouth wide open following you. Grin. No rafters, kayakers, or other boaters are allowed on the river, however. The monster has to eat fish. Peggy tells me that she and her friends found a relatively calm spot on the Firehole and swam in it when she was working at Yellowstone in 1969. “We had to be careful to avoid getting caught in the current,” she told me. I can only imagine…

These cliffs stand above where the Firehole and Gibson Rivers come together at Madison (shown on the map above) to create the Madison River.

Going west from here will take you to the west entrance to the park and the town of West Yellowstone. Early morning fishermen on the Madison River have high hopes of landing a big one.

It’s a short, scenic, 14 mile drive to the park’s border. Well worth it. Peggy and I stayed in West Yellowstone on our last visit to the park.

Going north from Madison toward Mammoth Hot Springs, our first stop was at Gibbon Falls on the Gibbon River.

A dedicated walkway along the road beneath the falls provides numerous views.

Our next stop was at the Artist’s Paint Pot, where we went on a short walk. This rock and the rocks beneath spiral downward to a hot spring.

I couldn’t help but think of Dante’s Inferno here. A strong smell of sulfur reinforced the idea of the Biblical ‘fire and brimstone.’ Our trail led up the hill through the steam…

A closer look at one of the hot springs below.

We also found a mud pot, one of the stranger of the hydro-thermal features found in Yellowstone. This one was busy burbling away. Mud pots occur when hot thermal water is flowing under a layer of clay that blocks the water from escaping to the surface. Steam from the water, however, is able to make its way through the clay. Certain microorganisms convert the sulfur dioxide in the steam to sulfuric acid which turns the clay into a gooey, sticky consistency. Bubbles are created as a result of the steam coming up through the goo. They sound like plop, plop, plop.

Googly eyes from a mud pot’s perspective.

‘Burst your bubble’ might apply here. Onward…

Roaring Mountain, (or more appropriately today, the mountain that roared) is known for its fumaroles. A fumarole is similar to a geyser but lacks the water to create eruptions. Instead, the heat from the volcanic rocks turns what water is available into incredibly hot steam that escapes from vents and ranges in temperatures up to 280°F (138°C). It can be noisy. When dozens of large fumaroles covered the mountain in the early 1900s, it roared.

This is from a vintage 1902 photo of Roaring Mountain.

There was the one large fumarole when we visited Roaring Mountain. A few small ones were nearby. With the help of an earthquake— they happen frequently here— it could very well ‘roar’ again in the future.

Next, we visited Sheepeater Cliff. A handy information board told us most of what we needed to know about the cliff. I’m something of a sheepeater myself, especially when it comes in the form of lamb cooked in a hot sauce of Indian Curry. Yum!

Basalt columns have made it into a number of posts we’ve done ranging in size from the gigantic Devil’s Tower of eastern Wyoming to ones like this. The Devil’s Tower columns developed far under ground where they had a long time to cool and grow. Sheepeaters’ columns are from a volcanic flow on top of the ground that cooled much more quickly.

Devil’s Tower. It makes a great stop for aliens, at least according to the movies *Close Encounters of the Third* Kind and *Paul*.

The country opened up after Sheepeater Cliff with an iconic view of the west. The high mountain is Electric Peak.

Sepulcher Mountain is close by. It was given its name in 1871 by an army captain who thought the jagged dark rocks on top looked like a crypt. Electric Peak was named by a geologist who was caught in a thunder and lightning storm when he was exploring the peak. I experienced that once in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. My hair was actually standing on end. Scary. I made it off the mountain in record time.

The area where this road snakes around the cliff is called the Golden Gate. A series of 11 concrete arches are built into the cliff wall over the canyon below holding the road up. The scenery is spectacular, if you can get over being nervous about the road.

High cliffs and aspens were caught in the sunlight. Note the long avalanche path to the right of the cliff. It would be a guaranteed fast ride down— one with a likely bad ending. The odds aren’t good.

Aspens are among my favorite fall trees for color. We were in Yellowstone at the perfect time.

Brush and grass did their part in creating a fall feeling.

As did one solitary buffalo. Older males, no longer able to compete for females, often leave breeding herds and strike off on their own for a quiet retirement of grazing, lazing about, and wallowing in dirt and mud. Don’t know if they miss the girls. When we took this photo, we were nearing the magnificent Mammoth Hot Springs. It’s next on our Yellowstone Series. But first, we have two treats. *Number 1: we will feature Chiricahua National Monument, soon to be America’s newest National Park!* Peggy and I visited last year and marveled at the amazing rock formations.

Second it’s Halloween week. Peggy and I will honor it by relating three personal encounters we have had with ghosts. Plus we will introduce a bevy of Day of the Dead beauties from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Do Scotties, Cats, Coos, or Unicorns Rule in Glasgow?

October 19, 2026October 21, 2026 / Curt Mekemson / 10 Comments

It’s time to wrap up our posts on the Scottish Highlands. While our CIE tour included Edinburg and Glasgow, neither related to our focus on the Highlands. I did include some photos from Glasgow in relation to my post on flowers. And today, I will add a few more from both Glasgow and Edinburg. While natural beauty isn’t normally an urban thing, no one has a franchise on weird. It’s found everywhere. Peggy and I always keep an eye out for it! We love quirky. So fasten your seatbelts. Here we go. There is even a story to tie it together… (All of the photos here were taken by Peggy, me, or our Grandson Cody, who had the courage to join us on our tour.)

“Hi, I’m Scottie. We rule in Glasgow. Nobody has a doghouse like I do. Wait until you see my butt.”

“It comes with a great skylight! Ignore the cat below.”

