Steam rises from natural holes, also known as a fumarole in Italy. (Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg)
(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- We’d driven three hours already, down icy, foggy roads that snaked along frothing rivers and through mountains covered in snowy conifers. And now, as we finally emerged into a high desert of sandstone bluffs and wide-open skies in Elk Bend, Idaho, it seemed we might go no farther.