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June 2003
Yellowstone Thermal Features
David Aaronson2005-09-29 12:19:53
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Okay, here's the Old Faithful picture we'll get it out of the way first (1). It's not quite the first thing we saw in Yellowstone but it was close. In fact, approaching the Old Faithful/Biscuit Basin area from the south affords an incredible view from the road (especially if geysers are erupting at the time). The so-called upper geyser basin that this area is part of has the largest concentration of geysers in the world. In fact, only Iceland, Siberia and New Zealand have active geysers besides the Yellowstone area (at least according to the Yellowstone rangers). Old Faithful is impressive, but notice the horde of people standing around it, plus it is on a hill so you can't see all the activity in the pool. It's not a bad place to get your intial geyser fix out of the way though, the rest of 'em are not quite as predictable.
Besides all the geysers, Yellowstone showcases the other three types of geothermal features as well; fumaroles, mudpots, and hot springs like the one shown here (2). Yellowstone really has an incredible number of all of these. We visited at least one geyser basin each of our three days in the park. There are also smaller geyser areas in the backcountry that must be hiked to.
Oblong geyser is not one of the featured geysers in the area but it erupted as we approached it (with so many geysers, you're bound to come across something erupting), crossing the Firehole River. Oblong's eruption lasted about 5 minutes and was rather violent, with lots of hissing and spasmodic water jets in various directions (3).
Speaking of spasms, this is Grotto Geyser which has to be our favorite in the Old Faithful basin (4). Grotto erupts for 2-10 hours at a time so you can spend quite a while watching this one. The platforms that geysers sit on are called sinters and form from the mineral deposits (Silicon Dioxide mostly) in the geyser's water. The strange sinter
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See photographs from:
United States Gallery
