Lone Star Geyser

Three miles south of Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin is a small secluded backcountry thermal area. This is the Lone Star Geyser Basin. From a trailhead located about ten minutes down the Grand Loop Road from Old Faithful Village a well maintained walking/bike path travels 2.5 miles down the Firehole River Valley. At the end of this trail is Lone Star Geyser.

Lone Star Geyser Meadow photo by: Micah K. 

Walking up to Lone Star Geyser is always a unique experience. After traveling through the shaded woods, with squirrels chattering complaints at you and the Firehole River burbling alongside, you emerge suddenly into an open meadow. A hillside rises to your right with multiple small spouters and thermal features on its slopes, however, at this point signs admonish you to stay on the trail, and it is illegal to approach these features.

But it is hard to miss the sentinel of this meadow, the ruler of this small group of features. Rising from a large geyserite platform shared with two geysers nearly insignificant to it, Lone Star's nine foot cone towers above everything else.

Lone Star Geyser erupts about every 2.5-3 hours. It has major and minor eruptions, sometimes there is no minor preceding a major, and sometimes there are two or three. It's quiet period is periodically interjected with surges and small jets of water from the main vent. Eventually one of these surges will last longer than the others, and grow stronger, suddenly the surge will turn into a explosive jet that rockets thin streamers of water 45 feet or more above the cone. Water pours down the sides and into deeply carved runoff channels down to the Firehole River. 20 or so minutes into the eruption the water will begin to wane, and the eruption will begin to switch to one of the most powerful steam phases in Yellowstone, audible sometimes a up to a mile away. The roar of the vaporized water escaping out of the vent is truly stupendous. 

Lone Star Geyser major eruption Photo by: Micah K.

Lone Star is one of my favorites because it is a major geyser somewhat away from the crowds, the hike to reach it is gorgeous, the settings are fantastic, and the eruption itself is awe inspiring. Lone Star is a special gem among Yellowstone's Geysers and I would highly recommend going to see it.