The Snow Lodge at Old Faithful. Old Faithful is to the right of this picture about one quarter mile.

Cabins similar to the one I stayed in. Shot this from my front door.

Old Faithful erupting against a leaden sky.

More of the same eruption. An Old Faithful eruption lasts several minutes followed by a period of steam venting.

This is beehive geyser erupting. I was fortunate to get pictures of this geyser. It erupts only two or three times a day. It is unique in errupting from a very well defined cone. It erupts for many minutes expelling thousands of gallons of boiling water.

A good view of the intensity with which Beehive geyser erupts. With its intact cone it gives the cleanest view of the water ejection of any geyser. It is just like a fire hose. Its eruptions are over a hundred feet high.

Grand geyser erupting. Again this geyser erupts for several minutes and releases a great deal of steam. On clear cold winter days like this it is spectacular. This was a long eruption. I probably had time to walk to it.

And another look at Grand geyser.

And another.

A little more perspective.

In some places the ground is kept warm year round by underlying thermal activity. In such places as this the vegitation is green year round. And yes, that is buffalo poop.

Looking north you can see how many thermal features are in the Upper Geyser basin. Some are true geysers, many are hot springs. Most geysers are not as dramatic as Old Faithful or Behive. They may errupt only a few feet high or less. Some erupt like this almost continuously some intermittently. All produce lots of steam in the winter.

Beehive geyser inactive state. Steam puffs out from time to time. In spite of its large eruptions the snow remains close to the cone. The prevaling wind carries most of the erruption the other way. Note the icicles off the boardwalk.

Runoff from geysers and hot springs run down the travertine bank of the Firehole river.

Tree killed by thermal activity. The specific locus of various thermal features moves around over time. Maybe only a few feet over several years but enough to change the soil conditions so that a tree can no longer be supported.

Looking north from Castle geyser. Firehole river is in the midground. Most of the steam is from the runoff of hot springs and smaller geysers.

Runoff from a hot spring on its way to the Firehole river.

Castle geyser before an eruption. The cone is covered by steam. There are a couple of hot springs adjacent to the cone. Water bubbles over the side of the cone from time to time between eruptions. Eruptions are around 7 hours apart.

One of the hot springs adjacent to Castle geyser. Note that the water is in a rolling boil. At this altitude the boiling point of water is 199 degrees F. Interestingly the level of the water level in the hot spring does not seem to vary much during the eruption of the large geyser just feet away. Their plumbing appears to be independent.