The landscape as seen from the front steps of my house is endlessly interesting. Here, shortly after sunrise, a plume of translucent vapor rises off the Lower Falls at the head of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. The falls is concealed down in the canyon 1200 feet below the timber in the foreground. Beyond the plume of vapor, eight miles up river, layered reefs of mist hang over the hot springs of the Mud Volcano area.