Yellowstone in Winter - Part 10 - Upper Geyser Basin

Saturday, 27 January 2018

This morning we had a walking tour of the Upper Geyser Basin at Old Faithful. We were lucky to view the eruption of both Beehive and Grand Geysers. It was snowing heavily, so between clouds, steam, and snow, the geysers were better experienced than photographed. At times it was just a world of gray (and fogged eyeglasses!).

Unlike the limestone-based hot springs that deposit travertine at Mammoth Hot Springs, the geysers (and hot springs in geyser basins) deposit "geyserite", or siliceous sinter, that grows much more slowly (an inch a century) and is much harder and glass-like.

Anemone geyser looks like something you might see on the sea floor, ...

... and then it erupts! Anemone has small (6 ft) eruptions about every 10 minutes.

Beehive Geyser has a small "indicator" that sits right in front of it. When the indicator starts spouting water and steam, it means that Beehive will erupt in the next 20 minutes. (Beehive erupts every 6 to 8 hours.) When we saw an active indicator, we knew that an eruption would come soon.

Beehive has become my favorite geyser. It erupts with an immense amount of water in a plume that can approach 150 ft high. The boardwalk is very near the geyser, about 30 feet. You need to be careful, because standing in the wrong spot can get you drenched.

A closer view of Beehive and the indicator erupting.

The indicator quits spouting before Beehive does.

The brightly colored runoff from Beehive Geyser. The colors come from bacteria, archaea, and algae that tolerate/require different temperatures.

Moving on: This is Heart Spring. The deep blue/turquoise colors mean that the water is too hot to support any living organisms.

A runoff channel was covered with a bright green mat that looked like it was duckweed.

Another hot spring/pool.

Grand Geyser erupting. Grand Geyser erupts from a pool, rather than a cone. When the pool is full, you know that an eruption will occur soon (about every 12 hours). While Grand's eruption can shoot water up to 200 ft high, this eruption did not approach that height. It was still impressive, and lasted about 10 minutes.

Steam from Grand Geyser coats the trees behind it with frost.

Steam vents and pools around Grand Geyser.

Hot water from Grand Geyser melts the ice in the runoff channel.

Giant Geyser

Giant Geyser when the steam allowed a better look at the cone.

Grotto Geyser. The holes and strangely-shaped cone is probably due to siliceous sinter (geyserite) depositing around trees.

Castle Geyser.