Here
we have a winter's day along the lake shore at West Thumb Geyser Basin.
I believe that is Fishing Cone on the shore. But it could be Big
Cone. We were looking for otters this day. They like the openings
in the ice caused by the hot springs, but we didn't see any.
"Algae"
growing in a runoff channel in the Upper Geyser Basin in the winter.
It's neat stuff. Really. It can even give you a pretty good
idea of how hot the water in a spring or a runoff channel is. Go
read about it at the Life
at High Temperatures site.
Mystic
Falls, Winter. Mystic can be reached by a short trail from the Biscuit
Basin.
Go to Gallery 1 for summer shots of Mystic.
The
Upper Falls of the Yellowstone, early spring 1996. There is plenty
of snow left on the ground when the park opens in spring. 
Bison
and calf. Because of their reddish color and their size tourists
will sometimes ask "What are the red dogs following the bison herds around?".
Montana Bison Dogs is a favorite answer of mine. Sometimes employees
refer to the new calves as "little red dogs" amongst themselves.
These guys were just hanging out on the side of the road one day.
This
is what the bison look like if they don't make it through a harsh winter
in Yellowstone. Carcasses are common in the geyser basins in the
spring. The grazing animals like to hang out in the basins because
there is at least some food that isn't buried under 6 feet of snow and
ice there, and maybe some warm ground to sit on. But, there usually
isn't enough food for all of them.
A
summer snowstorm. I was driving along, it was a warm sunny June day,
then 10 minutes of snow, then a warm sunny day again. Because the
valleys in Yellowstone are about 7000 ft. elevation or better, it can snow
at any time. Or it can rain, or hail. So be prepared.
A
pretty sunset at the Lake dorms. Usually Yellowstone has subtler
sunsets than this, with paler colors. This looks more like a Florida
sunset. But, sunset does last longer in Yellowstone than in the subtropics.
Castle
Geyser, Upper Geyser Basin. Castle is a big (80- 100 ft.) predictable
geyser. It erupts every 11 or 12 hours. Unless it has a minor eruption,
which is sort of a short version of it's regular eruption that delays the
next full eruption. It has a fairly long eruption, about 20
minutes of water that then gradually changes to steam. The transition
from water to steam is something to to wait for and hear. It's pretty
loud, you get a good sense of the tremendous pressure of the escaping steam,
and you can feel it even. The steam phase of the eruption lasts about
an hour and sort of gradually tapers off.
See another picture of Castle here.