Christmas 1994 in Yellowstone: Geothermals

December 25, 1994, Sunday

Here's a nice view of a mossy knoll near the stream, kept clear from snow by the heat underneath. Our walk this day was made difficult by incredibly deep snow, which you'd find sometimes was only a crust over melted snow from the heat underneath.

Steam rising from the Castle Geyser, which is on the Upper Geyser Basin walk around Old Faithful. A lot of folks never walk around the rest of this geyser basin, which is a pity -- each one of these things are unique.

Another shot of this formation; in this one you can see water bubbling up momentarily. If you've never been to Yellowstone, the smells and sounds are amazing. You really need a video to capture it, but even then you still need smell-a-vision!

Bobby, Bill and Judy stop for the obligatory pose in front of the geothermal.

Bill makes a perfect snow angel, on our return from the Morning Glory Pool (which was the furthest point we reached on our walk around the Geyser Basin). When we were preparing for this trip, I was really concerned that we didn't have warm enough gear. Every day I wore full thermal longjohns, jeans, shirt, sweater, ski jacket, and hat, with the most wonderful snowboots that I bought covered with gaiters. The gaiters were a life-saver, because you were constantly going into snow up past your knees. Anyway, with all that gear, I was really quite comfortable.

You can just make out an eagle flying over the creek. We saw skads of wildlife the whole time we were here.

snowman Bill underestimates the snow drifts while trying to make a shortcut back to the lodge after our long day of hiking around Old Faithful. Bill, Bobby and I built a snowman after the walk. Either our construction standards were not quite up to par, or our nifty little triangle-and-lambda-emblazoned snowman experienced a queer-bashing... at any rate, he ended up in disarray by the next morning... oh well!

We spent Christmas evening together, exchanging small gifts. Each of us agreed to bring one gift for the other four travelers, and Bobby and Bill brought enough decorations to brighten any holiday mood. They even had a little electric Christmas tree to light up the place! We exchanged gifts, which almost universally consisted of extra socks and footwarmer packs (wonderful things, those... wish I owned the patent on them!)

Snowmobiles in Yellowstone

Buffalo

Updated 4/6/1996 by Kathy D. Lessa

	Here's a nice view of a mossy knoll near the stream, kept clear from snow by the heat underneath. Our walk this day was made difficult by incredibly deep snow, which you'd find sometimes was only a crust over melted snow from the heat underneath.
	Steam rising from the Castle Geyser, which is on the Upper Geyser Basin walk around Old Faithful. A lot of folks never walk around the rest of this geyser basin, which is a pity -- each one of these things are unique.
	Another shot of this formation; in this one you can see water bubbling up momentarily. If you've never been to Yellowstone, the smells and sounds are amazing. You really need a video to capture it, but even then you still need smell-a-vision!
	Bobby, Bill and Judy stop for the obligatory pose in front of the geothermal.
	Bill makes a perfect snow angel, on our return from the Morning Glory Pool (which was the furthest point we reached on our walk around the Geyser Basin). When we were preparing for this trip, I was really concerned that we didn't have warm enough gear. Every day I wore full thermal longjohns, jeans, shirt, sweater, ski jacket, and hat, with the most wonderful snowboots that I bought covered with gaiters. The gaiters were a life-saver, because you were constantly going into snow up past your knees. Anyway, with all that gear, I was really quite comfortable.
	You can just make out an eagle flying over the creek. We saw skads of wildlife the whole time we were here.
	Bill underestimates the snow drifts while trying to make a shortcut back to the lodge after our long day of hiking around Old Faithful. Bill, Bobby and I built a snowman after the walk. Either our construction standards were not quite up to par, or our nifty little triangle-and-lambda-emblazoned snowman experienced a queer-bashing... at any rate, he ended up in disarray by the next morning... oh well!
We spent Christmas evening together, exchanging small gifts. Each of us agreed to bring one gift for the other four travelers, and Bobby and Bill brought enough decorations to brighten any holiday mood. They even had a little electric Christmas tree to light up the place! We exchanged gifts, which almost universally consisted of extra socks and footwarmer packs (wonderful things, those... wish I owned the patent on them!)