A Snapshot and The Scoop: Excelsior Geyser

There's nothing quite like standing close enough to a gigantic, unpredictable geyser who's last recorded eruptions shot water three hundred feet into the air and left a massive crater in the ground that you are frequently shrouded in the vapor rising from its boiling surface. Excelsior Geyser, located right next to Grand Prismatic Spring and the Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park may be dormant but it is still busy roiling and steaming, pouring 4000 gallons of water per minute into the Firehole River. My sister and I made it a point to hit this area of Yellowstone at sunset, knowing the low light would make for an unforgetable view. The mist clouds, smelling faintly of sulphur, turned all but opaque in the setting sun, obscuring the world until the breeze shifted it away and we were left with stunning views of reflected sun on shallow, steaming water. We stayed until the sun dropped below the silhouetted horizon, the rim of the vast crater cradling Yellowstone's geyser basins, and the world dipped into twilight.