Firehole Lake Drive - Part I

After leaving the Fountain Paint Pot trail area it was a short drive over to the start of the Firehole Lake Drive.  It is "a 2-mile (3 km) drive that passes geysers, hot lakes, hot springs--even a hot cascade."

It was a nice drive, with several places where you could park and get out of your car to look around at various points of interest.  The only bad thing was a van full of teenagers that let out at one stop while we were there.  The (I can't think of a polite way to describe them) kids decided that they needed to urinate, so they walked out well off the trail to go into the bushes.  In the process they walked very near to a thermal feature (something many, many, many signs in the park warn against).  It is because of idiots like them that people are injured and certain things are ruined for other visitors.

The first thing we saw was the Firehole Spring which was apparently named for "the large bubbles [that] looked like flashes of light" according to early explorers.

I'm not sure if the steam blowing over the water was a normal lever or if it was exacerbated by the cool air.


I was more impressed by Surprise Pool.

The edges were bubbling.

You can see the bubbles rather well here:


The Fountain Geyser is apparently one of the predictable geysers, but we hit it at a bad time before the prediction had been updated for the new day.

Still as the guide says whether the geyser "is in eruption or not, you will see why the early explorers were so enthusiastic about this geyser's beauty."

The White Dome Geyser is thought to have been erupting for hundreds of years due to the size of the cone.

From such an enormous cone one might expect enormous eruptions.  However, its narrow vent has been nearly sealed off with sinter deposits.  Eruptions reach a height of approximately 30 feet (9 m)--the height of the entire cone.  The eruption lasts about two minutes before gradually changing into spray and steam.  Intervals between eruptions are usually 30-35 minutes, but may be as long as 3 hours.
--from NPS Fountain Paint Pot Area Trail Guide

If you look closely you can see signs of much of the buildup.

In the next Yellowstone post you'll learn more about Hot Lake and the feature the whole drive is named after--Firehole Lake.

~Matt