Flaming Letdown

My husband and I went to Flaming Geyser State Park this weekend.

We arrived full of hope and wonder, preparing to be amazed by the shooting flames (however little) coming from the earth.

Raining on our parade, we pulled in to see it was "closed for restructuring until 2012." We're not exactly known for respecting parks, so we hopped over the "closed" sign and continued on foot.

Livin' on the edge, baby. (Not really... the park ranger waved "hello" to us as we were walking through).

Not expecting to have to hike, of course, I was wearing flip-flops.

There was some really neat moss on the trees.

It reminded me of poodles.

If poodles were green.

Kinda looked like sod draped over a branch in places. (Startin' to get a little winded. But my enthusiasm is undaunted).

 Ferns were growing out of the trees.

My feet were starting to ache from lack of arch support at this point, but I had to see the geyser leaping with flames!

There was a little bog with cattails. (I love marshes. Except I kept seeing dead faces in the water. Thanks Frodo.)

Spring, my friends, has sprung.

The park was closed, in part, because the river had overflown and was flooding the picnic areas. So not only were my feet aching, but they were getting wet and cold.

And it was muddy, so we were squishing along, too. Just keep walking. You can do it. It'll be so worth it to see the fire-breathing geyser!

Nevermind that you're getting hypothermia... the warm fires of the geyser will quickly restore health.

And then we got there.

Here she is.

Gurgle gurgle. Can you say... anticlimactic?

It's dawning on me around this time that we're going to have to walk back, too.

Hm... no wonder the park is closed.