Tag: geysers

American Northwest Trip, 2017: Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone

Michael Rappa

These photos are from my hike of the Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park, a geyser-rich geothermal area that includes the Old Faithful, Beehive, and Castle geysers, along with more than four-hundred others. As I may have mentioned in previous posts, walking among all of these cones, boiling springs, bursting geysers, and steam plumes really drives home the reality that you are standing on top of a super volcano. I didn’t have time to explore the entire basin, but I saw a good portion of it. Toward the end of my hike I caught the eruption of the Lion Geyser from a distance, documented in a couple of the photos.

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Castle Geyser (background), Lion Geyser group (foreground)
Lion Geyser (left)
Sleeping bison.
Boiling water in geyser.
Spasmodic Geyser
Firehole River and geysers in background.
Firehole River, geysers, and Old Faithful Lodge
Firehole River and numerous geysers visible along the banks.
Boiling hot spring.
Castle Geyser
Hot spring.
Castle Geyser
Castle Geyser with boiling smaller geyser in foreground.
Eruption of Lion Geyser.
Eruption of Lion Geyser.
A brief green respite before hitting the mostly barren basin.
Hot spring with Old Faithul Inn in the background.
Old Faithful between eruptions.
Castle Geyser
Beehive Geyser
Minor eruption (foreground), Firehole River (background)
Castle Geyser and Firehole River

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American Northwest Trip, 2017: Old Faithful

Michael Rappa

These photos are from my two visits to Old Faithful to watch the famous geyser erupt on its reliable schedule. I took shots at various stages of eruption and the final one has a nice rainbow alongside the geyser plume. The birds in some of the photos were actually very large, which helps put the size of the eruption in perspective.

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Large crowd gathering for the eruption.
The eruption grows…
…and grows.
Peak eruption.
Eruption waning.
Probably wouldn’t want to be standing under that shower of steam.
Steaming water, no big deal for this guy.
Keeping in mind that these are very large birds helps provide a sense of scale to the size of the eruption.
Looks like a steaming tea kettle.
Old Faithful and a rainbow towering over the crowd in the distance.

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American Northwest Trip, 2017: Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone

Michael Rappa

These photos are from the Norris Geyser Basin, the hottest thermal region in Yellowstone. Walking among an abundance of craters, geysers, and steam plumes really drives home the reality that you are standing on top of a super volcano, and the beautiful blue pools and multicolored springs give the place an otherworldly feel.

This is the area of the park where a man died the year before my visit when he fell into one of the springs and his body dissolved. He had left the boardwalk to engage in “hot potting,” an illegal activity in which people look for hot springs to bathe in. He slipped and fell while taking the spring’s temperature and was never seen again. So, if you ever visit the thermal areas of Yellowstone, you might want to stay on the boardwalks–they were put there for a reason.

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American Northwest Trip, 2017: Yellowstone’s Mud Volcano Area

Michael Rappa

The Mud Volcano Area of Yellowstone National Park is filled with hot springs and boiling pools of acid and mud, as well as the unmistakable rotten-egg odor of sulfur that bombards you as soon as you exit the car. The sulfur smell is abundant throughout the geyser basins and hot spring/caldron areas of the park. Nearly all of the pools of liquid in these photos would dissolve you instantly were you unfortunate enough to stumble into them.

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Butterfly (center). Also a bee to the upper left.
Thick, boiling mud of the Grizzly Fumarole.
Sulphur Caldron Overlook
Mud Volcano
Dragon’s Mouth Spring. It actually does look like a dragon’s mouth from this angle.
Dragon’s Mouth Spring
Mud Caldron
Mud Caldron

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American Northwest Trip, 2017: Midway Geyser Basin in Yellowstone

Michael Rappa

The Midway Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park features several geysers and springs. The crown jewel of this basin is the Grand Prismatic Spring, notable for its massive size and spectacular colors. I first saw the spring up close and then I hiked up a hill to an overlook to get a bird’s eye view, which is the best way to appreciate its beauty—truly one of the most memorable sights in the entire park. All of the mist you see in these photos is actually steam rising from boiling water in the geysers and springs.

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Grand Prismatic Spring (viewed from the eponymous lookout trail).
Grand Prismatic Spring (viewed from the eponymous lookout trail).
Opal Pool
Grand Prismatic Spring
Grand Prismatic Spring
Grand Prismatic Spring
Excelsior Geyser Crater
View from Grand Prismatic Spring Lookout Trail.
Boiling water from Excelsior Geyser running down into Firehole River.
Excelsior Geyser
Turquoise Pool

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American Northwest Trip, 2017: The Movie

Michael Rappa

This compilation of the videos I shot on my trip last summer includes footage of Mount Hood, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Devils Tower, and drives through Shoeshone and Bighorn national forests, Spearfish Canyon, and Custer State Park. I sped up the driving videos for effect and time—I wasn’t really driving that fast. 🙂

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Photo of the Day: Old Faithful Rainbow

Michael RappaLeave a comment

Greetings readers, and long time no see. It’s been ages since I’ve posted, in part because I got super busy at work, but also because I spent several months culling and processing all of the photos I took during my two-week trip out west this past summer. Hopefully now that I’m mostly caught up, I’ll be able to start posting more often and maybe get back to updating my trip journal again.

In the meantime, here’s a photo taken during my stay in Yellowstone National Park of Old Faithful erupting and producing a pretty rainbow in the process.

Date: 8/28/2017
Camera: NIKON D5100
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You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.