West Thumb - Part I

As I was planning our routes around Yellowstone I realized that we would have to divide different areas of the park between different days.  If we hadn't gone down to the Tetons then we could have taken a slightly more leisurely pace, but we saw so many animals that day that I don't regret driving down as far south as we did (look for more details in the next few blog entries).

But West Thumb and Grant Village were definitely on our list to visit before heading out of Yellowstone to the south, and we arrived early in the afternoon.  It was so nice to be there in June when the days were quite long!

West Thumb Geyser Basin overlooks Yellowstone lake, the largest lake at high elevation in North America.  You can best appreciate its vastness in winter when the frozen surface extends as a white sheet for miles.  Summer is the season to appreciate the lake's many moods.  Here you can enjoy its calm, quiet mornings or witness the wind-whipped whitecaps of afternoon storms.  After storms, look for rainbows arching into the wilderness beyond, a land nearly as wild as when Native Americans and explorers experienced it centuries ago.
--from NPS West Thumb Geyser Basin Trail Guide

Once we headed onto the boardwalk one of the first features we saw were the paint pots:


We also saw Seismograph and Bluebell pools next to the pots, features that "used to be known as the 'Blue Pools.'  After the Hebgen Lake Earthquake of 1959, which measured 7.5 on the Richter scale the pools were renamed...[but nobody] knows why..."

Bluebell Pool

After this we continued towards the lake and the boardwalk that extended directly beside the cold waters of Lake Yellowstone.

Lakeside Spring wasn't particularly impressive.

But Lakeshore Geyser was rather interesting.  Since we came in a season with high water it was underwater.  The guide explains that later in the season when water levels lower "the geyer may splash a couple feet.  Accounts from the 1920s and 1930s tell of Lakeshore Geyser erupting frequently to 25 ft..."

Further along the boardwalk we spotted the famous Fishing Cone, also underwater.

Mountain men told of a geyser along an alpine lake where one could catch a trout, swing the pole around, dip it into the boiling pool, and cook the fish without taking it off the line. 

This cooking-on-the-hook feat at Fishing Cone became famous after being described by the 1870 Washburn expedition.  Visitors often dressed in a cook's hat and apron to have their pictures taken at the "Chowder Pot" or the "Fish Pot."  Anglers often injured themselves while straddling the boiling water, and their feet damaged the geyser cone.  Fishing is no longer allowed from Fishing Cone. 

Visitors are sometime surprised to find Fishing Cone underwater.  During the spring and early summer, lake levels rise from melting snow and cover the vent.  When exposed, the temperature of the cone's water averages just above boiling..."
--from NPS West Thumb Geyser Basin Trail Guide

I'll definitely admit to being puzzled as we walked along the lake.  While standing near Lakeshore Geyser I took a picture down the shore and thought I was photographing Fishing Cone--forgetting or not knowing that it was likely to be under water.  It turns out that I photographed Big Cone.  Fishing Cone is underwater in front of the area of the boardwalk with benches in the foreground.

If you look to the left you'll see the main thermal area including many features up on hills that send some water flowing towards the lake.

The next post will detail the rest of our walk around the basin.  But for now here is a panoramic shot of the lake.

~Matt