Lonestar Geyser (Winter):

Another quick post. This was my hike today, out and back to Lonestar Geyser along with a stop at the Kepler Cascades. This geyser is known as Lonestar because it is located roughly 3 miles from any other major geyser, the closest being old faithful. It is one of the few geysers to be so isolated, most exist among a much larger network of springs, pools, and geyser (known collectivly as a basin). This was a great hike, waited about two hours to witness the eruption, it is always very fascinating to watch geysers build to eruption. Also, met a very nice pair of guests who seemed equally ensconsed in watching the geyser build to eruption. One thought worth keeping in mind when looking at these pictures, the geyser cone for Lonestar is about six feet high. Cones generally grow at about 1-2 inches in a hundred years.

Kepler Cascades are simply a small set of falls along the Kepler river, far more interesting in the winter than in summer. As usual, enjoy. The first pic is up river from the falls, the next two are the falls themselves.





Lonestar Geyser Cone (early stages of eruption):




Full eruption at various stages (going backwards from the end):

Steam phase near the end, took this as I was leaving the geyser, might be my favorite picture:


Steam/Water phase (about halfway through) up close:


Full water phase (about 5 minutes after it started):


Steam from geyser liquid run off, this was a couple hundred yards from the geyser, but as erupted the water grew warmer and warmer, producing more and more steam:


These last few are just dumb luck great timing shots of Old Faithful village (ie home) as old faithful erupted shrouding the entire area in steam/fog:

The tall plume is a geyser, the rest is just settling in all around the area:


This is literally 2 minutes later, you can see the growth. Tiny spot dead center just below the horizon is the OF Inn, this shot was incredible dumb luck. If I had stared any longer and not gotten my camera out I may have missed it.: