<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 10.00.9200.16576"></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #000000" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 rightMargin=7 topMargin=7><FONT id=role_document color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial> <DIV>For some reason -- probably has to do with being "stuck" in southern Arizona for another three months -- I was using Google Earth to look at places in Yellowstone. For some reason (no idea why, really) I zoomed in on the Spruce Creek-Juniper Creek area, a few miles up Nez Perce Creek well beyond the Morning Mist area.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>First, here is what Allen & Day (pp. 283-284) had to say about that area:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>     The southern branch of Nez Perce Creek is formed by the junction of Spruce and Juniper Creeks, cold mountain streams which receive no warm water till they near the meadow where they unite. Three-quarters of a mile up Spruce Creek, the explorer comes upon an old sheet of siliceous sinter, along the western border of which a mild type of acid activity of limited extent still persists.</DIV> <DIV>     On the banks of Juniper Creek there is nothing of a thermal character except a few quiet pools embedded in ancient sinter, and along a little tributary of the creek from the south, a small number of acid springs, characterized by meager sulphur deposits, yield not more than 0.1 sec. ft. of warm water. --end--</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>OK, so two Google Earth photos are attached. The first serves as a map to the area, with the trailhead, Morning Mist/Culex, and a really odd looking feature marked. The second photo is a close up of that strange feature, which my wife calls "The Alien."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>What is it? Any explorers out there game of a 15 mile (round trip) hike? (Won't be me!)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Scott Bryan</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>