Quakes and Lakes and Bus Headaches

Last Saturday, my Natural Disasters class and I headed onto an educational daytrip through Idaho and Montana to see some amazing sights.
We started off pretty early, just as the sun was rising, and I could hardly stay awake.

Pretty much, how my day went was: sleep on bus, see natural disaster sight, get back on bus and sleep some more, stop at another site, sleep on bus some more, see more sights, sleep more, etc. It was great.
Our first stop was at Teton Dam, which burst a long time ago and buried hundreds of acres of land and houses. It was a gigantic dam, and I was amazed at the expanse of the place.

Next we stopped at a large field where our teacher showed us a geiser effect that is caused when you mix mentos and coke. It was pretty awesome, not going to lie. (This is also as close as we got to seeing Old Faithful that day, by the way).


As we drove through canyons and across plains, the fall colors were absolutely breathtaking. I had to snap a few photos of the gorgeous golden colored leaves in the birch forests along the road at our various stops.


Our next stop was at the location of the Hebgen Lake landslide, which occurred in 1959 (on my mom's birthday, actually) and took away the entire face of the mountain. This place was incredible.

Hi, it's me. Photo cred for this photo goes to my buddy Luke :)


As we drove along, we saw "Quake Lake" from the bus windows, which is a lake that formed when the earthquake hit the location and created forests of dead trees in the water. It was a little eerie, not going to lie, but so interesting.


My buddy Luke at our next location where we snapped a group photo for our class, at a scarp (where the earth drops during an earthquake).



Me bein' cutesy for the camera down by the river. Photo cred to my friend Zach.

Hebgen Lake. So so beautiful.

An abandoned cabin at Big Springs, a body of hot spring water surrounded by gorgeous fir trees.

The warm spring water in the area makes for some really green, mossy foliage.



My class on its way down to the lookout for Mesa Falls, a gorgeous gigantic waterfall in Ashton, ID. It was our last stop of the day, and it was so incredible; it literally took my breath away when I first saw it. I was expecting some dinky little waterfall on the side of the mountain somewhere, but what it actually was was absolutely staggering. I can not even express how it felt to be standing before this enormous body of water, feeling the mist brush my cheeks, and hearing the incredible roar of gallons upon gallons of water pouring off the vast cliffside. I will never forget it.


Looking out over the edge of the waterfall. It literally looked like the edge of the world.


A tree trunk on the way back from the waterfall. Count all those rings!


I love this world so much, and sometimes it takes seeing the beauties of the earth up close and personal to really realize that. It was an absolutely incredible day, and I don't think I will ever forget it.