We had another amazing day in Yellowstone. Yesterday was all about the elk and bison; today was a giant geyserfest (and thermal-feature-fest). We saw lots of hot springs:

Many of the hot springs are surrounded by thermophiles (microorganisms that thrive in hot temperatures). The thermophiles have different colors depending on their temperature requirements. Orange and yellow ones are very hot:

We also saw some mudpots, which are like hot springs with mud instead of water. Well, okay, actually they are really different in how they function, etc., but they look like mud hot springs:

We also saw geysers!!!

This geyser is really interesting because it’s right on the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake:

There are several geysers on the shore of the lake near West Thumb. Apparently sometimes they are even underwater bubbling away! We learned that fishermen used to catch fish in the lake and then throw them immediately into a boiling geyser to cook right then and there.

Of course, we made sure to visit the park’s most famous geyser, Old Faithful. They have a huge area with benches all around the geyser for people to sit and watch the eruption. We happened to be standing over near this guy a few minutes beforehand:

He gave a very interesting little talk in which he explained how geysers are like coffee percolators. And then we got to see this:

Hooray!!

We finally bid goodbye to Yellowstone and drove south through Grand Teton National Park as the sun was setting.

We’re now in a Motel 6 in Jackson, Wyo., and we’re planning on staying here two nights so we can relax a bit, do laundry, and go see the Grand Tetons in the daylight. Whew!

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