Morning Geysers - Giant to Riverside

After leaving Chromatic Pool behind we once again crossed over the Firehole River.  Thinking about this crossing reminded me of the miles of boardwalk that exist within the park.  When we were in Yellowstone I think it was easy to take the boardwalks for granted.  But I did notice several areas where the boardwalks were either being repaired or replaced.  It must be difficult to keep up with shifts in water flow that might necessitate a change of routes that have been in place for quite a long time.  I'm sure there are even normal things that cause repairs to be necessary--like bird or bear damage, perhaps, ;-).

Giant Geyser was located just beyond the bridge.  You have to walk out on another boardwalk a little way to get a good view, but it is worth it--the view is impressive.  It is also interesting to read about the irregularities of this geyser's eruptions, for in 2007 (it erupted more than 50 times; during 2009, only once."  Needless to say once we saw there was no information written on its "last eruption" sign we took a couple pictures and headed on to other sights.

Before we got too far another bird attracted our attention.

It may not seem like much, but I was quite excited by the amount of good wildlife pictures I managed to get while we were in the park.


Grotto Geyser certainly look strange, but the guide pamphlet offers a suggestion that it may be due to "sinter covering trees" that eventually died and fell over as the geyser's cone expanded.

I was amazed that we saw "normal" areas like that depicted in the picture above right next to areas with "bobby socks" trees and other "dead zones."

I certainly wouldn't mind eating a lunch here--the setting is quite beautiful.

One feature that I was looking forward to seeing was Morning Glory Pool--after all with a name like that how can it not be beautiful?  Sadly the answer is that it isn't too hard--it is called people.  If you can't read the text below you can at least see from the pictures that the problem is caused when people throw things into the pool.  The Park Service actually has to come in and suck things out of the pool just so that it won't be irreparably clogged.  Not only do clogs impact water flow they change the temperature and thus the type of bacteria that flourish.

Long a destination for park visitors, Morning Glory Pool was named in the 1880s for its remarkable likeness to its namesake flower.  This blue pool soon became victim to vandalism; over the years people have thrown tons of coins, trash, rocks, and logs into the pool.  Much of this debris became embedded in the sides and vent of the spring, which reduced the water circulation and thus the water temperature.  Vandalism has decreased, but remains a problem.  Natural changes may be cooling the water too.  Cooler temperatures allow orange- and yellow-colored bacteria to thrive.  Please report vandalism to a ranger. 

--from the NPS Old Faithful Area Trail Guide

As we headed back towards the Inn we spotted Riverside Geyser, but again I only took a couple pictures from a distance.

I enjoy taking pictures of tree stumps and other wood features that can be found in nature.

Of course once I spotted a sign I had to take a picture.  I thought it was well done, even if it was likely to be ignored by many people due to simple human nature.

~Matt

PS All of the pictures from the past three days are in this album: