Discovering Yellowstone in Winter- Part Two

Beyond the wildlife in Yellowstone, there are the iconic locations that are transformed in winter.  Old Faithful Geyser becomes a solitary study in blue and white with no people in the scene. Our trip leader knew to take us behind the amphitheater-like semicircle of benches to face south into the sun.  The back lighting was dramatic, and no one else was present.  The foreground is textured with the outflow from the geyser.   It's lovely.

The eruption begins at a time that is plus or minus the posted time by maybe 10 minutes or more.  First there is a burp and a sputter.  Maybe there are several false starts over several minutes.  Then  the geyser comes to life with some commitment.

A key lesson about Old Faithful is to skip it on cloudy days.  It needs a blue sky to really shine.  Another lesson is to look around for overlooked scenes.  Walking 50 yards away from the view of Old Faithful, one finds a hot spring pouring out an amber stream into the Firehole River. It is blue  and gold.

Many (most?) visitors arriving at Old Faithful drive past an entrance to the Biscuit Basin.  It is a colorful basin with sapphire pools and steaming hot springs.

The vistas are dramatic, yet few visitors are there in winter.  All the better that we are alone.

The scenic variety of Yellowstone extends beyond the thermal features to places like Gibbon Falls.  The flow of water forms a backwards "S" from upper left to lower right, and in winter I particularly like the simple color set of red rock and touch of green.  In winter, the snow removes a lot of visual clutter.

Look at how beautiful and simple winter makes these landscapes.  One is an intimate setting.

 

Another captures the vastness of the Hayden Valley.

When you think of vastness, one has to include the Yellowstone Canyon in its many forms.

Forms that include the canyon walls.

The many shapes and colors of the thermal areas provide a balance with both grand views like this in Middle Geyser Basin.

And closer views that entertain.  There is a lot going on in this location with living colonies and hot spring mud. 

Other places have strange forms such as this hot spring above Mammoth, which seems to resemble the shape of South America upside down.

Some locations change on a daily basis such as these terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs.

Throughout the hot spring areas one sees trees claimed by the shifting thermal activity, standing like silent sentinels.  The land is alive with change as seen in Mammoth and all other thermally active areas.

We made a final stop at the Firehole Falls that I first saw thirty-two years ago.  It is so different in winter.  No crowds this time and a new-found beauty were there.  I saw this with new eyes ....

..  and I saw this for the first time on the rock walls of the canyon.

Traveling in Yellowstone with a group of highly skilled photographers, plus the expert teaching by John Gerlach, was a richly rewarding experience.  Across the group there was a quick eye for seeing and interpreting the scenes with no hesitation about what was significant.  Members quickly got set up and made their images so that next person could take their prime location.  The results shared on our last evening were full of memorable images that each told a story.  The absence of crowds made that possible.  I'd do this again.

I hope you both enjoy these images and also take away some useful ideas about seeing beauty as you travel.

Paul Schmitt