Day 47, Yellowstone National Park, USA

Yellowstone Falls consist of two major waterfalls on the Yellowstone River, within Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States.

As the Yellowstone river flows north from Yellowstone Lake, it leaves the Hayden Valley and plunges first over Upper Yellowstone Falls and then a quarter mile (400 m) downstream over Lower Yellowstone Falls, at which point it then enters the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, which is up to 1,000 feet (304 m) deep.

The lower falls are 308 feet (94 m) high, or almost twice as high as Niagara.

The volume of water is in no way comparable to Niagara as the width of the Yellowstone River before it goes over the lower falls is 70 feet (22 m), whereas Niagara is a half mile (800 m).

The lower falls descend from the 590,000 year old Canyon Rhyolite lava flow and is still the largest volume major waterfall in the Rocky Mountains of the United States.

The volume of water flowing over the falls can vary from 63,500 USgal/s (240 m³/s) at peak runoff to 5,000 USgal/s (19 m³/s)

There are numerous vantage points for viewing the falls so we drove up the trail to find the best view ....(it would have been preferable to hike, so that we could have seen all the wildlife in their natural habitat....but we are all a little tired...)

Aaah...look at the colour of the rocks.....yellow....hence the name yellowstone!

Wow,the thunderous roar is deafening.... this is truly awesome...

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OK, now we have decided to explore the Upper Geyser Basin. since it boasts the largest concentration of geysers in the world, including many of the worlds largest geysers.

We drove to the Old Faithful Visitor Center where we got prediction times for the predicted geysers and planned our exploration around them.

Yellowstone National Park delivers BIG when it comes to geysers and hot springs.

In fact, Yellowstone National Park is a super volcano with the world's largest active geyser field, boasting more than 10,000 geysers, steam vents, mud pots (also known as a mud volcano) and hot springs.

About 250-300 Yellowstone geysers erupt yearly — some faithfully and others unexpectedly.

A full square mile, Upper Geyser Basin is Yellowstone National Park's biggest basin and the world's largest single concentration of hot springs. It contains several groups of hot springs, including more than 150 Yellowstone geysers and the most famous geyser in America — Old Faithful.

Ø The wooden pathways allowed us to get quite close to the Fan and Mortar Geyser

Ø Riverside Geyser is unique because it erupts over a river — literally. Every six hours,

Riverside shoots water about 80 feet into the air at a 60-degree angle across the Firehole River. Each eruption lasts about 20 minutes.

Ø Grotto Geyser

Ø Grand Geyser suddenly burst forth and gave Marti quite a scare.....hehehe

Ø Castle Geyser
This Geyser really attracted a crowd because of its energy.

15 minutes into an eruption, Castle went into a raucous steam phase that roared like a train.
Erupting every 11-13 hours, Castle shoots water 70-80 feet into the air from one of the largest cones in the Upper Geyser Basin — over 30 feet tall. Truly breathtaking....

Ø Lion and double poolet

Ø Giantess Geyser

Ø Old Faithful

Discovered in 1870 by the Washburn Expedition, Old Faithful geyser was named for its frequent eruptions — which number more than a million since Yellowstone became the world's first national park in 1872!!.

Old Faithful erupts about every 92 minutes, shooting water 135 feet into the air on average. Like most of theYellowstone's geysers, Old Faithful gets its water from deep inside the earth.

Snow and rainwater reach depths of about 10,000 feet below the ground, where it is heated by magma and forced back up through the surface. This has been an absolute thrilling experience, and Prasad simply loved it...as did us all.. ....deservedly a UNESCO World Heritage Site.