Beyond Foundation Workshop: Yellowstone in Winter (Day 4)
Snowcoach Trip to Old Faithful and the Snow Lodge
We’re up early to meet the coach at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, but end up waiting for every one else to arrive.
The motor coach took us up the road past the Upper Terrace parking lot to the snowmobile base. Here we met our driver, Liz. She came here 5 years ago to work for one summer during college and never left. The park’s allure ensnared her as it has to so many others.
Initially, we were led to believe that the snowcoach trip was the “express” with little or no opportunity to stop and shoot. That was wrong. We stopped multiple times: Roaring Mountain, Norris, Gibbon Falls, Firehole Falls, and couple of unnamed places.
There were amble opportunities to shoot. I find the park’s thermal features so much more impressive in the winter. The steam is so much larger than in the summer and, even the fall.
At Gibbon Falls, the road construction and changes around the falls made sight lines difficult.
I always find it difficult to improve on my favorite image of the park.
A brief stop at the Madison Junction Warming Hut and a visit with the park ranger stationed there, then off to Old Faithful via Firehole Canyon Road and a stop at the head of the canyon to photograph the falls.
We “flew past” the Fountain Paint Pots (we’ll stop on our trip back to Mammoth on Thursday), Firehole Lake Drive 
and the Midway Geyser Basin
Our cabin wasn’t ready upon arriving at the Snow Lodge, so a quick lunch and good conversation with John and Ila. After finally settling in to our cabin, I rushed to the Old Faithful Geyser amphitheater just in time to witness an eruption, but I wasn’t really ready, so I stayed for the next.
In both cases, the plume of steam and the height of the eruption seemed much, much larger than during last summer’s trip and our fall visit several years ago.
I was back to the cabin to set up my computer and prepare images and review my choices for the evening’s critique.
Dinner at the Firehole Grill was fantastic. The food was awesome and our server, Richard, was very attentive and fun. Others in our group would complain about the service, but that was not my experience.
The critique session was shocking!!! So many extremely beautiful images. Here are mine (you’ve seen them before if you been following my blog).
Our assignment for tomorrow’s critique: Two images with one that must be of a thermal feature.