The Firehole.
Old Faithful is located in the Upper Geyser Basin, near the headwaters of perhaps the best-named stream in North America, the Firehole River. The Firehole combines snow melt with hot spring and geyser runoff and feeds into the Madison River, which eventually flows into the Missouri. The runoff from the geysers and thermal pools is full of dissolved minerals, which come out of solution as the water cools and coat the ground beneath, forming a sort of shell.
The steam is not that apparent, but all the water flowing into the river here is very, very hot.
These pictures were taken at the Midway Geyser Basin, about five miles downstream from Old Faithful. Here, the geysers are not the main attraction, but several large thermal pools, very hot and intensely colored.
It's not obvious from the image, but the water in this pool is bubbling, like a big cauldron. On the far side, the water overlaps the edge of the pool, and flows down into the Firehole.
Posted by David Fleck at 31 March 2007 08:52 AM
The steam is not that apparent, but all the water flowing into the river here is very, very hot.
These pictures were taken at the Midway Geyser Basin, about five miles downstream from Old Faithful. Here, the geysers are not the main attraction, but several large thermal pools, very hot and intensely colored.
It's not obvious from the image, but the water in this pool is bubbling, like a big cauldron. On the far side, the water overlaps the edge of the pool, and flows down into the Firehole.
Posted by David Fleck at 31 March 2007 08:52 AM
Comments
Very interesting and pretty. I suppose one day the entire place will explode.
Posted by: Jonathan on March 31, 2007 11:19 AM
Shhhh! Don't give away the plot!
Posted by: David Fleck on April 1, 2007 08:03 PM
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