One of the most alien-looking places on earth is Fly Geyser in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada. It is an incredible experience to admire the rising Milky Way above the boiling water spouting geyser at new moon. Standing in 50°C hot water and at the same time...
The Badwater Basin in the Death Valley in California is an endorheic basin, a closed drainage basin, that retains all water with no outflow. It contains a dried out salt lake full of mud cracks. Temperatures are oven-like and hold the record for North America’s...
The ancient bristlecone pine forest high up in the White Mountains on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada in California grows at an altitude between 3000 and 3400 m (9800 and 11,000 ft) under arid high alpine conditions. They are the oldest living trees in the...
Fly Geyser spouts boiling water fountains into the back light of the morning sun in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. But the almost unreal beauty of the geyser is ephemeral. It changes its appearance continuously. Such seemingly extraterrestrial landscapes are rare on...
Dawn in the Badlands at Zabriskie Point in Death Valley in Nevada immerses the landscape in a unique atmosphere. The wind reaches storm intensity to compensate for the extreme temperature differences between the hot valley floor and the rather cool air of the elevated...
Fly Geyser on the Fly Ranch near Gerlach in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada expels almost boiling water that nourishes heat- and sulfur-loving microorganisms. Just like at the beginning of all life on earth. The colors of the geyser indicate the different thermophilic...
