35 images of rivers, waterfalls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, taken in late winter and autumn.

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Geothermal Scenery          Old Faithful Geyser Eruption          Assorted Yellowstone Scenic

Rivers and Waterfalls of Yellowstone          Grand Teton National Park

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Photoshelter Scenic Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Yellowstone Geothermal Scenery                                   Grand Tetons

Geothermal Scenery     Old Faithful     Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Lamar Valley & Misc Scenics         Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Firehole River Yellowstone 9521

The Firehole River flows through several significant geyser basins in Yellowstone on its way north
from its source at Madison Lake on the Continental Divide to the Gibbon River at Madison Junction.
The river was named by early trappers for the geothermal steam which makes it appear to be on fire.

Midway Geysers Firehole River 0420 16x9

Geothermal steam rises above the Midway Geyser Basin off the Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park.

Midway Geysers Firehole River 0458

The Midway Geyser Basin on the Firehole River contains two of Yellowstone's largest geothermal features:
Excelsior Geyser Crater and Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest hot spring in Yellowstone National Park.

Excelsior Geyser Firehole River 0462

Steam rising above the Excelsior Geyser Crater, an inactive geyser that still manages to release
4500 gallons of 200 degree F. water per minute (6 million gallons per day) into the Firehole River.
When it was active between 1878 and 1890, eruptions would reach from 100 to 300 feet high. The
geyser awoke after 95 years for a 46 hour period in September 1985, with eruptions of 30-75 feet.

Lamar River at Sunrise 0678

Lamar River at Sunrise 0704

The Lamar River at sunrise, taken a little over a mile past Crystal Creek near the entrance to the Lamar Valley.

Rose Creek Cottonwoods Lamar Valley 0504

Cottonwoods in full autumn color beside Rose Creek at the Buffalo Ranch in the Lamar Valley.

The Lamar Buffalo Ranch was built in 1907 in an effort to increase the herd size
of the few remaining bison in Yellowstone to prevent the extinction of the species.
Although there were 30 to 60 million buffalo (American Bison) in North America in
the early 1800s, market hunting, poaching and the US Army slaughter campaign
designed to remove the food source for Indians to force them onto reservations
had reduced the population to 24 by 1903, all of which were in Yellowstone.

Rose Creek Cottonwoods Lamar Valley 0850

Rose Creek Cottonwoods and a corral at Lamar Buffalo Ranch in autumn.

Buffalo Ranch was created to grow hay to feed the mountain bison and 21 plains bison which
were brought in from ranches to augment the herd. The bison grazed freely in summer and were
kept in corrals to help them survive the cold winters. In bad weather the bison were fed hay grown
next to the Lamar River. When their numbers increased, the Park Service culled the herd, and
the ranched bison were added to enhance the growing herd of wild bison. When the herd
had reached 1000 bison in 1952, the bison were released to the open range and some
were used to start or supplement other herds on public and tribal land. Buffalo Ranch
closed in 1952, and the few remaining buildings are used as a field campus by the
Yellowstone Association, where field seminars are held and students are lodged.

Cottonwoods Lamar Valley 0852

Cottonwoods by Rose Creek in the Lamar Valley in autumn.

The Lamar Valley is near the northeast entrance to Yellowstone, and is home to
Bison, Pronghorn, Bears, Elk, Coyotes and Gray Wolves (reintroduced in 1995).

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Photoshelter Scenic Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Yellowstone Geothermal Scenery                                   Grand Tetons

Geothermal Scenery     Old Faithful     Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Lamar Valley & Misc Scenics         Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Kepler Cascades Firehole River 8667

Kepler Cascades is a series of falls on the Firehole River, about 2.5 miles south of Old Faithful. The cascades fall about 150 feet over multiple drops, the tallest of which is 50 feet.

Gibbon Falls Yellowstone 6031

Gibbon Falls in late winter. Gibbon Falls is an 84 foot waterfall on the Gibbon River, about 5 miles upstream from Madison Junction where the Gibbon and Firehole Rivers meet.

Gibbon Falls Yellowstone 9691

The Gibbon River above the precipice of Gibbon Falls, late afternoon in autumn.
The waterfall is halfway between Norris Geyser Basin and Madison Junction where
the Gibbon River drops over the Northern Escarpment into the Yellowstone Caldera.

Gibbon Falls Yellowstone 9689

Gibbon Falls Yellowstone 8731

At Gibbon Falls, the water cascades over the Yellowstone Caldera rim in a ribbon-like veil.

Gibbon Falls were first described by William Henry Jackson, the 1872 Hayden Survey photographer
 and a relative of Samuel Wilson, the original Uncle Sam who became America’s national personification.

