September 11, 2011

Old Faithful

Yellowstone National Park is famous for its geothermal activity, evidenced by mud pots, bubbling pools, steam, and geysers, all fueled by the hot rocks of magma chambers that heat the water.  Half of the earth's geothermal features and two-thirds of the earth's geysers are concentrated in Yellowstone, according to Wikipedia.
Old Faithful was first named by the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition because the geyser erupted at regular intervals, approximately hourly.  Since then, this well-known geyser's activity has been disrupted by the effects of small quakes, and it is now less faithful.  Today, eruptions very anywhere from 45-125 minutes apart.
In the above photo, my grandson is plugging his ears as we wait for Old Faithful to do its thing at twilight.  He thought the geyser would be noisy, but the hot water eruption is not like an explosion,  just a tremendous upward force of hissing and gushing.
The eruptions are an average of 145 feet high and last 1.5 to 5 minutes. 
We also saw the Beehive Geyser erupt.  A ranger told us this one erupts unpredictably, sometimes "nunce" a day. Its 4 foot tall cone is shaped like a beehive.  Wikipedia says it erupts every 10-20 hours, and reaches a height of 200 feet. 

17 comments:

  1. Great shot of Old Faithful! That's great that you go to see the Beehive eruption.

    I'm trying to finish up my Yellowstone blogging today on my Mountains Rule blog. I took over 2,000 photos while we were there!

    http://mtsrool.blogspot.com/

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  2. I do love Old Faithful, Janie, and what a terrific capture! Looks as though you and your family had a terrific visit! Great way to wind down the summer! Enjoy!

    Sylvia

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  3. Old Faithful is the must see for Yellowstone. It always erupts about five minutes before I get there so I've spent a lot of time waiting on it.

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  4. Amazing stuff Janie. Interesting about the intervals. Great photos as usual, too.

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  5. Cute picture, that's Funny Lucas thought it was going to be loud. Makes sense. :)

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  6. One of my favorite places in the world. Your captured the geysers perfectly.

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  7. Yellowstone is such an amazing place. I do hope we can get there one more time.

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  8. You got a wonderful picture of Old Faithful. Thanks for the information and the great picture of your grandchildren.

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  9. You can always count on 'Old Fathfull' to give a spectacular show.
    These memories will last a lifetime.
    Beautiful photos, Janie, Thanks!
    Happy trails,
    Pam

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  10. I was a bit peeved at the timing of old faithful....she was late. :0 Kidding.
    And we saw the beehive one as well...so cool.
    I am amazed at your family shot, it looks like you had the area to yourself.
    We were practically smashed with a gazzillion other people there...we also had a bison pass through the area waiting on Old Faithful. Pretty cool!

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  11. What a Sight!
    (And I have to say that I would be much like your grandson waiting for the "boom":)
    My daughter has seen Old Faithful...it is still on my own list to vist. Nice captures!

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  12. It is something to see. I like that your grandson plugged his ears. :)

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  13. I have seen Old Faithful and it's spectacular. But I have not seen the Beehive Geyser. How fortunate you were to bee there at the right time!

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  14. I think one could never tire of Old Faithful.

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