“I can’t top that! What impact will the skylight butt have on visitors to Scotland!? Will it may make their hair stand up on their heads? Or—horror of horrors— bring out the Gen-Z Stare.”

“Bring out the troops! Maybe the tourists will stare at them instead.”

“Bad idea. A military solution is not needed here. Replace all the Scottish Terriers with robot dogs. We don’t poop.”

“That’s stupid. Leave it to a dog to come up with a dumb idea— even more so, a robot dog operating on AI. The only solution is to replace all of the Scotties in Glasgow with Cool Cats. We rule!”

“Forget them both. People who visit Scotland are in the moooo’d for quirky, colorful cows…” -Hermione, the Quirky Coo

“We even have the decency to cover our rears!”

“Besides, who can resist a face as cute as mine, people love us.”

“No way! Cats rule. Even cats that have been run over by logging trucks.”

“What? Wait. Unicorns weren’t even considered! I’m as regal as they come, even if I’m a tad chubby. Plus, we are magical, not carnivorous. Tourists won’t have to worry about us eating them.”

“Come on unicorn. Put up your dukes. Put up your dukes!”

“Did someone call for a duke? A king is much better! I’ll make the decision on who rules. Surprise! It’s me. I declare this matter closed.”

And thus our tale of who rules in Glasgow comes to an end, as does our CIE tour of the Scottish Highlands. We hope you’ve enjoyed it. Putting it together and reliving our experience has been a lot of fun for us. (Note: The Scottish Terriers found all over Glasgow were created and eventually auctioned off to raise money for a cancer support charity that provides free practical, emotional, and psychological care across Scotland.)

You are welcome to share your thoughts on who rules. Next up, we return to Yellowstone for the second of three posts on this national park that draws visitors from all over the world. This time we will feature great scenery, waterfalls, a roaring mountain, a lone buffalo, and, of course, more of hydro-thermal features that the park is famous for. You won’t want to miss it.

Yellowstone National Park: The World’s Best Known National Park… 25 World Renown National Parks- #3

October 15, 2026 / Curt Mekemson / 21 Comments

Beautiful scenery, abundant wildlife, and incredible geology. Yellowstone has it all. There is a reason why it became America’s first National Park in 1872. In fact, according to the National Geographic Magazine, it is the world’s best known National Park. It is estimated that some 215 million have visited since it was created in 1872— and this includes people from all over the world as well as the US. It is the third in our series featuring 25 US based national parks in celebration of America’s 250th Birthday. While the series celebrates the parks, it is also a celebration of the men and women who have had the vision, courage, and commitment to set aside and protect these areas for their intrinsic value as natural wonders.

One of the first things visitors to the park rush to see is Old Faithful Geyser. One of the reasons why is it is ‘faithful’ as well as spectacular. If you are willing to wait, you are guaranteed to see it erupt. According to the National Park Service, “its average interval between eruptions is about 90 minutes, varying from 50 to 127 minutes. An eruption lasts 1.5 to 5 minutes, expels 3,700–8,400 gallons (14,000–32,000 liters) of boiling water, and reaches a height of 106–184 feet (30–55 m).”

Peggy was no exception. Our pickup had barely rolled to a stop on our 2022 visit when she jumped out the door with her camera! We had lucked out and driven in just as Old Faithful had started to erupt. Peggy wasn’t going to miss a second if she could help it. She and Old Faithful go way back. BC if you will: Before Curt. She spent her 1969 summer here between her freshman and sophomore year in college as a waitress in the park’s main family restaurant. The windows looked out on Old Faithful. She had a front row seat.

An interesting fact about Yellowstone is that it has half of the world’s know geysers. Geysers, however, are only one of several reasons to visit the park. The park’s hydro-thermal features also include hot springs, fumaroles and mud pots. Each of these is unique and worth seeing— as we hope to show you. (All photos here are taken by either Peggy or me unless otherwise noted.)

The reason for Yellowstone’s super abundance of hydro-thermal wonders is that it sits on top of a supervolcano. Semi-molten rock exists in some areas as close as 2-5 miles below the surface. This extremely hot rock heats ground water, creating Yellowstone’s unique features. Fortunately, the volcano is dormant and not expected to erupt in the near future, which is good news given how massive the explosion might be. According to the United States Geological Service (USGS) it would “cause immediate, catastrophic destruction across the surrounding region and trigger severe, long-lasting global climate and food crises.”

Location of Yellowstone National Park in northwestern Wyoming on a Google Map.

This map provides an overview of the park. On this visit, Peggy and I drove up from Grand Teton National Park in the south and focused our visit on the western side of the park from Old Faithful (center left) to Mammoth Hot Springs (top left). The dotted line shows the extent of the Yellowstone Caldera. We are going to do 3 posts: From Old Faithful to Madison, from Madison to Mammoth Hot Springs and, finally, Mammoth Hot Springs. (Source: National Park Service map.)

Here’s a close up of the area we will be visiting today from Old Faithful to just below Madison. Located in the heart of the Caldera, we will be featuring geysers, hot springs and the Firehole River. The latter received its name because the geysers and hot springs are its primary source of its water. We will start with colorful streams making their way from the geysers and hot springs to the Fireball River. Get ready for color!

The color of the streams, geysers and hot springs in the Caldera section of Yellowstone is a constant source of surprise and wonder to those who visit the park. Credit goes to thermophiles, tiny microorganisms that thrive in the hot springs. Different types of thermophiles have different tolerance for the heat and come in different colors based upon heat and exposure to sunlight. Those that can tolerate the most heat live deep in the pools and tend toward blue and green. The ones living on the cooler, outer edges are more in the brown and yellow range.

“Wow!” is an apt description of the colors.

Oranges, browns, yellows, and darker colors.

