Kris Taeleman´s Blog

Yellowstone National Park, named after the Yellowstone River which flows through the park, is the first National Park of the United States, founded in 1872. The park is known for its wildlife and geothermal features as seen on the pictures in this post. The geothermal features of the park are caused by the Yellowstone Caldera, which is the largest volcanic system in North America. It has been termed a “supervolcano” because the caldera was formed by exceptionally large explosive eruptions.

Chinese Spring, Yellowstone N.P. | Location on map

The current caldera was created by an enormous eruption that occurred 640.000 years ago. This eruption was about 1000 times larger than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The predicted effects of a Yellowstone eruption are the coverage of North America with ash followed by several years of freezing weather for the whole world. Combine this with the fact that Yellowstone Park has been on a regular eruption cycle of 600,000 years… well… invest in winter clothing and spam

Upper Basin Spring,Yellowstone N.P. | Location on map

Yellowstone is in my opinion one of the most beautiful places in the world. The landscape is truly amazing and its features like geysers, basins, hot springs,… are unique in the world, which I’ll try to show you in more posts about Yellowstone.

The Berkeley Pit is a former open pit copper mine located in Butte, Montana, about a mile and a half wide and about 1,780 feet (540 m) deep. Once the pit was closed in 1982, groundwater started to fill the pit to the natural groundwater level. This has presented an environmental problem in that the water allows minerals in the ore and wall rocks to decay, releasing acid and finally resulting in water that is heavily acidic (pH level of 2.5) and loaded with heavy metals and dangerous chemicals (hence the color of the water).

Berkeley Pit, Butte, Montana | Location on map

The water contains so much dissolved metal that nowadays they actually mine the water as you can see on the picture below.

Berkeley Pit Water Processing Factory | Location on map

Check the map location to get a feeling of how large the pit really is.

PS: If you’re in Butte, go to the Derby Steak House. The steaks they serve are just amazing. Must have been the best steak I ate in my life.

In my opinion, Europe is behind on the US technology wise, but as far as the electricity system goes, the US is pretty outdated. The plugs and sockets for example are hell, providing no stability at all. In most US cities, the utility poles are still made of wood and a lot of main electrical connections between towns use these old wooden poles as their only support. A simple storm could easily cause power outages…
This picture of a utility pole with transformer mess was taken in Butte (No, with an “e” and no it does not originate from…, it’s French for “small hill”) , Montana and these can still be seen everywhere across the country.

Utility Pole in Butte, Montana | Location on map

Here are some more pictures from Glacier National Park. The first picture shows Swiftcurrent lake and on the left you can see the Many Glacier Hotel. The second picture shows a small island in St Mary Lake with Red Eagle mountain in the back.

Swiftcurrent Lake, Glacier N.P. | Location on map

Red Eagle Mountain, Glacier N.P. | Location on map

I’m sorry for the slow pace of updates recently on the blog, but our lives seem to get rather hectic nowadays as we are in the final stretch of moving to Vancouver, Canada. My employer in Vancouver booked our plane tickets last week and our packing dates are confirmed so we can actually start counting down and hope we’ve got everything covered here in Belgium. I’m really happy that everything in Vancouver gets arranged by my employer so we don’t have to worry too much about that.

The Swiftcurrent trail is an easy trail that starts right next to the Many Glacier Hotel and takes you all the way around the lake, making it perfect for an late afternoon stroll. When we did the trail in mid-June, the trail was still covered with snow at some places and was sometimes still one to two meters thick. The snowfall in this area must be immense… The trail gives you some wonderful views of the Many Glacier Valley as you can see on the following pictures and remember, be bear aware

Swiftcurrent trail, Glacier N.P. | Location on map

Swiftcurrent trail, Glacier N.P. | Location on map

On the edge of Swiftcurrent Lake in Glacier National Park lies the Many Glacier Hotel. This Swiss themed hotel was built between 1910 and 1914 and I must say that this was one of the best hotels I’ve ever stayed at location wise.
The rooms are a bit dated but contribute to the close to nature feeling as they feel like you’re staying in a cabin. The lobby is just wonderful, with an open fireplace located in the middle and live music playing all evening. And what more could a man want than to sit by his loved one, watching the sun go down over Swiftcurrent Lake, enjoying a very nice “Moose Drool” beer.
When I asked the bartender which beers he had, he mentioned he had a new Belgian beer called “Fat Tire”… I started to doubt my Belgian beer knowledge until I later saw a beer in a shop called “Fat Tire” by the New Belgium Brewing Company. Americans sure are original with brand names

Many Glacier Hotel, Glacier N.P. | Location on map

Just a quick Friday afternoon post before the start of the weekend.
Lake Louise is a lake in Alberta, Canada. The glacial lake is located in Banff National Park of which the eastern shore of the lake is dominated by Chateau Lake Louise, one of Canada’s grand railway hotels, a luxury resort hotel built in the early decades of the 20th century by the Canadian Pacific Railway. This hotel is now owned by the Fairmont hotel group.

Lake Louise | Location on map

Lake Louise | Location on map

As you can see on the pictures, the weather wasn’t too great, spoiling the reflections on the lake…

[Ine]: I would like to add something. Just to make it a bit more exciting :).

A few weeks ago, a girl from Antwerp (who’s living in Canada) was mauled there by a black bear. She was jogging not far from the lake, and she wasn’t carrying bear spray. Lately I’ve read a lot of stories about people being mauled by bears. I think it’s mainly because the bear’s hibernation is over. But since bear stories are a topicality, I’ll try to write something, in the near future, about the things I’ve discovered about bears.

This vertical panorama of Marble Canyon in Kootenay National Park clearly shows the devastation of the 2003 forest fire. The whole mountain on the picture doesn’t have a single green tree left, all that remains is thousands of tree skeletons.

Marble Canyon Panorama | Location on map

Established in 1920, Kootenay National Park is one of 41 national parks in Canada. In 2003 five different lightning-ignited fires started in Kootenay National Park. While three were quickly extinguished, the remaining two took off, fueled by the dry forests. By the time it was contained and out, just over a month after it started, 170 square km (17409 hectares) - almost 12% of Kootenay National Park had burned, including the Marble Canyon area. After several years, the marble canyon is now open again for the public.

Marble Canyon | Location on Map

The 1.6km one-way trail crosses the narrow gorge several times and ends at a waterfall where Tokumm Creek drops down into the canyon. Although the burned trees give the site a bit of an eary feeling (especially at overcast days), the blue glacial meltwater, grey limestone walls, and green cliff-dwelling plants make Marble Canyon one of the most colorful canyons in the mountain parks.

Marble Canyon Waterfall | Location on Map

The Banff Marsh Trail is a 0.5 km boardwalk trail starting at the Cave & Basin site which leads downhill into a nearby marsh next to the Bow River. It brings you close to nature and wildlife within minutes of downtown Banff. Apparently this is one of the few places in the park where you can see the completely harmless garter snake, but alas.. no luck for me so you’ll have to settle with a picture of the marsh itself.

Banff Cave & Basin Marsh | Location on map

The trail offers excellent views of Mount Norquay, which is home to one of the many ski resorts in the area, Ski Norquay.

Mount Norquay | Location on map