Experience the Yellowstone Grandeur This Summer

If you're already considering your summer vacation plans, you may wish to consider a unique visit to Yellowstone National Park, where the Giant Geyser has burst into new activity. The Giant is a real "show stopper" that shoots a roaring, collossal, column of water and steam 60 feet onto the surface, challenging the magnificent and predictable Old Faithful geyser! The Giant's activity is of particular interest lately because of its fickle behavior; it normally erupts perhaps once a year before going dormant again. Over the past two years, Giant has erupted with an unusual frequency that has geothermal scientists puzzled; why the increase in eruption? Giant has not erupted with this frequency since the 1950's. In recent months, however, Giant has erupted roughly every five to eight days, with water plumes up to more than 200 feet. Giant Geyser has been the talk of Montana and Wyoming for the past five years due to its unusual and spectacular eruptions. Last fall, Giant erupted for more than an hour, spewing hot, thermal waters from its cone ; higher than any geyser cone in Yellowstone. Giant's cone looks very much like a hollow tree stump, according to Yellowstone's geothermal experts. Part of it's side is broken away, through which the thermal eruptions are disgorged.

Yellowstone is America's first National Park, declared by President Theodore Roosevelt. Many visitors to the park don't realize that Yellowstone - named for the Yellowstone River that runs throughout the park - is actually a volcanic caldera; this is the portion of a volcano that is submerged between the peaks of the volcano. The Yellowstone area is still an active volcano as evidenced by its many geysers and hot thermal pools. First-time visitors soon learn that they are treading upon eons-old ground that are reminiscent of the Earth's formation. While human visitors rush to make their reservations at the Old Faithful Inn, the geothermal activity of the Yellowstone area operates in the time-frame of millions of years, not dinner reservations. Only in Yellowstone offers this trip back into time when the Earth was formed.