Artistically, this view is one of our favorites, and that’s saying a lot. The dead stump has created an obstacle in the flow of the water and created this pattern..

One can see where the name Yellowstone came from here with this golden yellow rock. It was cascading down into one of the tributaries flowing into the Firehole River.

A view from the top. The clear water shows that the color is in the rock, not the water.

A combined effort creating a waterfall of rock.

Just downstream on the Firehole River tributary, a different view.

Now, back to the source, the hot springs and geysers. The Irish would be jealous of this beautiful, green hot spring found in Yellowstone National Park— and, the clarity of the water. It almost wants to make visitors shed their clothes and jump in. Bad idea. The water emerges from its volcano based heater at 198° F (92° C). A little warm for a hot spring experience unless your goal is to be cooked. I found it interesting that all geysers are a form of hot springs but not all hot springs are geysers. The difference is in the plumbing. In normal hot springs water from rain, snowmelt or a river/creek “seeps deep into the Earth, gets heated by magma or hot rock, and rises steadily back to the surface.” In geysers, there are deep constricted, cavities where the water is captured and superheated until it turns into steam and blasts its way to the surface. Meanwhile the vacated cavities are filling again with water and the process is repeated.

The record in Yellowstone for the largest hot spring goes to the Grand Prismatic Spring. It is 200-330 feet in diameter and more than 121 feet deep, making it the largest hot spring in the US and the third largest in the wold. Trillions of thermophiles give the spring its color. Thermophile, btw, means lover of heat.

Another view with brown thermophiles dominating the cooler water.

We thought that this barrier between two large hot springs was interesting.

This small, presently non-erupting geyser hole nearby left us wondering.

The purple rim around the rim around this green colored hot spring provided a colorful contrast.

The bubbles here suggest that this hot spring is a geyser.

Boiling water and steam: Two signs that a geyser is about to erupt.

An easy way to tell the difference between a normal hot spring and a geyser is the build up around the edges caused by the eruptions.

They are fun to check out and photograph. We find them fascinating. Each one is unique.

And my favorite: With character. I can let my imagination run wild. Do you see the great lion on the right, here?

Eventually the tributaries created by all the water from the hot springs and geysers will flow into the Firehole River…

Hot springs are also found along the river.

But eventually, the Firehole River spreads out and presents this vision of calm. Don’t be fooled. Just beyond this photo the river makes a dramatic drop and turns to falls and rapids. And that is where our next Yellowstone post will start.

But first, we will be doing a post on some of the odd things we found in Scotland. We love quirky. This, in case you are wondering, is a Scottish Terrier dog house.

Strange Plants, Attractive Landscapes, and Colorful Flowers… The Scottish Highlands

October 9, 2026 / Curt Mekemson / 16 Comments

STRANGE PLANTS THAT EAT BUGS: Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens

I’ve always been fascinated by carnivorous pitcher plants that lure insects into an untimely demise by attracting them with nectar into specialized, cup-shaped leaves, and then dissolving them in digestive fluid. Sounds a bit like a horror plot out of a B-movie. This beauty, as well as several others were featured at the Kibble Palace/Glass House of the Glasgow Botanical Garden.

In our last Scottish Highlands post, we took you on a tour of the areas natural scenic beauty. This time we are going to feature human efforts to beautify the country: attractive landscapes, colorful flowers, and interesting plants. We’ve already included some of these as we have explored Scotland’s castles and communities. Today, we are going to visit the Botanic Gardens located in Glasgow and the Inverewe Gardens located in the northwestern Highlands. Both feature plants and flowers that come from around the world as well as native plants. Unless otherwise noted, all photos in this post were taken by Peggy, our grandson Cody, or me on a CIE bus tour we took of the Scottish Highlands this summer.

The Kibble Palace/Glass House of Glasgow’s Botanical Garden was built for housing tropical plants. Several of these large, ornate glass structures were built during the 1800’s Victorian era throughout the British Isles and in a number of major cities worldwide.

Displaying red/purple veins. The leaf-like structures on top of pitcher plants—known as the lid or operculum, serve to attract insects and prevent excessive rain from entering the plant, diluting its digestive juices.

A rather showy operculum that advertises ‘Come this way bugs!’

This lime-green species provides more cover. If the operculum fails on this pitcher plant, or others, and fills with rain, the plant folds over from the weight, dumps the water, straightens back up, and produces more digestive juice. Sorry, bugs.

Close to-the-ground crowded pitcher plants.

Also small and crowded but red with an attitude! (hoodies)

We found this Rodin-like statue of *The Thinker* created by Scottish sculptor George Henry Paulin in Glasgow’s glass house. The monkey, assuming a similar pose, added a touch of humor.

INVEREWE GARDENS: An around-the-world collection of exotic flowers and plants in a botanical garden created by Osgood Mackenzie starting in 1862 on an undeveloped 2100 acre parcel of land given to him by his mother. It is now owned and operated by the Scottish Land Trust.

The two Grahams, our guide and bus driver, dropped us off and gave us three hours to explore the 2100 acres on our own, following the numerous paths that wandered through the garden. (The prefix ‘inver‘ in Scottish place names, BTW, refers to where the mouth of a river meets the sea, a loch or another river. In this case, it was the River Ewe flowing into the Loch Ewe. In case you are wondering about Ewe, no female sheep were involved. It’s the Scottish Gaelic spelling for the yew tree.)

Inverewe Gardens provided us with numerous flowers, shrubs and trees to admire, but no ancient yew trees. Too bad, Scotland’s Fortingall Yew, is estimated to be around 5,000 years old, making the oldest non-clonal tree in Europe.

