Upper Geyser Basin afternoon...

I shot Old Faithful erupting in the morning and went to the visitor center to see the projected times for some of the other geysers.

 

I really wanted to get Riverside in decent light and hopefully with a rainbow. The prediction board said Grand Geyser about 5pm and Riverside around 7pm. With that I had a plan.

 

I had a couple errands to run so I drove the 32 miles out to West Yellowstone, got some gas and groceries and made it back to the Upper Geyser Basin by about 4pm.

 

 

 

It was warm so very little steam was visible from Castle Geyser's cone but the big clouds above were beautiful.

 

 

From where I was at Castle I could see the crowd gathering at Grand and started to work my way in that direction.

 

 



 

I was stopped short by the sky and colors of Crested Pool. The scene seemed idyllic and I made some more images.

 

 

Just a little further down the boardwalk is the Firehole River.

 

 

 

I took a little time to capture the bridge, river, and clouds.

 

 

 

Grand Geyser is just up the hill a hundred yards or so.

 

 

 

I got there a little before the geyser erupted and had time to check the light and choose my spot.

 

 

 

Grand actually erupts for several minutes so I wasn't rushed and could move and compose a bunch of photos.

 

 

 

 

 

It had been a few years since I last photographed Grand Geyser so I was pretty pleased with the afternoon so far.

 

 

 

As soon as Grand finished I started working my way towards Riverside and got delayed by Grotto and Rocket Geyser erupting.

 

 

 

The sun was just barely making it through the trees and reaching the geyser's cone and steam.

 

 

 

As I was shooting Grotto I realized Riverside was erupting and took off running.

 

 

 

I didn't want to miss Riverside. I hadn't photographed it in good light in years and this was my chance.

 

 

 

During the peak of the eruption if I found just the right angle a beautiful rainbow was visible near the geyser cone.

 

 

 

 

The eruption lasted longer than I remembered and the sun stayed out from behind the clouds so I was able to capture a lot of rainbow images. I had forgotten just how many cool photos were possible at the Upper Geyser Basin.

 

I was feeling pretty good about the work I had done as I started walking back towards Old Faithful. I was hoping to get it erupting near sunset.

 

 

 

I stopped to capture Sawmill Geyser on my way.

 

 

 

It's possible to shoot from almost every side of Sawmill so I was able to shoot towards the sun as it erupted as well.

 

 

 

I didn't want to miss a chance at Old Faithful at sunset so I kept on walking.

 

 

 

Sunset came and Old Faithful still hadn't started to erupt. So I made images of steam rising from it's cone as a sun dog formed in a beautiful sunset sky .

 

 

 

 

I visited with the few other people who had stayed to watch the eruption. After the sun dropped below the horizon it cooled off quickly.

 

 

 

And finally, Old Faithful Geyser lived up to it's name one more time. Shooting super heated water and steam more than 100 feet into the sky.

 

 

 

I stayed for it's entire eruption and wondered what the Park Service would do if the geyser ever stopped going off. The Old Faithful area is highly developed with several hotels, stores, a gas station, a visitor center, and large parking lots to accommodate all of the visitors. All of it is focused on and built around this most famous of geysers. Well, whatever may happen it wasn't today.

 

Today I had a fun and productive afternoon in a beautiful and unique area of the world's first national park.













 





Who needs sleep ......

when I'm only here for a few days,

and nights. Star trails over lodgepole pine trees.

I hadn't been to Yellowstone in awhile and was determined to make the most of my time in the park. Instead of going to sleep after the sun had set and the colors had faded, I went out looking to photograph the night skies.

I'm glad I did because it resulted in images like this one of star trails over Old Faithful Geyser.

And the night sky above lodgepole pine trees in the Upper Geyser Basin. By playing around with exposure times and shooting through the night I was able to capture some unique Yellowstone photos.

Like this image of lightning in the distance and red steam rising from Old Faithful Geyser.

And more lightning as a thunderstorm rolled through. (These images have not been manipulated or altered. This is exactly what I saw while shooting on this night. You can see why the steam is red at http://jerrymercier.blogspot.com/2011/09/what-night.html )

Star trails over Old Faithful.

I was short on sleep, but it was worth it. This image shows White Dome Geyser erupting at about 2 in the morning with the Big Dipper up above.

I hadn't done much night time photography before this trip, but I'm glad I didn't let that stop me from trying.

Come on Sun, You Can Do It

I spent a considerable amount of time in the Upper Geyser Basin on this trip. I saw Old Faithful erupt more than twenty times(even at night), but this was my favorite eruption.

Everything came together and made for outstanding images. 

Remnants of storm clouds from the night before moved across the sky.

Just a minute earlier with the sun hidden behind the clouds the scene looked like this. To the east I saw a gap in the clouds and rooted for the sun to come out before the geyser erupted. "Come on sun, you can do it."  

I visited with a guy from Ohio, one of only a few dozen people waiting for the eruption at 7:30 in the morning. We both continued to wait and hoped for the sun. 

