After leaving the campground this morning we headed over toward the area where there is a geyser field stopping along the shore of Yellowstone Lake to view the geysers there. We spent a good section of the day there before heading off through the southern exit of Yellowstone Park into the a joining Grand Teton National Park. Then on south and finally into Idaho again where we found a campground in a National Forest along side a nice stream.
We had a visitor tonight that really gave us a scare. While sitting around the campfire enjoying the evening I heard a noise, but could not figure out exactly what it was so did not mention it to Debbie. A little while later we both heard it, but could not figure out exactly where it was comming from. Then Debbie saw our trash bag from the night's meal move. We found that it was a field mouse that had cleaned up our table for us. We had been through all kinds of landscape and I had several time had concern over what might try to get at the food (especially after all the stores I had read). We even went to the steps of chaining the coolers we carried up so that nothing could get them. And yet what scared us and got to our food - - - a mouse.
Here are some scenes from the geological site right along Yellowstone Lake at West Thumb. There were many bubbling pools and fumerials here. In the lake you could see many large fish trolling along the shoreline for food. Back a number of years ago it was a fad to catch the fish, then immediatly dunk it into one of the calderas of a geyser located along the shore to cook it without ever removing it from the line. This has now been stopped due to the dangers involved with being so close to the geyser. Most of the pools and geysers whether they look it or not are hovering around 170+ degrees (boiling point at this altitude is about 198-200).
You may have noticed the different colors both in the pool waters, and at the edges. The temperature, structure of the pool, and impurities in the water cause the differences. The water in the pool itself appears to be different colors depending on the depth and structure of the pool and differences in the chemicals in the water. The edges of the pools are of varied striking colors depending upon the temperature of the water. The temperature of the water at any given spot regulates which bacteria are able to grow and they are the color that you see.
The continental divide traverses the park. We crossed back and forth over it many times during our trip. From this point anything to the east (left in this photo) ends up in the Atlantic Ocean, anything to the west (right) in the Pacific.
At this point we reached what is the most know feature of Yellowstone, and possibly one of the most known geothermal feature in the world. Old Fateful Geyser is known for it's striking regularity for a geothermal event. It has a periodic occurences just a few minutes off an hour, and has a fairly consistent eruption duration and strength. Once it erupts the time clock for its next occurences begins.
Erupting geysers are fed by water trickling down through the earth's crust (around 3 miles in Yellowstone it is thought). At this point of the US the heat from the interior of the earth is fairly close to the surface, ground water is present, and the earth's crust is of such a makeup to allow the water to percolate downward. The makings of the geysers, fumerials, and mud pots. When the water reaches far enough down it begins to be heated by the earth well past the normal boiling point of the water, but because of the pressure of all the water overhead it is unable to boil. The water begins to heat even more, and at some point this fine balance between wanting to boil and being held from boiling tips. Once a certain amount of the water begins the process it rapidly removes the pressure holding back the rest of the water from boiling and an almost explosive event occurs. The remaining water overhead is rapidly expelled by the superheated water and steam until the underground pressure is relieved and the process starts anew.
The size, duration, and cycle time of the eruptions vary depending upon the structure of the geyser, and the various elements present. They vary from heights of inches to nearly 400 feet. The duration of an eruption of a true geysers (as apposed to the bubbling pools) can last for a minute or less or up to an hour or so, and the time between eruptions from minutes to a century or more.
While I'm on the subject there are differences in the pools in the park also depending upon the amount of water present along with the contaminants in the water. They are roughly divided into 3 categories although the same feature may cross back and forth depending upon the conditions present (amount of water, etc). The categories are:
1 - Pools, which as they sound are usually clear water and have depths of inches to 50 feet or more.
2 - Mud pots, which due to a lesser amount of water and more ground mixed in the water form a bubbling mud pool.
3 - Fumerials, which due to an extreme lack of free water becomes a steaming, hissing hole in the ground.
Here is a series of photos showing a typical eruption on Yellowstone. In one of the last photos you can also see another geyser begin it's eruption.
After watching Old Faithful erupt I walked around the geyser fields here and viewed many of the other features here. I was lucky enough to witness the eruption of one of the other major geysers (this one with a "recycle" time of about a week). It is believed to be one of the oldest geysers still erupting in this area. It is called Castle Geyser Here is a miscellaneous assortment of the features and geysers that I saw.
From here we ended up leaving the park as previously mentioned and traveled south through the Grand Teton Nation Park before heading off into Idaho and Utah where we found a campsite for the night. Here are some views of the mountains and the lake in Grand Teton, and one of the numerous "Antler Arches" we saw in a town in the southwest corner of Wyoming.