Yellowstone River Chittenden Bridge 9109

The Yellowstone River just upstream of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone at the
first drop over Upper Yellowstone Falls, taken from the Chittenden Memorial Bridge.

Yellowstone River Chittenden Bridge 0655

The Yellowstone River just upstream of Upper Yellowstone Falls, taken from the Chittenden Bridge.

The Chittenden Memorial Bridge is a 120 foot concrete and steel arch bridge on Artist’s Point Road
which crosses over the Yellowstone River to the viewpoints over the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
The existing bridge was built in 1962 to replace the original 1902 Melan Arch bridge by the park engineer
Hiram Chittenden to improve access to the canyon viewpoints. Before the original bridge was built, the
only access was by crossing the river at the narrows shown at right center in the image above. This
crossing led to Uncle Tom’s Trail, a rough trail created by “Uncle” Tom Richardson in 1898, who
led visitors on tours to the South Rim. The 1902 bridge was the first to provide road access.
It was replaced with the existing bridge to widen the road for modern automobile traffic.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Photoshelter Scenic Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Yellowstone Geothermal Scenery                                   Grand Tetons

Geothermal Scenery     Old Faithful     Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Lamar Valley & Misc Scenics         Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone 9107

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone 0659

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River.

The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone at 309 feet tall is the largest volume waterfall in the Rocky Mountains.

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is an erosional feature extending for 20 miles from the Upper Falls
down to Tower Fall, cutting through rhyolite lava flows from the supervolcano eruption 600,000 years ago.
The canyon is only 10,000-14,000 years old, caused when ice dams at the mouth of Yellowstone Lake
(which were formed at the end of the glacial period 14,000-18,000 years ago) melted and released
a series of massive flash floods which caused immediate and catastrophic erosion of the canyon.

Tower Fall Yellowstone 8985

Tower Fall Yellowstone 8991

Tower Fall is at the opposite end of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, in the Tower-Roosevelt area
between Mammoth Hot Springs and the Lamar Valley. Tower Fall is a 132 foot waterfall on Tower Creek
about 1000 yards upstream of the confluence of Tower Creek and the Yellowstone River. Tower Fall was
named for the pinnacles above the Fall by Samuel Hauser, a member of the 1870 Washburn Expedition.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone 7416

The brilliantly colored walls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from Artist Point.

The colors in the canyon are the result of hydrothermal alteration in the various iron compounds in the rock.
Heating of the rock caused chemical alterations of the iron compounds, and water caused oxidation (rust).

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone 6248

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone 6257

Some areas of the canyon are quite yellow, but most of the yellow is not due to the presence
of sulfur, but to the presence or absence of water in the various iron compounds of the rock.

Rapids Yellowstone River 6258

Rapids on the Yellowstone River below the Lower Falls, late winter in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone 9104

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone 9100

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone, mid-morning in autumn from Artist Point (left) and from Lookout Point.
Offering an exceptional view of the Lower Falls, Artist Point juts out into the canyon from the south rim.

Many people think that this is the viewpoint where Thomas Moran made the sketches from which he
created his famous painting “Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone”, which was instrumental in convincing
Congress to establish Yellowstone as the first National Park. The painting was created from sketches
he had made from Moran Point, the viewpoint which was named for him on the 1871 Hayden Survey.

Lookout Point is on the north rim, closer to the falls and nearly on the same line as Artist Point.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Photoshelter Scenic Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Yellowstone Geothermal Scenery                                   Grand Tetons

Geothermal Scenery     Old Faithful     Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Lamar Valley & Misc Scenics         Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone 6308

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the Lower Falls from the trail beyond Artist Point in late winter.
Spring comes late to Yellowstone National Park. These late winter images were taken at the end of April.

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone 7420

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone 7411

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the Lower Falls from Artist Point in late winter.

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone 6311

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the Lower Falls from the far right side of Artist Point.

Artist Point offers the most exceptional viewpoint of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and
Lower Falls, but there are other superb views along both the north and south rims of the canyon.

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone 0665

Lower Falls from Lookout Point on the north rim.

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone 6252

Lower Falls from Inspiration Point on the north rim.

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone 7422

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone 9101

Lower Falls from Lookout Point on the north rim in late winter and in autumn.

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone 9118

A view of the Lower Falls, looking over the precipice from the Brink of the Falls viewpoint on the north rim.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Photoshelter Scenic Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Yellowstone Geothermal Scenery                                   Grand Tetons

Geothermal Scenery     Old Faithful     Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Lamar Valley & Misc Scenics         Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Click the Display Composite above to visit the Yellowstone Geothermal Scenery page.

Click the Display Composite above to visit the Old Faithful Geyser page.

Click the Display Composite above to visit the Yellowstone Assorted Scenic page.

Click the Display Composite above to visit the Grand Teton National Park Scenic page.

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