Trails that started through a highly organized garden, soon led off to the more ‘wild’ sections.

The location of Inverewe Garden as shown on a Google map. Overlooking Loch Ewe, the garden sits on a north-facing bay that takes advantage of the warm ocean currents of the Gulf Stream, which provides the climate that the various tropical plants can thrive in at the same latitude as Hudson Bay in Canada.

Looking out on Loch Ewe from the Inverewe Garden.

The garden is well known for its Rhododendrons. Here, a bumble bee makes a visit. While its identity is easily established…

What is this?! Any ideas? Is it an insect with its head and front legs buried deep in the pistil, leaving a stinger like tail and dangling legs outside? Or could it be part of the plant? The only reason I ask that question is because the flower just above it to the right, and the flower just below it on the right suggests the possibility??? The flower, according to my plant ID app is stinky hellebore.

A thistle. According to the Scottish Land Trust, “The thistle is Scotland’s oldest recorded national flower and iconic emblem, symbolizing resilience, strength, and defense.”

In the ‘wilder’ part of the garden, Cody found some giant leaves to stand under. I wonder if they would serve as an umbrella in a rainstorm?

And Peggy found an unusual eucalyptus tree to hold up.

A quiet pool on the wild side caught my attention.

Including this blooming fellow with a bud to the right and a dead leaf behind it. The water gathering on the leaf caused an interesting see-through effect.

On this succulent, with the common name of Darley Blush, the outer leaves do seem to be blushing.

We went from flower to flower like a hungry hummingbird. Did you know that hummingbirds can visit between 1-2,000 flowers per day?

There was much more to see but our bus would be waiting and we wanted to eat first. It was time to look for an exit.

We had options. That’s it for today. Next up is the incomparable Yellowstone NP, the third in our series of visiting 25 world renowned national parks in the US honoring the nations 250th Birthday.

Grand Teton NP: The Youngest Mountain Range in North America… 25 World Class National Parks – #2

October 6, 2026 / Curt Mekemson / 21 Comments

Peggy and I are continuing our exploration of 25 of America’s most beautiful national parks in celebration of America’s 250th Birthday. Today we are journeying to northern Wyoming and visiting Grand Teton National Park with its spectacular mountain range: Our second national park.

I have good news. I mentioned in a recent blog that the Washington Post had reported that Major League Baseball, working in conjunction with the Trump Administration, was exploring the possibility of building a baseball stadium in the Park. Local government and community leaders dashed off a resounding “NO” to MLB and Trump. The idea was dropped faster than a 100 MPH pitched baseball can travel. Concerned citizens can make a difference!

An unobstructed fall view of the Grand Teton mountains with their great natural beauty. Plus ducks. Probably hanging out on their way south.

Visitors and wildlife won’t have to cope with thousands of more people clogging the narrow two lane highways and park if a baseball stadium had been built. One can only wonder what would happen if a grizzly attended a baseball tailgate party! One thing’s for sure: It could have had its choice of snacks.

Staring to rise 6-9 million years ago, the Grand Teton Mountain Range is the youngest mountain range in North America. The Rocky Mountains developed between 55-80 million years ago and the Appalachians 480 million years. Even the baby Sierra Nevada Mountain Range of California is a million or so years older.

And the Grand Tetons are still growing, one earthquake at a time. The latest occurred 5,900, 8,000, and 10,000 years ago. The earthquakes happen along the Teton Fault that runs 40 miles along the eastern side of the mountains. Each quake sees about 10 feet (3 meters) in uplift with the mountain rising 5 feet and the Jackson Hole Valley dropping 5. Is it time for another one? It has the potential of about 7.0 to 7.5 in magnitude.

The last time we visited Grand Teton NP we followed Highway 26 out of Casper, Wyoming. Our first view of the Tetons would have been shortly after we passed over Togwotee Pass sitting on the Continental Divide at an elevation of 9,655 feet. Togwotee is a Shoshone word meaning expert spear thrower.

Before we could spot the Grand Tetons, we saw these impressive breccia peaks to the north of Highway 26 near the Togwotee Pass. (My father painted these mountains once.)

Photo of Herb Mekemson by Glen Fishback — Professional photographer Glen Fishback took this photo of my dad painting the Absaroka Range in the 1980s. Pop, as we knew him, had wandered around the country with his sister, Elanor, a few years earlier.

Breccia consists of sharp, angular fragments of various minerals and rocks cemented together within a crumbly matrix of volcanic ash. The peaks are between 10 and 11 thousand feet high.

Aspens were also found near the pass. We were definitely being treated to fall colors.

Our first view of the Tetons on Highway 26 coming down from the Continental Divide into Jackson Hole Valley.

A closer valley view of the southern Tetons.

Now picture yourself as French fur trappers after a winter of being isolated all winter in a single room cabin without female companionship trapping beaver, and you come across your first view of these mountains in 1818. Legend has it that their reaction was something like, “Sacrebleu! Regardez les grand tétons! (Sacred Blue! Look at the great tits!)” Both their imagination and testosterone were running rampant. The mountain range and the future national park got its name. The center peak shown here is *the* Grand Teton of the park with an elevation 13, 776 feet (4200 meters).

I thought this view of the Jackson Hole Valley was rather attractive and looking fall-ish.

While the Teton Mountains are young, the rocks that make them up are some of the North America’s oldest, dating back some 2.7 billion years, before there was any life on earth. This photo was from an earlier trip we made to the park (July, 2009). No fall colors! This is looking toward the northern end of the park. The large mountain on the left is Mt. Moran.

And a final photo of Mt. Moran. This wraps up our second national park out of 25. Next we will drive up the road from the Grand Tetons and visit Yellowstone National Park. But first— We’ve checked out the natural beauty of the Scottish Highlands; it’s time to check out some of the gorgeous landscaping and flowers of Scottish castles, parks and arboretums.

