Drive The Firehole Lake Loop

Firehole Lake Drive is a 2 mile one way road, near the Lower Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. This is one of the hidden gems in Yosemite where you'll find solitude and quietness. You may see a few people here on a busy day, but you can often find yourself alone.

While driving around the loop, there is ample parking for several unique thermal features in this area. Park in any of the pull off lots and walk out on the boardwalks to get an up close view - you can get closer to the thermal features than you might expect.

Photographing here at sunset can be tricky. With bright sun, and reflecting water, you need to keep your exposures down to avoid blowing out highlights. It's easy to recover dark shadow areas in post processing. Days with fog make the scene dramatically more interesting. Wildlife is possible here as well, as I've encountered a few bison.

Notable features, photographed above, include Firehole Lake, Pink Cone Geyser, White Dome Geyser, Great Fountain Geyser, and several smaller pools and fumaroles.