I am not a fan of crowds. I can’t stand waiting in a line and I hate driving in traffic. So we went to Yellowstone National Park for a day. It wasn’t my first time in the park, but last time I went it was probably the mid 1990’s. Derek and I spend most of our time in nature away from people so we are extra shocked when in society. HAHAHA
That said, we drove in the West Yellowstone entrance around 1pm and spent about 6 hours visiting the different geysers and hot springs. There was as much traffic as I expected and at one point we were backed up and took about 30 minutes to go a few miles because one elk was on the side of the road.
Hydrothermal Features
There are four main types of hydrothermal features in Yellowstone: hot springs, mudpots, fumaroles, and geysers. We saw examples of them all on our trip through the Lower, Mid, and Upper Geyser Basin. The Upper Geyser Basin has the highest concentration of geysers in the world! Many of the bright colors found in Yellowstone’s hydrothermal basins come from thermophiles—microorganisms that thrive in hot temperatures. An abundance of individual microorganisms grouped together appear as masses of color. We saw plenty of blues, oranges, and yellows.
What’s the Difference?
A geyser is formed when water collecting below the surface is heated by a magma source. When the water boils, it rises to the surface. If the water has an unobstructed path, it will pool on the surface in the form of a steaming hot springs. If the passage of the water is imposed upon, the pressure will increase. When the pressure becomes too great, the water converts into to steam. Steam takes up 1,500 times the volume of water, and at this point, the pressure becomes so intense that the steam and surrounding water droplets shoot out of the ground in geyser form, erupting until the pressure has abated and the process starts all over again. A fumarole is like a geyser without all the water. Gas and steam escape through vents in the surface and can sounds like roaring bellows. Fumaroles are the driest hydrothermal feature. The second driest are the mudpots, which have less water than hot springs, but more than fumaroles.
Fountain Paint Pot
The first short boardwalk hike was at Fountain Paint Pot. The Fountain Paint Pot is named for the reds, yellows and browns of the mud in this area. The differing colors are derived from oxidation states of the iron in the mud. It’s fun to see the different names for all the features. We walked by Celestine Spring, Clepsydra Geyser, Fountain Geyser, Jelly Geyser, Jet Geyser, Morning Geyser, Spasm Geyser, and Twig Geyser.
Excelsior Geyser & Pool
The Excelsior Geyser pool discharges 4,000 to 4,500 gallons of 199 °F water per minute directly into the Firehole River. Right away you can see where that water streams down into the river. We followed the boardwalk out to and around the pool. Excelsior Geyser used to erupt but it is thought that it’s particularly powerful eruptions damaged its internal plumbing and now it just boils as a hot spring all the time. This pool was so blue!
Old Faithful
We arrived at Old Faithful Inn a little early to view the geyser so we popped into the Lodge to check out the awesome architecture. Built in 1903-1904 with local logs and stone, the Inn is considered the largest log structure in the world. The towering, seventy-six foot tall lobby features a massive stone fireplace and a hand-crafted clock made of copper, wood and wrought iron serving as focal points.
But the geyser! The famous geyser currently erupts around 17 times a day and can be predicted with a 90 percent confidence rate within a 10 minute variation. Scientists estimate that the amount of water that erupts from Old Faithful ranges from 3,700 gallons to 8,400 gallons depending on the length of the eruption. Indeed, it’s impressive.
At this point we had seen enough and dealt with enough crowds and headed back to our quiet camp spot.
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