A Snapshot and The Scoop: The World's Tallest Geyser

Clocking in as the tallest active geyser in the world, Steamboat Geyser is highly unpredictable. Major eruptions, spewing water and gas over 300 feet into the air, are irregular at best, but it just so happens there was a major one right before my sister and I arrived in the park, and another shortly after we left. Go figure. More minor eruptions of 10-40 feet occur a little more frequently but still unpredictably, and yet my sister and I were still denied even though we stuck around for something like 20 minutes just to see it blow. Better luck next time!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Sulphur Caldron

Right on the edge of one of the most active areas of Yellowstone's geothermal activity, Sulphur Caldron churns away, bubbling with hydrogen sulfide released by gasses rising from the magma chambers below. While supporting a pH roughly equivalent with battery acid, Sulphur Caldron is still full of life! Microbes called thermoacidophiles survive by converting the hydrogen sulfide gas into sulfuric acid for energy, thriving in the extreme environment in a way nothing else on earth could.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Mud Volcano

Imagine a towering column of mud, spewing water much like a geyser high into the surrounding trees. That is what this puddle of bubbling, smelly mud used to look like before it blew itself apart in the 1870's. The geothermal features of Yellowstone are always changing, coming and going, building and dissolving, and Mud Volcano is no different. Now, instead of a volcano we get a boiling cauldron of sticky mud that smells exactly like rotten eggs due to the high concentration of hydrogen sulfide gas rising from the magma chambers not-so-deep beneath the surface of the Yellowstone Caldera. I can't wait to go back to Yellowstone (maybe not quite as long next time, 15 years is too much) and see what else might have changed in the time I've been away.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Minerva Terrace

While visiting Yellowstone National Park last summer my sister and I each made a short list of a few places within the park that we absolutely did not want to miss. One of the places on my list was Minerva Terrace, pictured above. The minerals in the travertine that make up the delicate stepped terraces near the northern border of the park are typically white when they first bubble to the surface of the hot springs as calcium carbonate. They later stain darker as microbes come to live in the boiling waters. Hot springs like these fluctuate, going dormant for days, months, or years, only to gurgle back to life. Or sometimes they close themselves off with build-up, emerging somewhere else where the crust of the earth is less solid. Regardless, the travertine terraces are yet another geothermal wonder of the greater Yellowstone area, one that I am so happy we didn't miss.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Fumaroles

Fumaroles, also known as steam vents, are the hottest of Yellowstone's geothermal wonders. Usually located on hillsides well above a basin's water supply, any moisture a fumarole receives is instantly boiled away into a steamy eruption, accompanied by a whooshing roar as the water vapor is forcefully ejected from the vent. You can always hear a fumarole before you see it, though the cloude of steam issuing from the ground is also a giveaway. We saw so much neat geothermal activity while at Yellowstone, and it only served as a reminder that we were literally standing in the cauldera of a massive active volcano. How cool is that??

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Grand Prismatic Spring

Clocking in at 200 feet across, Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest hot spring in Yellowstone National Park and is one of the most brilliantly colored hot springs, but you can't see that from the ground. A brilliant blue center surrounded by yellows, oranges, and browns, this massive spring roils at temperatures near 160 F, resulting in a near-constant cloak of steam. The clear blue color of the spring is caused by sunlight scattering through the fine particles suspended in the boiling water, much like the vivid blues of glacial tarns (though with quite a bit of temperature difference). Extremeophile mats contribute to the yellows, oranges, and browns that surround the spring in its runoff channels. Extremeophiles, microorganisms that survive in extreme conditions, thrive near the hot springs of Yellowstone, creating a special, easily accessible area to study these microorganisms in the type of harsh environments that are found throughout the solar system. In our search for extra terrestrial life we are likely going to be searching for something like the tiny organisms that live near hot springs, or in glacial ice, and where better to study these fascinating creatures than Yellowstone? Musings about ET aside, Grand Prismatic Spring was an amazing setting to catch the sunset, the low light reflecting off shallow runoff and catching on the twisting steam columns. What better way to spend an evening than on a boardwalk surrounded by light and heat.

