Solitary Geyser — Local services in West Yellowstone

The periodic geysers in Yellowstone mostly work in this way. First, rain and snowmelt seep through the porous volcanic rock and slowly collect in underground reservoirs. These reservoirs lie above a shallow heat source—magma from Yellowstone’s active volcanic system. As water percolates downward, it is gradually heated by the surrounding hot rock. Due to the pressure of the overlying water and rock layers, the water can exceed its normal boiling point without turning to steam, a condition known as superheating.

Eventually, the temperature reaches a critical threshold where boiling begins at the deepest, hottest point. As some of the water flashes into steam, it expands rapidly, pushing water above it up through narrow, constricted channels. This release reduces the pressure in the system, causing more water to rapidly flash into steam in a chain reaction. The result is a powerful upward surge of steam and hot water—a geyser eruption. After the eruption, the system depressurizes and cools, allowing groundwater to refill the chamber over time.

The cycle then repeats, with each geyser having its own refill and heating rate, determining its eruption interval. This process explains why geysers like Old Faithful can erupt so...

Nice small geyser in the path of lookout point to upper geyser basin. Since it is small, not much crowd is present here. But still it is significant. It also periodic but small scale erruptions. We sat here for some time and observed the pattern. It is good to have close...

The short hike up to the Geyser was a nice, shaded climb through the woods. I was there all alone and watched it "erupt" multiple times. The springs are very small (like just a big bubble in the middle of the pool), but occur every 5...