Water lily garden in Scottish Highlands.

The Unusual Beauty of the Scottish Highlands: Think Green plus Mountains, Rivers, Waterfalls, Lochs, and Firths

October 2, 2026October 2, 2026 / Curt Mekemson / 11 Comments

We are returning to our CIE Scotland tour that Peggy and I took along with our grandson Cody this summer. Today, I will be featuring the scenic beauty of the Scottish Highlands. All photos are taken by Peggy, Cody or me unless otherwise noted.

Between towering mountains, rocky, green landscapes, hanging cliffs, plunging waterfalls, lochs, and firths, the Scottish Highlands are world renown for their rugged beauty. They also feature vast open spaces with few people. Once there were more, but the wealthy landlords who owned the property forced the tenant farmers off of their ancestral communal lands because they could make more money off of large scale sheep and cattle farms in what was known as the Highland Clearances between 1750 and 1860. They were a dark blot on Scotlands History.

There is a simple reason for all of the green. The highlands get a lot of rain: 118 to 177 inches (3,000 mm to 4,500 mm ) a year in the western mountains making them the wettest place in Europe. If you are visiting, expect to get wet. Bring appropriate clothing. Our tour was close to rain-free, however, even though dark clouds often hovered above us. Cody swore that it was the good luck he brought with him. We may have to travel more with the kid to test the theory.

This UK Government map shows the rainfall in Scotland. It’s heaviest in the mountainous western region of the Highlands. The reason is the same as the reason for the heavy rainfall in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington where I lived and played for most of my life.

The jet stream flowing from west to east passes over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and soaks up evaporated moisture. When it reaches the mountainous regions of both the north coast of the US and the Scottish Highlands, it is driven up by the mountains and cooled, which reduces the amount of water the air can hold. Rain, snow, sleet, hail, etc. are the results. It’s called orographic relief if you want to impress your friends. I think of having a full bladder and dashing for a restroom. Relief! Less rain on the east side of the mountains is called the rain shadow effect. There are two reasons. One, obviously, the air has lost much of its water. Two, as the air rushes down the mountains, it heats up and can hold more. The annual rainfall on the east coast of Scotland ranges from 28-31 inches (700-800 mm).

All of the water rushing down the mountains can lead to crashing waterfalls.

The rainfall also leads to roaring rivers…

Lochs (lakes to the uninitiated). They are everywhere. This one combines a loch, a stream and mountains.

This was another beauty. I think it was a loch, although it might have been part of a firth. A firth is the Scotch/English word for a long, narrow inlet from the sea, like San Francisco Bay.

Given that Scotland is surrounded by oceans, it isn’t surprising that there are numerous firths. Like lochs, they add to the beauty of Northern Scotland.

This one came with a long, sandy beach. The lone home at the end of the beach speaks to the vast open spaces of the Scottish Highlands with few people. Once there were more, but the wealthy landlords who owned the property forced the tenant farmers off of their ancestral communal lands because they could make more money off of large scale sheep and cattle farms in what was known as the Highland Clearances between 1750 and 1860. They were a dark blot on Scotland’s History. The homes of the tenant farmers were usually burned down so the farmers wouldn’t return. Thousands ended up migrating. Others scratched by as best they could on small farms, crofts, along the coast.

While the green landscape, rivers, lochs and firths are an essential part of the Highlands’ beauty, we are talking Highlands— and that translates into mountains.

While they only reach 3000 feet (914 meters) in height, their lack in elevation does not take away from their beauty and ruggedness. Here’s something to contemplate: They were once as high as the Himalayas, around 20,000 feet (6,100 meters). Four hundred million years of erosion can wear you down a bit, however. It’s apparent in this photo that a lot of erosion is still taking place. The mountains were created when Scotland and England crashed into each other around 500 million years ago. They didn’t always hang out together. Once they were part of two different continents separated by the no longer existing ocean of Iapetus. Northern Scotland belonged to the ancient continent of Laurentia, occupying a landmass with North America. England was part of a smaller continent far to the south known as Avalonia. Plate tectonics did away with Iapetus and brought Scotland and England crashing together in the Caledonian Orogeny, the event that raised the Scottish Highlands to their Himalayan heights.

Mountains were in view almost everywhere on our CIE bus tour of the Highlands.

Many of the mountains were quite rocky. Because of their different origins, the rocks of Scotland are different than the rocks of England. As are the fossils. The unique geology of Scotland led Scottish geologists to play an important role in the development of modern geology including concepts of deep time (the age of the earth), plate tectonics and structural mapping (vital in reconstructing the deformation history of the Earth’s crust).

I was impressed by the way these rocks led into this photo of mountains.

These large boulders with their lichen were perched above a firth.

Roads like this call my name. “Follow me, Curt,” they demand. We were on the Isle of Skye and my tour bus guide would have been unhappy if he would have had to chase me down. Sigh. I behaved. Instead….

We took a photo of us along with our guide and bus driver. They were both named Graham. Our guide is between Peggy and me and our bus driver is standing next to Cody. The rock pinnacle in the background is called the Old Man of Storr. Storr, the volcanic ridge to the right, was given its name by the Vikings. It means great or large.

The sunlight behind the Old Man of Storr gave it a shadowy appearance.

This Old Man of Storr from the other side. They say if you have the right angle, the rock looks like an old man. I’m fairly good at seeing faces, people, animals and monsters in rocks. Nothing stood out here for me. Must have been the wrong angle. Judging from the light outline on the righthand side, maybe he ghosted me.

