This Month in Yellowstone
Carol Koepcke - Geyser Hill

Carol Koepcke is a volunteer in the Old Faithful area this winter. It is the first winter since she retired from a National Park Service career. When she heard that they needed someone to monitor trails in the Old Faithful area for safety concerns, she jumped at the chance to spend a winter at Old Faithful.

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Carol offered to send some photos and videos our way and has lived up to her word with this first submission of images from Old Faithful. Her images include snow being blown from the roof of the Old Faithful Inn dining room and an image that shows the appearance of the front of the Inn in January.

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When she noticed a couple of fire vehicles in the parking area, she grabbed her camera. Of course we must still be prepared to fight fires here, despite the fact that our wheeled fire engines can’t get around well. The photos show two fire vehicles with tracks instead of tires. The red one is the older of the two.

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On the early morning of January 21, Carol walked up on Geyser Hill with her camera. The sunrise she shot was spectacular. The following morning she spotted some bison on Geyser Hill. As she got closer she saw that they were covered with frost from the mist of the thermal features.

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The morning of January 22 was clear and still. The quiet of the morning was interrupted when a maintenance worker fired up his snowblower to remove the snow from the roof of the Old Faithful Inn dining room. Carol snapped this photo for you.