This was the last day in the park and the plan was to extensively explore the various Geyser Basins on the west side of the park.  The weather was blustery but basically okay.  The trees were all heavy laden with snow and nature knows how to show its beauty.  Our first stop was the Norris Geyser Basin.  This is the hottest (temperature wise) and most dynamic of Yellowstone’s active hydrothermal areas. Temperatures are at 459 degrees just 1,087 feet below the surface.  In addition, its waters are the most acidic.  It also claims fame to the world’s highest geyser (Steamboat) with an eruption over 300 ft. into the air.   This is the world’s tallest geyser and is one of the now new attractions in the park.  In the past this geyser has been very sporadic in its eruption–last  major eruption in September of 2014.  However this year there has been 19  full eruptions.  What is going on?  Geysers can change due to disturbances from seismic activity and water fluctuations.  Norris is dynamic because it sits at the intersection of three major faults.  Two  of which intersect with a ring fracture zone from the Yellowstone caldera eruption of 640,000 years ago.  Steamboat did not totally erupt while we were there but it did spout off.  While we were walking the geyser boardwalk a snow plow cleaned the roads taking care of any snow on the road.  Sooooo…..we headed down to Old Faithful.

It had just erupted so we thought we would watch the next eruption of Old Faithful which erupts about every 90 minutes.  The students did some shopping and scanned the museum then I heard that roads were closing all around Old Faithful.  It was a down pour of snow and visibility was not good.  I kept checking with Park Rangers to see if there were any road openings.  We were stranded  for two hours at Old Faithful.  Okay, Nature Wins we will ride out the change of plans.  (By the way it is not common for Yellowstone to have snowfalls like this in the middle of October, especially at this elevation,)  At least we were in a place with all facilities and some of the students got to watch Old Faithful erupt twice.

Two hours later the ranger  announced that the road from Old Faithful to West Yellowstone was open.  I knew I wanted to be back in Gardiner before it gets dark.  So I decided to take a way back that would add an extra 2 hours (Old Faithful via West Thumb via Bozeman via Gardiner).  The roads were good and we were driving through a canyon which is at a lower elevation hence not as much snow.  It took longer but it was a better way to avoid the snow back to Gardiner.   We arrived in Gardiner at 5:00 pm.  While driving through Gardiner we were met with 15 elk just hanging around the streets. We made our Comeback. 

The students were great and flexible and had some fun with snowballs and Dillon’s snowman design (see his blog picture).  A group of Japanese tourists where giggling and taking pictures.  Of course we were too.  I appreciated the students sense of humor and fun.  These students were great and I always cherish the time spent with students over the years in The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.  We did make a Comeback but Nature still rules.  In my next blog I am going to show you more of the pictures I took during this field experience.

Dr. Ketterling