Because of the volcanic flows of basaltic rock on the Isle of Skye, there are a number of dramatic sea cliffs like this one located near the Old Man of Storr. The flow is obvious, sitting on top of the cliff. Being harder than the rocks under it, it forms a cap. As the lower rock eroded back into the cliff, the basalt cracks and falls into the ocean, forming the steep cliff. The fence in the foreground is designed to keep visitors from wandering over to the edge to look down, or worse, take selfies on the edge. “Look at me, look at me! Whoops!”

There is more to scenery than nature, however. We took lots of photos of cattle and sheep.

Historic ruins always caught our attention.

This small castle was nearby. It was designed for defense.

We found this unique bit of ‘scenery’ on Orkney Island. It’s a 1950’s era Chevy pickup. Its creation dates back to Covid, when the Orkney stone mason John Hamilton found himself with a lot of spare time on his hands. Operating under the inspiration of Don McLeans 1971 “Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry” he built his pickup to the exact size of an original Chevy pickup using only stones and masonry (no standard bricks). Visitors are invited to take all the photos they want— and make a contribution to local charities. It’s a win-win.

Winding things down here, given all the stones there are in the Highlands, is it any surprise there are lots of stone fences? As fences go, they are close to impossible to beat in terms of scenic value.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t include this stone wall in the small northern community of Durness, Scotland. It was built by our guide, Graham Bruce, who had been headteacher in the local school there for 29 years.

An old wooden fence runs a close second, however. That’s it for today. You may be saying, finally! Our next post will feature the towering mountains of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming’s Rocky Mountains.

On a personal note, I was working on this post when Peggy exclaimed, “Curt, your blog had now received over one million views since you started !” It was worth noting. We celebrated.

The Arches of Arches NP, a Rocky Garden of Eden, a Wild West Ranch and Ute Pictographs: 25 World Class National Parks… Arches

September 28, 2026September 28, 2026 / Curt Mekemson / 8 Comments

Today, Peggy and I are wrapping up Arches NP as the first in our series featuring 25 national parks as a way of celebrating America’s 250th Birthday.

Driving out from the Devil’s Garden, which I covered in my last post, Peggy and I stopped at the historic Wolfe Ranch. It is also the site of Ute Indian pictographs, and the Delicate Arch. Arriving here in 1898 with his son Fred, the 69 year old veteran of the Civil War, John Wesley Wolfe, established a 100 acre ranch where he raised cattle for 10 years.

The Old West age of the cabin led me to render it in black and white.

Which I also did with the ranch’s original cattle pen.

Before Wolfe’s time, the Ute Indians and other tribes had occupied the area, taking advantage of the same spring Wolfe used. The Utes left behind an interesting panel of pictographs that is located above the cabin. Peggy and I have often found petroglyphs and pictographs near water sources in our wandering through the Southwest. These would have been created sometime between 1650 and 1850. The 1650 date comes from the fact that the Utes were riding horses. Horses were not available in North America until they were introduced by Spanish treasure hunters in the 1600s.

The Utes riding horses and a dog seem to be herding bighorn sheep, probably toward some type of trap. At least, that’s my interpretation based on the arm positions of the Utes and the location of the dog, possibly to a corral or over a cliff, a trick used by natives with buffalo. The edge of the rock may have signified the cliff. It’s hard to imagine bighorn being herded, however. And it’s easy to imagine their escaping to places the horses couldn’t go. “You want me to jump? Fine. One of my favorite ledges is just over the cliff!”

Wolfe’s cabin is also the start of the trail that leads up to Delicate Arch. It is the National Park’s best known arch and an icon for Utah— appearing on license plates, road signs, and in tourist campaigns to encourage people to visit the state..

When we arrived, the clouds that we had watched in Devil’s Garden continued to provide a dramatic backdrop. White throated swifts nest in crevices on the Delicate Arch in the summer.

If you are following this blog, you will have already visited the Fiery Furnace and the Devil’s Garden in Arches National Park. It’s time to visit the Garden of Eden. My understanding is that early pioneers felt that these two figures resembled Adam and Eve and the surrounding rocks represented a fertile garden. I don’t know about the garden, but they certainly had fertile imaginations. Maybe if one wanders around in a desert long enough… Could Eve be holding up the apple and Adam looking off in the distance as an angel wings and a fiery sword approaches? If you dug around under the rocks, you would probably find a snake to tempt Eve, a rattlesnake. My guess is it would have offered her a dead rodent instead of an apple, however. Or a rock. A person in the foreground provides perspective on size.

Is this the fertile garden? An irreverent thought crossed my mind. Maybe it was Adam the first time he saw Eve.

Definitely part of the garden. Lots of apple trees, I’m sure.

Every garden needs an owl, right? I read that this so-named hoodoo in the Garden is looking down at you. Maybe it’s thinking ‘dinner.’

Apparently, climbing the tall hoodoos is a popular sport in Arches. Climbers must have permits and adhere to strict rules that eliminate environmental damage to the rocks.

This tall, skinny hoodoo with a man bun is also located in the Garden of Eden.

This large hoodoo was along the road between the Wolfe Ranch and the Windows Section. I believe it was opposite the Panorama Point shown on the lower map below. Its size and look earned it a place in this post.

And now onto what most people think of when they think of Arches NP: Arches. There are over 2000 in the park. It’s the highest concentration of stone arches in the world. The qualification to be an arch is that it must be at least 3 feet in diameter in all directions. I’ve selected six of the most famous arches for today’s post. I’ve already featured the Delicate Arch. Three more are in the Windows section of the park. The other two are between the Delicate Arch and Windows. We missed one of the most famous by cutting our Devil’s Garden walk short: The Landscape Arch. It’s over 300 feet long, making it the longest arch in North America. I’m sorry we missed it.

