geyser gazing

Today we got up early to join one of the park rangers for their geyser prediction circuit. Each morning a ranger goes out to the basin to check heat sensors located near many of the geysers that help determine when the geysers went off so that the rangers can predict when they will erupt again.

Our ski journey started with a short cut through the woods that had us following a slew of coyote tracks. And not only were there footprints in the snow, the coyotes had also left scent markings, some which contained blood, a sure sign that mating season is around the corner, or so said the ranger.

That first geyser we came to was Castle, which was steamy but pretty quiet

The ranger carefully walked along the run-off canal and downloaded the information in the heat sensor into a portable drive that allowed her to transfer the readings into a laptop. A spike in the water temperature reading will indicate when the geyser last went off and allow for an accurate prediction of its next eruption.

We continued to follow the coyote tracks

up past Grand Geyser, which the ranger predicted erupted about 20 minutes before arrival, which was a bit of disappointment since it is the tallest predictable geyser (it goes off once of twice a day) in the world. While passing Chromatic Spring the ranger pointed out dead thermophiles, which created the pink layer around the feature.

Thermophiles are organisms that thrive in the superheated springs and thermals of Yellowstone. They create all the vibrant colors in many of the springs and are of constant interest to science. For instance, thermophilic bacteria is the basis of DNA fingerprinting and many scientists wonder if, given their ability live in liquid and survive at extreme temps, thermophiles weren't the first life forms on earth. The latter has also made them a favorite of NASA since they believe studying thermophiles might give them a leg up on finding life on other planets like Mars.

Next we passed Grotto Geyser, which wasn't doing too much, and Giant Geyser, which hasn't erupted since February, on our way to Riverside Geyser. True to its name, Riverside sits right on the Firehole River and erupts every 6 hours or so.

To many people it looks like a toilet and you can tell it is ready to erupt when the bowl on the right fills with water and starts to overflow.

Making our way back along the trail we could see some steam rising and sure enough we caught Grotto as it was doing its thing

After checking out the eruption we headed over to Daisy, where the ranger once again checked out the sensor, peaked into the geyser to gauge the water level and then radioed in her prediction on its next eruption.

From there we headed toward Geyser Hill and past Grand, Wave Spring (if you look close you can see the constant ripple)

and Sawmill Geyser. In the distance we could see Lion Geyser going off and Old Faithful start to steam as we skied along the icy track and up the hill.

Over by Pump Geyser, the ranger pointed out where a bison had walked across the bacterial mat and left a trail in the layer of bacteria around the thermal feature.

We reached the top the hill just in time to see Old Faithful start to spout.

Having checked all the geysers and made her predictions, the ranger headed back to the Visitors Center to download her sensor information. We went back the way we came and reached Sawmill just as it was boiling over

The run-off from Sawmill passed by Wendie's favorite thermal feature, Scalloped Spring,

and down into the Firehole River (check how little snow there is)

Having completed both our physical and educational quota for the day we decided to follow the coyote's love trail and head back home.

Later, as we were heading home from a slow day at work, we heard a couple coyotes yipping and barking, obviously saying that their night would be more exciting than ours was.

(Further Reading: There was a story in USA Today that mentioned the Yellowstone Association and one of the guides we work with. Check it out. )