Just down the road from the Fountain Paint Pots is the entrance to the one-way Firehole Lake Drive. It's an opportunity to see geysers and hot springs from your car. But you get so much more out of the experience if you get out and walk around.
The temperature of Firehole Spring is well above boiling. I'm also a sucker for a well-crusted rim.
Speaking of well-crusted rims, this is the Surprise Pool. It got its name because early visitors discovered that it would boil if you threw sand in it. This activity, of course, is illegal today.
It was boiling for us already. No sand required.
One of the most famous geysers in Yellowstone is the Great Fountain Geyser (not to be confused with "Fountain Geyser" which we saw earlier today in the Fountain Paint Pots).
Great Fountain Geyser erupts predictably (the only geyser in the Lower Geyser Basin to do so) every 9 to 15 hours. But alas, its eruption times were not conducive to our busy schedule.
Geysers are classified into two types: fountain or cone. Fountain geysers erupt from a pool, like this one. They tend to spray in many directions at once. Cone geysers erupt from a mound, like White Dome below. They generally erupt in single jet, like a fire hose.
Both types produce deposits of geyserite (called sinter). Fountain geysers develop silica terraces, like stepped concentric rings around a center. Great Fountain Geyser's terraces reach a whopping 150 feet in diameter. The highest recorded eruption was 220 feet, but it more typically reaches about 100 feet.
Hundreds of years of geyserite buildup have formed the 12-foot high cone of the White Dome Geyser. It's built upon a 20-foot high mound from an earlier geyser. It spurts frequently but sporadically, varying from every few minutes to an hour and a half in between. The spray reaches 10 to 30 feet. Heavy steam phases sometimes replace actual eruptions. Geyserite deposits have narrowed the opening to just four inches in diameter. It may one day close completely. Everyone is interested to see what will happen at that point.
It's hard to miss Pink Cone Geyser. It's just 13 feet from the road. The pink color comes from deposits of manganese and iron.
This swirling vortex of color is part of Firehole Lake. Runoff from several geysers have produced a yin-yang appearance. See the red "yin" and the black "yang"? The different colors are produced by different species of bacteria, each loving a different water temperature.
Geyserite. Bacteria. Rapids. What's not to love?
This water will trickle out of the lake to form Tangled Creek and eventually dumps into the Firehole River.
I love the way the black and red converge here.
The temperature of Firehole Spring is well above boiling. I'm also a sucker for a well-crusted rim.
Speaking of well-crusted rims, this is the Surprise Pool. It got its name because early visitors discovered that it would boil if you threw sand in it. This activity, of course, is illegal today.It was boiling for us already. No sand required.
One of the most famous geysers in Yellowstone is the Great Fountain Geyser (not to be confused with "Fountain Geyser" which we saw earlier today in the Fountain Paint Pots).Great Fountain Geyser erupts predictably (the only geyser in the Lower Geyser Basin to do so) every 9 to 15 hours. But alas, its eruption times were not conducive to our busy schedule.
Geysers are classified into two types: fountain or cone. Fountain geysers erupt from a pool, like this one. They tend to spray in many directions at once. Cone geysers erupt from a mound, like White Dome below. They generally erupt in single jet, like a fire hose.
Both types produce deposits of geyserite (called sinter). Fountain geysers develop silica terraces, like stepped concentric rings around a center. Great Fountain Geyser's terraces reach a whopping 150 feet in diameter. The highest recorded eruption was 220 feet, but it more typically reaches about 100 feet.
Hundreds of years of geyserite buildup have formed the 12-foot high cone of the White Dome Geyser. It's built upon a 20-foot high mound from an earlier geyser. It spurts frequently but sporadically, varying from every few minutes to an hour and a half in between. The spray reaches 10 to 30 feet. Heavy steam phases sometimes replace actual eruptions. Geyserite deposits have narrowed the opening to just four inches in diameter. It may one day close completely. Everyone is interested to see what will happen at that point.
It's hard to miss Pink Cone Geyser. It's just 13 feet from the road. The pink color comes from deposits of manganese and iron.
This swirling vortex of color is part of Firehole Lake. Runoff from several geysers have produced a yin-yang appearance. See the red "yin" and the black "yang"? The different colors are produced by different species of bacteria, each loving a different water temperature.
Geyserite. Bacteria. Rapids. What's not to love?This water will trickle out of the lake to form Tangled Creek and eventually dumps into the Firehole River.
I love the way the black and red converge here.
