Hot,Hot,Hot - Steamed at the Geysers!

lfzellmer
Sep 3, 2024
3 min read

A prehistoric landscape of steaming geysers greeted us as we made our way into the park. Across the meadow great columns of steam fumed from the ground, rising into the early morning sky as if from a great sleeping dragon.

We watched the amazing display of Old Faithful, with its plume of steam, and spectacular eruption, so consistent in its appearance that the Rangers post a schedule of expected eruption times. Average time between eruptions is about 90 minutes.

Old Faithful's spectacular rush of water and steam reaches an average height of 140 feet and can go as high as 184 feet. Lasting up to 5 minutes, the geyser expels between 3,700 and 8,400 gallons of water. Water temperature is 204 degrees and the steam reaches a blistering 350 degrees.

Alan and Murphy watched from a distance, as the park prohibits pets within a certain range of the geysers and boardwalks for safety reasons. They still had a clear view of the waterworks and Murphy made friends with another pup.

The most impressive geyser in Yellowstone, in my opinion, is the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring. It is part of the Midway Geyser Basin, which includes several other beautiful geological features - the Excelsior Geyser, the Turquoise Pool and the Opal Pool. A boardwalk crosses the Firehole River and leads up to and around these unique sites.

Steaming water rushes down the embankment into the Firehole River. Sediments in the area paint the earth in brilliant colors.

The area around the geysers is patterned with white, rust and light green colors. The air is heated with moist warm steam wafting across the boardwalk, at times masking the scene in white mist.

The Exclesior Geyser is a beautiful pool of deep blue and aqua water. It bubbles and steams with the fog hiding the water from view and then revealing the jeweled waters below when the breeze blows the steam in clouds across its surface.

As I walked along the boardwalk, warm steam engulfed me, like a giant sauna, washing over me and surrounding me in a cloud of white mist.

Water around the springs reflecting the clouds and trees of the surrounding hills.

The rusty patches are bacteria mats, where micro-organisms thrive in the thermally heated water. The multi-colored bands of color around the Prismatic Spring are from different species of heat-loving bateria that change the color of the water as it cools progressively farther away from the spring.

Patterns in the earth formed by the geothermal activity..

The Lower Geyser Basin is the location of the amazing Clepsydra Geyser, which erupts almost continuously, bubbling and spouting and steaming away.

Lodgepole pines near the Lower Basin, with their lower trunks turned white, giving them a "bobby socks" appearance. The white areas are from the dead trees absorbing water with minerals in it in hydrothermal areas. When the water evaporates from the trees, the minerals remain, leaving the trees white.

The stark and primeval vistas of the geyser basins contrasted with the rivers meandering through meadows and waterfalls of the park carving their way through the canyons.

Alan and Murphy cast their shadow on the boulders above the falls at Gibbon Falls Overlook.

And the Gibbon Falls tumbles away into the valley below.

Murphy and Mom taking in the scenery above the canyon near Roosevelt's Tower.

Another delight in the park is the bright embroidery of wildflowers that decorates the tapestry of Yellowstone. So many varieties of flowers blooming in the summer sun!