We drove into Yellowstone National Park with low expectations. We had spent a week exploring the park when we were here in 2007 and felt there wasn't much we hadn't seen. Boy, we were wrong.
You can pick any spot along the Madison River, and it will be beautiful. This, however, was particularly spectacular. Fire Hole Canyon is down a one-way road just on the west side of the lower loop. It was dramatic. There was an elk drinking from the pool at the bottom of Firehole Falls shown here.
This geyser wasn't new, but still impressive. It is just south of the Fire Hole Loop.
This damage can be seen all over the park. We think it is due to elk rubbing their antlers and bison scratching themselves. Ted also read an article suggesting that grizzlies can often travel down the roads during the periods when the park is closed to wheeled vehicles and are notorious for scratching themselves on trees.
We hiked the Fountain Paint Pot Trail in the rain.
This is a bacteria mat growing down stream from a hot springs.
The hot springs are beautiful and so clear. According to
Yellowstone's science link, their plumbing has no constrictions. Superheated water cools as it reaches the surface, sinks, and is replaced by hotter water from below. This circulation prevents water from reaching temperature needed to set off an eruption.
Here is a mud pot. There was bear scat around it. These are acidic features with limited water supply. Some micro-organisms use hydrogen sulfide which rises from deep within the earth, as an energy source. They help convert the gas to sulfuric acid, which breaks down rock into clay. Various gases escape through the wet clay causing it to bubbles.
Fumaroles, or steam vents, are the hottest hydrothermal features in the park. They have so little water that it all flashes into steam before reaching the surface says the Yellowstone site. This site has wonderful resources for teachers and great graphics for all ages. We wish we had recorded the sound here. The power of the inferno below was quite evident.
We are still on the same trail and here is the final geothermal feature, a geyser. The website above says that geysers are hot springs with constrictions in their plumbing, usually near the surface, that prevent water from circulating freely to the surface where heat would escape. Bubbling upward, the steam expands as it nears the top of the water column. At a critical point, the confined bubbles actually lift the water above, causing the geyser to splash or overflow. The eruption stops when the water reservoir is depleted or when the system cools. With the rains and snow melt at this time, the water is seldom depleted. 
Pretty flowers are only a few feet from the very forbidden landscape.
We turned down another side road that we hadn't explored last time and saw several geysers.
To the south of the road, was an area of lots of geothermal features.
This area was filled with hot springs and fumaroles. This is the edge of Firehole Lake.
This geyser was massive and this sign indicated that it might have erupted during the previous night.
Here is the monster.
We returned to the main road and saw the results of more fumaroles and hot springs. We began to realize that we were seeing much more steam than we saw 6 years ago. We think that the increased water is due to the thunderstorms and the time of year may have made the difference.
There were lots of fly fisherman along our route. These two were at the base of the run-off from Biscuit Basin. Probably a good place to fish. The warmer water should increase the growth of food for the fish.
We came upon a traffic jam. This usually means that there are animals nearby. As we crept closer, we saw cars stopped in the middle of the road so they could take photos without getting out of their cars. This line was about a half-mile long.
This lone elk was the cause of the traffic jam. BTW, we never stopped. What about this couple? These are wild animals, people! They are not far enough away, in our opinion. There was another man beside them taking photos. Doesn't look to us that they were in a position to move quickly if this big guy got spooked, but then we are just spoil sports.
The park rangers post the time of the eruption of Old Faithful, saying that it could be ten minutes either side of that time. These guys were bored, but they discovered a chipmunk, who became a great opening act.
Here is the object of their entertainment. The boys threw the star Doritos to the horror of their parents, who told them they were not to feed the animals. The boys' body language said, well, it is done, what are you going to do about it.
The crowd was massive, especially for a rainy day.
We spent about 20 minutes waiting for Old Faithful to erupt. It would send up some water spurts as teasers.
Old Faithful finally came through.
The geothermal fields around Old Faithful put on a show, too. We also saw a huge, long-lasting steam cloud in the distance. We wondered if it was the Great Fountain Geyser.
Only a few feet separate life and death here. These dead trees do not look like they were destroyed by fire. Dr. Ted thinks that trees such as these on the edge of geyser fields were killed or at least seriously weakened by runoff from hot water features of one type or another. No doubt beetles contribute to the eventual demise of these trees.
Traffic on the west road of the lower loop wasn't too bad going home. The top speed limit throughout the park is 45 mph.
The Madison Range runs north and east of Yellowstone.
The Madison River is beautiful with herds of buffalo living in its valley.
The damage done by the summer fire of 1988, can still be seen in parts of the park. It looked much worse six years ago.
Boulders in the Madison River stop big debris.
This sign is one block from West Yellowstone, MT and about four blocks from our park.
The Gravely Mountains look down on West Yellowstone.
