Yellowstone National Park: Happy Steps’ Top 15 Flickr Creative Commons Photos - Part 1

Flickr is a great picture-sharing site where you can view amazing travel photography on varied subjects uploaded by its members. It also provides travel photos available for download, with some rights reserved, via a Creative Commons license. While searching for Yellowstone National Park photos to use for my blog, I got awed by some uploads which stood out from the rest. They made me dream of experiencing one of those Yellowstone vacation packages someday. Oh, if only my fairy godmother would wave her hand and take me there!

Anyway, I will be sharing with you in a three-part series of posts, my Top 15 Favorite Photos of Yellowstone National Park from Flickr Creative Commons. Each post will feature 5 selected photos and this is Part 1 of the said photo series. I highly recommend you to click on each photo so you can better appreciate it as you will be taken to a larger file size in its Flickr page.

Over the falls – photo by Brooke Raymond (http://www.flickr.com/photos/brooke/)
One can almost hear and feel the powerful rush of the waterfalls in this scene which makes the eyes begin a journey from the top of the falls and being led further beyond the rugged mountains. Such a breathtaking view would surely appeal to nature-lovers and entice them to get one of those all inclusive holidays to Yellowstone National Park.

Grand Prismatic Hot Springs – photo by St0rmz (http://www.flickr.com/photos/linecon0/)
I love how the sunlight breaks through the clouds in this photo. The sky contrasts with the dark brown hues from the Grand Prismatic Hot Springs below with the thick steam in between.

Terraces – photo by Kevin Saff (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinsaff/)
According to Kevin, these interesting terraces “…are each a few inches wide. They are formed by hot springs which release chemicals such as sulfur from deep under the ground, and the various micro-organisms which live in the strange temperature and chemical environment contribute to these shapes.”

Colorful pool in the Firehole Spring area – photo by Alaskan Dude (http://www.flickr.com/photos/72213316@N00/)
The bluish steam rising from the turquoise-colored pool seems to provide a cool-looking contrast to its warm surroundings. I’m curious though about the size and depth of this pool.

Fire River – photo by BG³Photo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bg3photo/)
This is such an amazing capture of striking colors. I’m not sure if the Flickr photo title “Fire River” is just coined by the photographer, but it surely does fit the scene.