7.21.2006

YNP : Geysers

Yellowstone is really quite known around the world for one thing.

Thermal features.

Unabounding wilderness comes in second, but when people think of Yellowstone, they truly think of the geysers. Well, along with waterfalls this last weekend, I checked out some Geysers and other Thermal Features as well.

Lesson learned: Geysers are cool.

Jet Geyser


Jet Geyser is one of the geysers down in the Fountain Paint Pot area. Its directly related to Fountain Geyser and Morning Geyser (which was going off when we went through this area, but I didn't get a picture of) and gave us a little show. Nobody was taking pictures of it, so I got a couple snap shots.

Imperial Geyser


I got my own private show of Imperial, its an extension of the Fairy Falls hike, an additional 1.4 mile loop added. It was kind of neat checking it out, however I didn't see it in a major eruption, just one of its many minor eruptions, which occurs every couple minutes and can be anywhere from a couple of feet to eighty feet. Its actually has a fairly large pool for a geyser, and apparently was a big gusher in its day. However these days it is fairly mellow. Still, I got my own private show, and it was nice.

Jewel Geyser


Located in Buscuit Basin (at the back of which is the trail to Mystic Falls), wait a few minutes and you'll see this little geyser go off. It erupts every 7 to 10 minutes.

Lone Star Geyser


Aptly named Geyser, the nearest large geyser is Old Faithful. Lone Star is also one of the most regular in the park, erupting almost 3 hours exactly. I had to bike 2.5 miles to get to Lone Star, but it was worth it. Old Faithful visitors center didn't have numbers ofr Lone Star (they rely on visitors to report eruptions to predict it) so I had to take a chance and hope I would catch an eruption and not have to wait three hours for it. I lucked out, I waited about 20 minutes for it to go off, sitting with five other people. It also puts on quite a show (30 minutes), I think this is one of my favorite geysers in the park.

Old Faithful


Everyone knows of Old Faithful. Its famous for being the largest regular geyser on the face of the planet, hence the name Old Faithful. It regularly puts on a show for you, and I've seen it go off about six or seven times since I got here, three times alone on Monday.

There's this neat hike up to the viewing area of Old Faithful. I took advantage of a hiking opportunity and saw it from this vantage point and only had to put up with a minor crowd. Very scenic.

Castle Geyser


Castle Geyser is in the Upper Geyser Basin (which is by Old Faithful) and goes off every 11 to 13 hours. It puts out quite a show when it does go off, though I only saw the beginning show and snapped a picture, having heard that the irregular Beehive Geyser was about to go off.

Beehive Geyser


Named because of its geyserite cone looks a bit like a Beehive, this geyser shoots straight up. It's got a small geyser to the side that works as an indicator that Beehive is about to erupt, and thats the only sign that it will erupt. Otherwise, I would have likely missed this show.


I've seen quite a few geysers since I've been here, these are the main ones I've seen that I got pictures of. I did see Fountain Geyser erupt from a bus, as well as Solitary Geyser which erupts every few minutes in a small bubble.

I'm told I lucked out with how the Geysers erupted the day I saw them. There are a few I missed but overall, I saw quite a few.

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