Explosive Encounters

It's 9:30AM and we’ll be touring the Circle of Fire which travels along the lower portion of the Grand Loop Road. Our route will be full of starts, stops, and little hikes. 97 miles will take us through Lake, Geyser, and Canyon Countries.

First stop, we check out the restored Lake Yellowstone Hotel. The 4 white pillars and portico entry takes you back to the 1920's. We strolled through the great lobby with it's two cozy fireplaces. And spent a few minutes sitting on the veranda overlooking the shores of the cold, blue Yellowstone Lake.

Back in the car we rode along the lake and over the tree lined road we came in on yesterday. The ground is covered with bight pink, lavender, and yellow wildflowers and soon the view starts to change. Looking across the crystal lake there is a point of land sticking out where the ground is grayish white and there is steam rising into the blue sky . We pulled into a pull-off to appreciate our first view of the West Thumb Geyser Basin. In the distance we could hear wolves calling. We were told by the ranger that the "Canyon Wolf Pack" had been seen in the area.

Off again and we soon arrived at the West Thumb Geyser Basin. Yellowstone has the largest and most varied collection of hydrothermal features on Earth. We are really walking around on a big active volcano! In some places the molten rock is as close as three to eight miles below the surface. It's hard to believe we have the opportunity to view hot springs, geysers, mudpots, and fumaroles which are being fed from the heat of the earth's molten rock just below our feet. The basin overlooks Yellowstone Lake, the largest lake at high elevation in North America. Surveys of the lake documented hot springs and hydrothermal vents just offshore in West Thumb. If you look closely you may see swirling patterns in the water. As we walked among the superheated waters, we wondered if the lake is warmer here than over by the hotel. We learned that even though an average of 3,100 gallons of hot water goes into the lake every day the lake’s average summer temperature is 45 degrees! We followed the ½ mile boardwalk trail through the basin seeing the Abyss Pool which descends to 53 ft and had an active period in the early 90‘s. It varies from turquoise blue to emerald green. After several more we came to the famous Fishing Cone . The cone was just barely sticking out of the lake. When exposed, the temperature of the cone’s water averages just above boiling. Mountain men told of a geyser along an alpine lake where they could catch a trout, swing the pole around, dip it into the boiling pool, and cook the fish without taking it off the line. Today fishing is no longer allowed from Fishing Cone. After viewing the other geysers, hot springs, and bubbling mud pots in the basin we were on to the next stop.

The road climbs the 8200 foot Craig Pass, crosses over the Continental Divide, and into the Upper Geyser basin, home of Old Faithful. We found our way to the geyser area. We settled on a log and waited with the hundreds of other “tourists”. 15 minutes later there was a loud rumbling and up it went. It was awesome! Thousands of gallons of steaming water thundered into the sky. After the eruption we walked around the Old Faithful area, but decided not to walk the multiple trails to the other pools and geysers in the park.

Rolling through the Midway Basin containing Black Sand, Biscuit Basins, and Grand Prasmatic Spring we made several stops. Before we are done today we will see a total of 10 hydrothermal areas.

Passing through the Lower Basin we took several scenic drives. One took us into Firehole Canyon. Driving very narrow gravel roads with trees as guardrails. We wind along the sides of the canyon with views looking far below into the Firehole River and high peaks above us. Rounding a curve there are cars parked all along the inside of the road and people all over. To our right are rock stairs leading down into the gorge. The water crashes through the gorge and over boulders creating a slide. The kids were having a ball sliding and tubing. We watched for a while and moved on.

Canyon Country is beautiful with rivers and rolling hills. We will be coming back through here tomorrow. We stopped at the Canyon Village Visitor Center and got fishing licenses and ice cream.

Finally heading back to Fishing Bridge we drive through the Hayden Valley. This is a prime wildlife viewing area, but it’s a little early. The prime viewing time is early morning or early evening (7:30ish). We got back to camp about 6:30pm. It’s been an awesome day and we are “geyser” out!

Picture Notes:

Yellowstone Hotel, West Thumb Abyss Pool, West Thumb Black Pool, Fishing Cone, Old Faithful