A Wyoming dude ranch adventure...: Yellowstone adventure

I woke up in Montana at 6:30AM and hit the road south at 7. I passed through the town of Gardiner again and stopped for a photo of the Roosevelt Arch. It's a rusticated triumphal arch at the north entrance to Yellowstone. Constructed under the supervision of the U.S. Army at Fort Yellowstone, its cornerstone was laid down by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903. The top of the arch is inscribed with a quote from the Organic Act of 1872, the legislation which created Yellowstone, which reads "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People." The cornerstone Roosevelt laid covered a time capsule that contains a Bible, a picture of Roosevelt, local newspapers, and other items. Before 1903, trains brought visitors to Cinnabar, Montana, which was a few miles northwest of Gardiner, Montana, where people would transfer onto horse-drawn coaches to enter the park. In 1903, the railway finally came to Gardiner, and people entered through the stone archway.

I passed a herd of elk along the road driving back towards Mammoth Hot Springs...

I also wanted to see the terraces at sunrise and take advantage of the two mile drive through them that I had missed the evening before. I got some nice views of the town below. Very different perspective in the sunlight!

At 8:45AM, I made my next stop at Norris Geyser Basin, the hottest and most changeable thermal area in Yellowstone. I spent an hour there walking along the boardwalks. The mist/fog had rolled in so it was an eerie landscape. First I made the 1 mile loop through Porcelain Basin with Constant Geyser and enormous fumaroles (steam vents). These appear in places where underground temps are so high that all the water boils away before reaching the surface, leaving only steam. The park's hottest at 300 degrees, is located in the Norris area. Just enjoy the photos from Porcelain Basin... densely packed with thermal features.

FYI, Yellowstone is one of the most active geothermal areas in the world! The park sits on top of an enormous super-volcano, and the immense heat from its underground magma powers the geyser basins. The last major eruption was 640,000 years ago with no evidence it will blow any time soon. Riiiight...

Hot springs: colorful pools form where super heated water has no obstacles on its way back to the surface. Water rises, cools on the surface, sinks, and fresh hot water rises to replace it. Hot springs owe their bright color to either the scattering of sunlight to reflect blue wavelengths, OR the growth of colorful, heat tolerant bacteria.

Geysers: hot springs with constrictions on their plumbing, causing water to rise, pressure to build at the choke points, and liquid flashes in steam and shoots upwards.

Fumaroles: also called steam vents, these appear in places where underground temps are so high that all water boils away before reaching the surface, leaving only steam to escape.
Temps can reach 300 degrees.

Mud pots: gurgling pools of mud that form under acidic conditions, break down the surrounding rock into clay and mud. Steam and gas rising from below seep through, making the mud bubble.

Terraces: hot water rises through ancient limestone. When it reaches the surface, it deposits calcium carbonate minerals to build rippled, stair-step terraces.

The milky color of the mineral deposited here inspired the naming of Porcelain Basin. The mineral, siliceous sinter, is brought to the surface by hot water and forms a "sheet" over this flat area as the water flows across the ground and the mineral settles out. This is the fastest changing area in Norris Geyser Basin, and siliceous sinter is one of the agents of change. If the mineral seals off a hot spring or geyser by accumulating in its vent, the hot, pressurized water may flow underground to another weak area and blow through it. Siliceous sinter is also called geyserite. Deposits usually accumulate very slowly, less than one inch (2.5cm) per century, and form the geyser cones and mounds seen in most geyser basins.

As I finished my loop, the fog started to lift. Here you see the whole Porcelain basin with the tiny line of the distant boardwalk on the far side (middle of photo).

Next was the 2.5 mile loop walk around the adjacent Back Basin. It's more wooded with thermal features spread out. Here I saw a land of extremes… the tallest, but infrequent geyser, geysers that erupt continuously, springs that have been damaged by man, new geysers, old geysers, deep ones, colorful ones, and geysers that have exploded. Here are the photos...

Minute Geyser's vent was clogged by rocks thrown in by early visitors, and now it erupts only sporadically.

Sometimes the ground in Yellowstone gets so hot that trees are scorched at the roots and just fall down, devastating entire hillsides!

Porkchop geyser was quiet and erratic until September 5, 1989. In full view of visitors, it exploded. Rock and debris were launched up to 220 feet away. Now it’s only a bubbling, seething pool with temperatures reaching between 98 and 162°F and a depth of 2.5 feet. Proving once again the ever-changing and unpredictable nature of the Yellowstone landscape! I'll be glad to get out of here ;)

Blue Mud steam vent (obvious reason for the name)

Puff N Stuff Geyser made a "puff puff" sound that sounded like a train... very cool.

Grasses covered in dew... green, yellow and lavender.

So clear and blue.... made me want to put on my bathing suit and just soak there.

Steamboat geyser is the world's tallest active geyser with infrequent, unpredictable eruptions reaching 300-400 feet.... every 4 days to 50 years!

Last major eruption: 9/3/14

From Norris, I drove to Gibbon Falls, arriving at 10:15 for some quick roadside photos.

Located on the Gibbon River, the falls have an 84 foot drop and block upstream fish migrations. The absence of fish was overcome in 1890 when the first Rainbow trout were introduced into the river above the falls.

From the falls, I detoured onto Firehole Canyon Drive for 2 miles checking out the steep cliffs and Firehole falls.

Back on the main road, I saw the 100+ geothermal features of the Lower Basin

steaming away in the distance.

I parked nearby at 10:30AM and spent about a half hour walking through the fumaroles and geysers around the multi-colored Fountain Paint Pots.

Bacteria Mat

From there, I took one more quick recommended detour onto the 3 mile, one-way

Firehole Lake Drive. (11-11:15 AM)

Here I saw Great Fountain, a 200 foot spout that erupts twice a day.

From there, it was a short drive to the Midway Geyser Basin to walk a one mile loop and see colorful thermal features and Grand Prismatic Spring. Wow! (11:30AM-Noon)

Grand Prismatic is one of the world's largest, deepest hot springs, 370 feet across by 125 feet deep. The deep blue color of the pool and the rings of orange and yellow thermophiles surrounding it combine to produce a beautiful prism effect.

This is pretty much the scene throughout the park. Hundreds of Asians clamoring to take photos and selfies of everything... and nothing.

Below... Excelsior Geysor...

A colorful pool as I departed the area for the Upper Geyser Basin...

At noon, it was back in the car for the drive to the Upper Geyser basin and Old Faithful! There is a "geyser hotline" that tells you approximate eruption times, but I got no cell service in the park, so it was a crap shoot. The Old Faithful area is huge and has an inn, restaurants, general store, gas station, gift shops and more, not to mention huge parking lots. It reminded me of Disney World, and it was my final stop in the park. Once I found a spot to park, I just followed the crowds to Old Faithful. Just my luck, I arrived as it was erupting! No 90 minute wait for this girl ;)

Hundreds of people lined up with their cameras and waiting....

Thousands of gallons of steaming water thunder 135 feet into the sky!

I sort of expected everyone to clap or cheer once the eruption began but there was total silence and awe, and cameras clicking.

I was on a deadline to get back to the ranch by dinner, so I had exactly 90 minutes to walk the 3 mile trail of the Upper Geyser Basin, the largest concentration of hot springs and over 150 geysers! Guide books say if you see nothing else in Yellowstone, see this! It was a beautiful, clear, cool, blue sky day, and I started walking. The boardwalks provided safety and allowed visitors to get right up next to the thermal features. No commentary, just enjoy the many photos, each thermal feature so different from the next... size, shape, color, depth, height, etc.