The conditions were perfect for great images, the golden grass, the beautiful clouds, the blue sky. All I needed was the sun.

Old Faithful coughed a little and burped a little water and steam, indicating an impending eruption. I held my breath, waiting on the sun.

Just as a column of super heated water and steam shot out of the geyser and over 100 feet into the air everything came together. The clouds parted and the sun shone through.

It was even better than I had hoped. There was more steam, the colors were more vivid, and the eruption lasted longer than most. Old Faithful had shown its best.

The colors and light were unbelievable. I was smiling and laughing as I photographed the scene.

The eruption lasted only a few minutes, five at most. Lucky for me, the sun made it through the clouds just in time and stayed out for at least six minutes. Perfect.

After the eruption a column of steam rose from the cone of Old Faithful Geyser and steam from Castle Geyser mirrored it.

What an excellent morning in an outstanding place. Only Yellowstone.

No One Was There To See It

I love this image of empty benches and red steam rising from Old Faithful on a stormy night.

The park was still crowded at the end of August just before Labor Day weekend. During the day hundreds of people filled the benches around Old Faithful to watch the world's most famous geyser erupt.

Yet, at 4am the benches were empty and no one else was there to see this unlikely sight.

I'm glad I was.

 

What a Night

I finally made it back to Yellowstone and didn't want to waste a minute or any opportunities while I was there, so I kept my camera working through the nights.

I would have preferred to be in Yellowstone the second week of September. By then the elk are rutting and the nights are cold enough to allow for huge amounts of steam over geysers and thermal features.  

Life, and my schedule dictated that the end of August would be my only chance to go west. So I found myself living my Yellowstone dream during the last week of August.

I sure am glad that I went. As I can still say there is never a bad day to be in Yellowstone.

I made this photo of red steam rising from the cone of Old Faithful Geyser and lightning in the distance at around 3am.

The photo hasn't been manipulated with photoshop or any other software. The colors are as they appeared to me and the camera at the time.

You may wonder why the steam is red. This is the short story. 

The night started out starry and clear.

I used long exposures to paint star trails above Old Faithful Geyser. 

And then.... huge thunderstorms rolled through the area bringing rain, wind, and lightning. The storms were fast moving and were gone in just an hour or so, leaving clear skies behind.

Just after I made this image of stars and lodgepole pine trees, the thunder rolled and rain began to fall. I moved to a sheltered location and kept on shooting, hoping to catch lightning over Old Faithful.



Lightning struck fairly close by while I was standing there photographing the night sky and fire alarms went off at the Old Faithful Inn.

The alarms were loud and unyielding. After about twenty minutes firemen parked their truck outside the Inn and left the lights on as they went inside. The red from the fire truck's lights made the steam rising from Old Faithful red in the image.

Once the alarms were quieted and the fire truck left it was almost sunrise and I continued to shoot as big clouds rolled across the sky and lightning occasionally lit the insides.

What a beautiful night in the world's first national park.

Old Faithful & the Upper Geyser Basin

Yellowstone National Park has more geysers than anyplace else in the world. Along with the geysers there are hot springs, heated pools, mud pots, steam vents, and fumaroles. All of the geothermal activity makes Yellowstone a very unique place to visit and a wonderful place to explore.

Located in the Upper Geyser Basin, Old Faithful is the most well known geyser in Yellowstone Park and erupts to a height of over 100 feet every 30 to 120 minutes. Its fame not withstanding, Old Faithful is just one of many beautiful geysers in the Upper Geyser Basin. Castle, Riverside, Grotto, Giant, and Grand Geysers are all located there as well.

The area around Old Faithful is one of the most developed in Yellowstone National Park. Old Faithful Lodge, Snow Lodge, several parking lots, stores, a visitor center, and a gas station are all located near the geyser. Other geyser basins in the park are much less built up and often less crowded.

Whether you'd prefer someplace less developed or not, take the time to walk the boardwalks of the Upper Geyser Basin. Make sure to see Old Faithful erupt and don't leave early. The visitor center posts estimated eruption times for several other nearby geysers. Make a game of it and see how many different geysers you can see erupting.

Yellowstone became the worlds first national park because of the amazing geothermal features located there. More than 135 years after the park was founded the geysers are no less amazing and shouldn't be missed. The sound of steam and super heated water shooting into the air, the colors of the heated pools, the intricate shapes of geyser cones and terraces, and the smell of sulfurous gasses are unforgettable. While visiting Yellowstone make sure to explore the geyser basins, you'll be glad you did.



NP3449- Castle Geyser during the steam phase of an eruption.




NP3020- Riverside Geyser erupts, shooting water over the Firehole River.




NP2993- Grotto Geyser erupting




NP3460- Steam rises from Giant Geyser. Giant Geyser erupts infrequently to heights of 150-250 feet.




NP3478- Grand Geyser erupting to heights of 200 feet.




NP4720- Old Faithful erupting on a beautiful fall morning.