Geysers and hot pools

Well I decided to sleep in this morning and didn’t get up until 6am. I was a little cold. I assumed since it’s summer I’d be hot and that’d be true if I weren’t sleeping at 8000 feet elevation. I started the day at West Thumb Geyser Basin. It was amazing! I was the only one there that early and all the pools bordered the massive Yellowstone Lake. I think it was my favorite part of the day. I walked around the boardwalk and just took it all in. I then decided to hike to Duck Lake which was quick and easy and then I hiked the Lake Overlook trail. I did both of these in cowboy boots which was not a good idea, short as the hikes were. The Lake Overlook trail was beautiful because I could see a good 360 view. There were also some thermal areas along the trail and I was tempted to touch them but I refrained.


I continued on to Old Faithful and spent the next 6 hours there. I got a rundown of which geysers would erupt when and decided to start by viewing the Riverside geyser. I waited an hour (the timetables are plus or minus an hour) but it was worth it. It went on for about 20 minutes. I walked over to the Morning Glory pool which was just like the Viewfinder picture. I continued along the Geyser trail which went by many geysers, pools, and thermal areas. Surprisingly, it didn’t smell all that bad. I next decided to wait for the Grand Geyser because this was supposed to be the best. It was estimated to go around 1:05 (plus or minus two hours) and I got there around 12:45. Finally around 2:40 it erupted. I didn’t want to move because I was in a shady spot and it was so crowded that I feared losing my spot and roasting in the sun. After that I was pretty tired but I soldiered on. I completed the Geyser Hill loop behind Old Faithful. There were many smaller pools and geysers and after awhile I was geysered out.


I left the Old Faithful area and went to the Black Sand Basin which was gorgeous! My favorite pools are the bright blue/green ones and every pool at this Basin was that color. What stinks is that the bright blue water indicates a very hot temperature, usually close to boiling point. When water is this hot it steams and therefore it’s hard to take a picture because the brilliant blue is surrounded by steam. I drove down the road to Midway Geyser Basin and this stop had Grand Prismatic which is the biggest, bluest pool plus a few other neat ones.

I kept on going and did the Firehole Lake Drive. I saw one smaller geyser erupting which was neat but the biggest one there has a 4 hour window and I didn’t want to wait. So I went to the Fountain Paint Pots. This spot had one geyser that was constantly going and on the overlook you could get misted by the spray. It also had mud pots which I think are just the funniest things. This time of year the mud is pretty thin but to see and hear it blooping out of the ground is really funny. After that huge day I was exhausted and I could barely walk because my feet hurt. I drove to Madison and camped there for the night. I had a can of stewed tomatoes for dinner. Yum.

p.s. I tried to upload more photos but it takes forever at this cafe. see Facebook for all the photos.