Skyline Arch is visible along the road between Delicate Arch and the Windows Arches. Again, the clouds were adding a fun background for the photo.

A closer look at the arch with its looming thunderhead.

We found Sand Dune Arch on the walk through what I thought was part of the Fiery Furnace in my last post. Actually the walk was just outside of the Fiery Furnace.

I’m here, giving Peggy a thumbs up, to provide perspective on its size. It was during covid, so I was wearing a mask. Next: The Windows section of Arches NP.

The North and South Windows here are what give the Windows section of Arches NP its name. The windows here provide views of the rocks and clouds behind them. We thought eyes would work as well as windows.

A close up of the North Window. All of the arches in the Windows section are easily available by trail. As one would expect, there are lots of visitors who take advantage of the fact. Of course, I saw a face in the rock behind the window.

Double Arches in the Windows section of Arches NP may be equally famous as the Delicate Arch. A million photos famous. Indiana Jones explored these two arches as a Boy Scout in the movie *Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.* There are also several other views of Arches at the beginning of the movie.

I’m perched up on the side of one of the arches in 2010, probably close to where the young Indiana looked down on the robbers stealing the Cross of Coronado. The movie was filmed in 1988, some 22 years earlier.

Another photo of the Double Arches taken in the middle of the day.

My favorite: Turret Arch. The name came from early visitors who thought the large hoodoo on the end resembled the turret of a castle. The stairs leading up to it are part of the trail from the nearby parking lot.

Turret Arch rendered in Black and White.

A head-on view of Turret Arch. People provide perspective on size. Note the arch just to the left of the main arch.

This final view of Turret Arch with clouds provides a fitting end for our series on Arches NP. We hope you’ve enjoyed it. There are 24 more incredible national parks to go!

This US Geological map and the map below provide the locations of the places we visited and featured in Arches. The lower half of Arches NP.

The upper half of Arches National Park. (Source: US Geological map)

The second national park in our series of 25 will be Grand Teton National Park. I’ve chosen it because I read this morning in the Washington Post that President Trump is exploring the possibility of building a baseball park within the park somewhere on the land you see in front of you. Imagine having to look over a baseball stadium to get this view. It matches the President’s proposal to cut a road through Yosemite National Park so a resort can be built inside the park by the private equity firm Kingsbarn Realty Capital out of Nevada.

In our next post, however, before traveling to the Grand Tetons, we will take you back to the Scottish Highland and its beautiful scenery!

The Fiery Furnace and Devil’s Garden: Arches NP… 25 World Class National Parks

September 24, 2026 / Curt Mekemson / 20 Comments

Peggy and I are continuing to look at Arches NP today as part of our series on 25 of America’s national parks as a way to honor the nation’s 250th Anniversary. One thing that we have always noted in our visits to these parks, is that people come from all over the world to enjoy them, which is as it should be. These parks, and national parks around the world, are treasures to be maintained, protected and enjoyed by everyone!

Driving through Arches National Park provides numerous scenic views. This is a look at the Fiery Furnace section. The area gets its name from the color the rocks change to as the sun goes down. It’s like looking into a furnace, or a campfire, when it has burned down to embers.

The primary rock formation in the Fiery Furnace is fins. Like a shark’s. Lots of them. The fins are made up of Entrada Sandstone that was initially laid down when the area was covered with vast sand dunes. The sandstone overlayed several thousand feet of salt that had come from ancient seas—a figure that is staggering to think about. As new deposits were laid down on top of the sandstone, the weight caused the salt to flow, almost like liquid, and this caused the sandstone to fracture along parallel lines. Tectonic forces caused the area to rise and erosion wore away the upper rocks, eventually exposing the sandstone. Water was able to seep into the fractures and caused the erosion shown above! And below…

Creating what, for Peggy and me, is great beauty.

This photo provides a good view of how the parallel fractures have impacted erosion.

On our visits to Arches, Peggy and I made a point of visiting at different times of the day to capture the impact of the changing colors caused by the position of the sun. If you visit the National Park, we highly recommend that you go early in the morning and late in the afternoon as well as midday, when the above photo was taken.

Horizontal as well as vertical cracks in the rocks allow for erosion to take place in two directions.

Looking down into the Fiery Furnace provides a clear look at the impact of the horizontal and vertical fracturing. Plus the green trees add a nice color contrast. This photo also shows the possibility of finding trails through the Fiery Furnace. The word maze fits here quite well. A permit is required for exploration.

Imagine wandering through canyons made up of this rock through narrow passages.

Peggy walking along a short trail in the Fiery Furnace. It was during covid and she was wearing a mask. All other trails through the area are unmarked, and, like I noted, a maze. People get lost. It’s part of the adventure. Cell phones and GPS don’t work because of the canyon effect. The park labels it a ‘temporary disorientation.’ Box canyons or fallen debris force you to turn around. The limited size of the Fiery Furnace means you will eventually get out. Some fun, huh.

The contrasting fractures and uneven erosion can lead to a variety of rock forms in the Fiery Furnace that add to the area’s character.

We could not help but think ‘troll,’ when we saw the rock on the right!

This added yet another look to the Fiery Furnace. I felt it was almost surrealistic. The white is where water with organic matter, creating a weak acid, has worked its way through the horizontal fractures and bleached the red iron oxide out of the sandstone.

A close up. And now, on to the Devil’s Garden…

I thought that this pinnacle would make an appropriate introduction to the Devil’s Garden.

An inviting trail leads visitors into the Devil’s Garden.

There was even a small arch. A larger arch awaited us, but there was much more to see in the park so we turned around.

