The
Teton Range, or at least a part of it. It is in that national park
just south of Yellowstone, the one that has the spectacular mountains,
pretty lakes, animals, much nicer hotels, and a really good museum of the
American Indian at Colter Bay. Unfortunately it has no geysers.
Also, it has many gift shops, that is where we spent a big part of the
day. The french trappers thought these mountains looked like women's
breasts, that's how they got their name.
Some
pronghorn antelope at Grand Teton. These animals are very fast and
very tasty too.
On
the way back to the hotel room we stopped at the West Thumb Geyser Basin.
We were greeted with this rather exciting sign. Yes, nature can be
dangerous, as some old guy pointed out to a group of Japanese tourists
who were busy taking their pictures beside some increasingly irritated
looking elk nearby. West Thumb periodically has distinct surges of
activity in different parts of the basin. Other basins do too, but
they are frequently dramatic at West Thumb. We unfortunately saw
no steam and rock explosions while there. We didn't even see any
of the three or so reliable geysers in the basin erupt. Still, the
pools and mud pots were pretty. The whole basin is pretty the way
it sits right on the edge of the lake.
Here
are some of the aforementioned elk grazing dangerously close to the hot
springs. To see what can happen when a large animal falls into a
hot spring go here, use the back
button to get back.
This
is Twin Geyser. It is the largest geyser at West Thumb, over 100
feet high. It is a double geyser, with two separate columns of water
that start at different times, and intersect far above ground Unfortunately,
it is usually dormant.
Some
algae growing in a recently dry runoff channel.
This
is the famous fishing cone. Supposedly, before it was made illegal,
fishermen could catch a fish in the lake and cook it in Fishing cone without
taking the fish off the hook. On rare occasions it has acted as a
geyser. I have a winter picture of it here.
Remember to use the browser back button to get back here, that is if you
want ot get back here.
This
is the well named Lakeshore Geyser. It is also usually dormant, but
at least it usually has a good excuse. The vent is usually covered
by cold lake water, preventing it's eruption. It can reach 25 feet
high on those rare occasions when it does erupt. It looked high and
dry here, but no eruption.
Another
exciting warning sign. Now, if the activity had just recently increased,
we wouldn't know it was increased activity, would we.
This
is collapsing pool, looking kind of calm.
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