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.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: The Dragon's Mouth

Named over a hundred years ago by a park visitor, this hot spring at Yellowstone National Park certainly captures the imagination. Impossible to see with a single picture, the water in this spring roils and crashes with violent waves much like a dragon's tongue, while gasses bubbling to the surface release a dull, constant roar, contributing to the noise of the waves already bouncing off the cave's walls. Add a little steam into the mix, and it's not hard to imagine a dragon snoozing in the caverns beyond the mouth of the spring. While not the prettiest hot spring by any means, this was one of my favorites purely for the creative name and images provoked.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Old Faithful

I think a visit to see Old Faithful is on just about everybody's bucket list, and for good reason. How many active, predictable geysers are there in the world, and how many of them are accessible to everyone without having to make a grueling hike? But to be honest, Alisha and I were going to pass on a visit, instead wanting to focus on other hot springs and geysers that would hopefully draw less crowds. That, and the fact that we'd already visited and seen Old Faithful with our family years back on our annual childhood family vacations resulted in not even having Old Faithful on the tentative itinerary for our Yellowstone visit this year. So when we woke up early and decided to see the geyser on a whim we hadn't checked the eruption times or anything other than marking its location on our park map, which meant we showed up half an hour late for the early morning eruption, or nearly an hour early for the next one. We decided to hang around and wait for it, pacing the almost empty boardwalk while trying to both stay warm and find the perfect photo opportunity. In the end I settled down on a bench that would put the sun directly across from me, meaning I would be shooting into the light when it came time for the eruption. When the crowds gathered and the tell-tale hiss of steam and rumble of water announced the geyser was gearing up to explode I started clicking away, and promptly quit when the eruption actually happened. There was something about being there, in that time and place, seeing what amounts to a quintessential Yellowstone experience in person, that caused me to stop and stare with my mouth opened in awe at the raw power of heat and water. I'm absolutely sure I even had tears in my eyes as I watched. It was only after a few seconds that I restarted snapping photos, but I will always remember the reverence I felt at being there. And to think, Alisha and I were going to skip this.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Ravens

I love ravens; they're wicked smart, mischievous, and down right hilarious. Their antics crack me up, like these two preening each other on a chilly summer morning in Yellowstone National Park. They and another pair were hanging around the boardwalk near Old Faithful Geyser, and I entertained myself by watching them while waiting for the eruption. Alisha and I had arrived nearly an hour early and had the area nearly to ourselves and the birds, who made no secret of the fact that they owned the place. They chased each other all over, cawing and croaking and otherwise disrupting the still and silent morning air. I wasn't smart and had only worn flip flops, capris, and a tank top covered with a light jacket, and the temperature was hovering somewhere around 45f, so I was freezing my poor toes off. I'm eternally grateful to these ravens for helping me keep my mind off my feet!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: When It Speaks, You Listen

Take a second look at the picture above. That shell-shaped cone, on the edge of Yellowstone Lake right in the center of the giant cauldera that is Yellowstone National Park, is a geyser. One of the first geothermal features Alisha and I saw while visiting Yellowstone this past summer, we didn't get to see this particular geyser erupt, but knowing that it could and how gorgeous it would be against the backdrop of the lake and distant mountains spoke to me in a way that I'm still not sure I understand. Sometimes things talk to you, and you listen, even if you don't comprehend what is being said. 

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Alisha and I managed to visit two Grand Canyons in two years! Last year it was the Grand Canyon in Arizona, this year it was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone in Wyoming. Located in Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone was carved by the Yellowstone River, downstream of Yellowstone Falls. Enough "Yellowstone" for you? It's easy to see how the canyon gets its name - sandstone colored by mineral deposits, smelling slighly like eggs, provide a backdrop for churning white water and roaring falls who's echos thunder down canyon to the viewpoint where I stood to take this picture. Though not a mile deep or a mile across, this canyon is still Grand in all the right ways.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Firehole River

A river of hot springs. That's right, the Firehole River that flows through Yellowstone National Park is a river made up of hot springs, geysers, and other geothermal activity. How cool is that!!! What starts out as a little stream quickly swells into a good sized river as the runoff from every hot spring and geyser in its watershed joins its waters, creating a river that is an attraction in and of itself among the vistas offered by Yellowstone. Not only does the river accept the runoff, but sometimes a geyser or hot spring are located in the river itself, though of course it is never recommended that you get close to such a phenomenon. Unstable crust and boiling waters and all that jazz. For real though, how many other places do you know where a river is created and sustained by geothermal activity? Gotta love Yellowstone!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Yellowstone = Animals

Ok, ok, I know this isn't a bear or a wolf, but is it even possible to go to Yellowstone and not see large animals up close and personal? I mean sure, I would have flipped if we had seen a wolf, but seeing bison, elk, and moose in their element is still really neat! And to think, Yellowstone National Park and the greater Yellowstone ecosystem host such a large number of these animals it's almost like they actually roam free like they're meant to. I don't know about you, but I still love seeing bison any chance I get!