Land of Fire and Ice(or Snow) (Yellowstone Part 1)

North America » United States » Wyoming » Yellowstone National Park
September 1st 2008

Published: September 9th 2008

It snowed! That's right, September 1st and it was snowing. We knew it was gonna be cold just by watching the temperature gauge in the car drop as we climbed in elevation, but never planned for snow. After the few hours sleep at the rest stop, we took Hwy 26/191 through Jackson, Wyoming and the Grand Tetons. I could move to Jackson in a second, if it weren't so dang cold! It is an adorable town,... Read Full Entry

Photos are below

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Midway Geyser Basin

Plop, plop, fizz, fizz. Oh, that's alka-seltzer, not excelsior.

Midway Geyser Basin

The bacterial mats coming off of Grand Prismatic Spring.

Midway Geyser Basin

The edge of Grand Prismatic.

Midway Geyser Basin

Kinda artsy.

Midway Geyser Basin

Here you can kind of see the colors that I was talking about. In the center is the blue, turning to green, yellow, orange and red, as the temperature of the water decreases.

Midway Geyser Basin

Just so you know, this was not taken in Beijing. But you still don't want to be breathing too deeply. Sometimes the steam coming off the springs and geysers can cause fatal meningitis or Legionnaire's disease.

Fountain Paint Pot

Some petrified trees killed by the hot springs at Fountain Paint Pots. I wonder what scared them to death.

Fountain Paint Pot

The awesome runoff and accompanying bacterial mats at Silex Spring. Note that the bac-mat runs over the tree trunk.

Fountain Paint Pot

A close up of the bacterial mat of Silex Spring (actual color!). The mat is composed of bacteria that cling together, forming the continuous mat. A 3-inch square section of mat contains more microorganisms than the number of people on Earth!

Fountain Paint Pot

Pumpkin Pie anybody??

Fountain Paint Pot

Silex Spring, itself.

Fountain Paint Pot

Fountain Paint Pot gurgling away like cooking oatmeal.

Fountain Paint Pot

Notice the towers of dried mud.

Fountain Paint Pot

Red Spouter, which in the spring is a hot spring, and as the water dries up becomes a fumarole (which doesn't have enough water to continuously boil, so it turns to steam and hisses and roars out the opening). Red Spouter was created in 1959 when an earthquake rolled through the area, changing local phenomena.

Fountain Paint Pot

Clepsydra Geyser has been continuously erupting since 1959 at heights of around 20 to 40 feet, when an earthquake changed its behavior.

Waterfall

A waterfall along the route, when we're climbing out of the caldera created when Yellowstone erupted 640,000 years ago. For a comparison, that eruption was 2500 times as powerful as the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens. The ash may have stayed in the atmosphere for many years, maybe even triggering an ice age.

Lower Geyser Basin

Emerald Spring (not to be confused with Emerald Pool). It gets its name from the green color of the water, coming from the yellow sulfur deposited on the sides, mixing with the blue water to form green!

Lower Geyser Basin

Steamboat Geyser, the largest geyser in the park. When this one blows, it can shoot water almost 400 feet into the air (compared with Old Faithful's measely 180). Unfortunately, it's entirely unpredictable, ranging from 4 days to 50 years between eruptions.