Steam Art

Sept. 21: I was up early, as usual, and out for a walk. I headed for the Old Faithful geyser first, to see if there was anything going on there. The geyser was dormant, but pretty in the predawn light, and others there said it was likely to erupt in about ten minutes.

Half an hour later on this freezing cold morning (literally) it finally began to show signs of life, now just lit by the rising sun.

And a few minutes after that Old Faithful erupted in full sunlit glory! We've seen it three times today, and are going out to see it again tonight by moonlight. It's the best show in town. Every 90 minutes or so, and the eruption lasts about five minutes.

Here's Old Faithful Inn, where we're staying, the end facing the geyser. It's a huge place with a massive lobby open to about five stories, all made with native logs. An amazing place.

The rest of today we spent walking around the geyser and hot spring areas near Old Faithful, and there are dozens of them. It's a photographer's paradise, with amazing colors created by a mix of minerals and microorganisms.

I can't even remember all the names of the ones in these pictures, which is a fraction of what I took. This is one of several blue springs.

A yellow flow of hot water, actually it's yellow microorganisms below clear water.

A green and yellow spring.

A close look at the mix of colors.

There are plenty of geysers, but most erupt only occasionally and unpredictably. They just steam or bubble a bit.

While we were in the area we saw Grand Geyser erupt from a distance. It's the largest one here, you can compare the small figures at the bottom for size. We'd waited a while near it earlier, as it was predicted to erupt that morning, but moved on before it happened.

After walking all morning we drove to a few other geyser sites a bit further away, along the Firehole River, above.

Jewel Geyser (I think) erupts often, but not to much height.

Punchbowl Spring is a cool shape. Those two are in Biscuit Basin.

In the Black Sand Basin Ellen enjoys the warm, moist vapor coming off one of the springs. It did feel good mixed with the cool air.

Emerald Pool, where sulphur yellow tints the blue water…

…and where we found Bison again, who also enjoy the hot springs, especially in winter, when they melt the snow around the area, exposing grass for the Bison to eat.

Opalescent Pool, surrounded by what looks like snow, but is calcium sprayed around the pool by some kind of eruption.

Back by the cars, in fact on one, this Raven was also enjoying himself, talking to his reflection in several shiny car parts.

Late afternoon, after watching Old Faithful erupt, we went through the exhibits at the new Visitor Center, just opened this year. It's artfully designed and full of good information.

Then we relaxed a while in the Lodge, another large hotel newer than the Inn, where huge windows look right out on Old Faithful. Yup, we watched it again before having dinner there.

The back side of Old Faithful Inn, showing the rooftop balcony that used to be a viewing platform for the geyser, but is no longer open. Love that little door and stairway to it. And someone must go up there to manage the flags, which you can see from all around the valley.

Inside, I took a few photos of the lobby. It's quite dark, all made of pine logs stained dark brown. This is the central fireplace.

And a small part of the open interior from the third balcony looking up to the Crow's Nest, but you can't climb there now, the upper stairs were made unsafe by earthquake damage.

That's it, no pictures from our moonlight geyser watch in a few minutes, it'll be too dark. More tomorrow.