Gathering clouds suggested a possible thunderstorm in our future.

This black and white rendering gave it a more threatening look.

We will close today with one of our favorite views of the Devil’s Garden. The dead juniper tree in the foreground with a ‘devilish look’ added a nice touch. Next up, an 1800’s ranch, the Garden of Eden, and several arches.

Celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary with 25 Beautiful National Parks… Starting with Arches (Part 1)

September 21, 2026September 21, 2026 / Curt Mekemson / 22 Comments

We are starting a new series today on America’s National Parks and Monuments which we will be running in addition to posts on our travels this summer in Greece, Scotland, and Ireland. First up, is Arches National Park in Utah.

There is more than arches to Arches National Park. Balanced Rock is a prime example. It is one of the main attractions in the park. Here, Peggy caught a photo of me shooting straight up from the bottom. Her photo provides perspective on the size of the giant.

Peggy and I have always been drawn to the great natural beauty of our country and the world’s wild areas. In 1999/2000 we both took sabbaticals from our work with a primary goal of exploring the majority of America’s national parks. We ended up visiting 52 from Alaska to Florida. (Our trip also including enjoying the spectacular national parks in the Canadian Rockies.)

Our love for National Parks has continued up to today. Over the past 15 years we have returned to visit and photograph 42 national parks and 20 national monuments— many of which we feel deserve national park status.The parks we will be featuring in this series are all included in this time frame. Most of these parks we have visited at least twice and some, like the Grand Canyon, Redwoods, Death Valley, and Pt. Reyes National Seashore, several times.

We were disappointed that national parks weren’t more of a focus during the 250th Anniversary Celebration. Instead, the Trump Administration pulled tens of millions of dollars in National Park Service funds—primarily from visitor entrance fees—to finance projects in Washington, D.C. and activities like the massive fireworks display, mixed martial arts event called UFC Freedom 250, and the The Freedom 250 Grand Prix. This isn’t meant to criticize the events per se, which were enjoyed by thousands of people, but merely to note that the funds should not have been taken out of much needed national park funds. Sadly, this reflects a number of actions that the Administration has carried out in relation to national parks and monuments.

I will be discussing some of these issues in this series, but my primary purpose will be to celebrate their beauty, wildlife, history and diversity for our 250th Anniversary. The bottom line: Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Americans and people from throughout the world could be celebrating the parks and monuments that exist today— plus any more that will hopefully be added— for the nation’s 500th Anniversary.

My objective in photographing the monument from bottom up was to work my way around the monument capturing views like this. One of our goals in this series is to show the beauty of the national parks from different, as well as the same, perspectives that are usually seen.

This is a more traditional photo of the rock and its beauty. The total height of the monument is 128 feet (39 meters). The boulder on top is 55 feet (17 meters) and weighs 3500 tons. One wouldn’t want to be under it when this perilously perched peak comes tumbling down tomorrow— or a thousand years from now, a mere drop in a bucket when considering geological time.

The first deposits that Arches NP were created from date back over 300 million years, when sea salt from ancient oceans was laid down. Since then vast deserts, materials eroded from surrounding mountains, shallow seas, lakes and rivers have all played a part. Buried under thousands of feet of rock, geological forces would eventually bring these deposits to the surface, cracking them along the way and leading to the fractures, which, aided by erosion, created the fins, arches, and pinnacles seen today. A process that is continuing.

A similar photo to the one above rendered in black and white. We will be including black and white photos throughout this series. All of the photos are taken by either Peggy or me unless otherwise noted.

Peggy and I often amuse ourselves by seeing animals, faces or other imagined creations in rock forms. Balanced rock makes a great dinosaur. We aren’t alone in this tendency. Many of the monuments in Arches have been given names depending on what someone thought they looked like.

We found the opposite end of the boulder even more interesting. Scary? Work your way up on the left side from the chin, to the open mouth (with teeth), to the nose and eyes (mainly hidden by prominent cheek bones). We took this photo from behind a small hill next to the monument.

Other balanced rocks can be seen throughout the park.

Another example. Note the size of the pedestal compared to the rock.

The location of Arches National Park in central eastern Utah as shown on a Google map. A number of other national parks and monuments are within a 1-2 days driving range.

Massive rock structures appear as soon as you drive into the park.

And come in a variety of shapes. From peaked…

The beginning of arches can be seen on the left here. And, if you look closely on the very top. Think of looking up someone’s nostrils.

Named monuments are also found a few minutes from the entrance. One of the first is Park Avenue. A half-mile canyon is hemmed in by towering red rocks that reminded early explorers of New York City’s famed street.

A close up of the sky scrapers. Some imagination may be required.

Meet the Three Gossips busily chatting away.

Following the religious theme, this is the Tower of Babel.

Arches even has sand dunes— fossilized sand dunes. The eyes staring at you from the horizon are known as The Windows. We will be visiting them later.

The La Salle Mountains provide a beautiful backdrop to Arches. I’ll close today’s post here. We have two more coming on Arches. The next post will look at the areas known as the Fiery Furnace and the Devil’s Garden, a gruesome twosome, if you will. We will wrap up Arches with the Garden of Eden and a look at several of the arches that give Arches NP its name. My next post on the Scottish Highlands will be to feature its natural beauty.

Eilean Donan, Dunvegan, and Earl’s… Three Scottish Highland Castles: Each Unique

September 11, 2026 / Curt Mekemson / 17 Comments

Today, Peggy, our grandson Cody, and I are continuing the series on the CIE bus tour we did of the Scottish Highlands. All photos are taken by either Peggy, Cody or me unless otherwise noted.

Wandering through Time and Place

Exploring the world with Curtis and Peggy Mekemson