Grotto Geyser erupting, Yellowstone National Park

Grotto Geyser always makes me think of a sea turtle.  If you imagine the rounded feature in the middle as the turtle's head, then the other two rounded features on either side look like flippers. Grotto Geyser is in the Upper Geyser Basin, which includes Old Faithful Geyser, in Yellowstone National Park.

Grotto may actually be a unique example of natural arch formation.  Scientists believe that the two "flippers" may have been formed by geyser mineral deposits over tree trunks which created two arches, since each flipper is an arc of rock over openings.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Norris Geyser Basin panoramic image

The Norris Geyser Basin area, in Yellowstone National Park, as viewed from a hillside at the southeast side of the basin looking northwestly over geysers and fumaroles. Of the many geyser basins in Yellowstone, Norris is the hottest. This northern part of the Norris Geyser Basin is called Porcelain Basin and the feature below us is Porcelain Springs. The colors in the hot streams come from different species of bacteria that can survive in high temperatures. Living things that can live in high temperatures are called extremophiles, and have been of great interest to biologists.

This image is the result of combining 2 images together and is at a 3:1 ratio. If ordering prints, make sure to keep that ratio in mind.

While we were hiking the trails around the Norris Geyser Basin, a couple of people wanted to have their picture taken with us, just because we're twins. So we accommodated them. Made us feel like celebrities.

It's not just a picture, it's a story!

Lone Star Geyser, Yellowstone backcountry, double rainbow

A double rainbow in the mist of the Lone Star Geyser in the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park.  A three-mile hiking/biking path leads to this geyser.  When we watched this eruption, only five other people watched it with us.  Contrast that with watching an Old Faithful Geyser eruption with perhaps hundreds of people.

This geyser's cone is listed in "The Geysers of Yellowstone" as being over 9 feet tall making it one of the largest cones in the park.  An eruption occurs about every 3 hours and is typically 30 to 40 feet high and can last more than 10 minutes.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story.

Lassen National Park's Cinder Cone in the morning, from the north-east

During the time of the Reading Fire, in August, 2012, we approached the Cinder Cone, Lassen Volcanic National Park's largest cinder cone. We thought we'd try to get a view of Mount Lassen from the top of the cinder cone by looking westward from it's summit. But because of the fire, there was too much smoke in that direction, so we only hiked half-way up before turning around. We had taken pictures of the Cinder Cone as we hiked toward it and as we headed away from it. After we got back to camp, we looked over the images and realized that this feature was dramatic by itself.

This image was made by merging 3 images together and then cropped to a 2 to 1 ratio. It would work well as a 20" by 10" picture.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Castle Geyser and rainbow

Castle Geyser is in the same geyser basin as the world-famous Old Faithful Geyser, the Upper Geyser Basin, in Yellowstone National Park.  Its eruptions are among those that the Park Service can predict and they post those predictions at the Old Faithful Visitor Center and on an informational plaque in front of the geyser itself.

Castle Geyser typically erupts every 10-12 hours with a 20 minute hot water phase reaching up to 90 feet in height followed by a steam phase lasting from 30 to 40 minutes.  This photo was taken during the steam phase of Castle's eruption and a light wind was blowing water droplets from the steam column to the right where they formed this rainbow.

Remember, it's not just a photograph, it's a story.