Yellowstone’s Ledge Geyser is Erupting, Again

Ledge Geyser at Yellowstone National Park is erupting again after being dormant for the past three years.

Ledge Geyser is located in the Norris Geyser Basin, which is in the northwest region of the Park, just to the west of Canyon Village. This region not only is the hottest, but it is also the oldest and most dynamic thermal area at the Park. In fact, the highest recorded temperature in any geothermal area in Yellowstone was here and measured at 459°F at 1,087 feet below the surface.

This geyser is a big one, and anyone who has witnessed its eruption can tell you, it’s loud! It expels its hot water up to 125 feet high for around 220 feet. It is noisy because its water and steam must pass through a very narrow opening in the ground.

Yellowstone National Park preserves more than 10,000 hydrothermal features, of which more than 500 are geysers like Ledge.

The other four hydrothermal features here are mudpots, hot springs, fumaroles, and travertine terraces. We’ll see a glorious assortment of these features on any of  Backcountry Journeys tours to Yellowstone. We’ve been traveling to Yellowstone for years, and offer lodge-based standard, hiker and safari-style trips in spring, autumn and in winter.

Kenton Krueger

Kenton Krueger grew up and spent the first 33 years of his life in the corn country of Omaha, Nebraska. After studying aviation at the University of Nebraska Omaha’s Aviation Institute, he “conned” his way into the newsroom at the award-winning Omaha World-Herald where for 3+ years he wrote and photographed news articles on a variety of topics such as community events, travel and even mixed martial arts for the sports department. Yet something was missing. While on backpacking trips to Grand Teton and Grand Canyon National Parks in the mid-2000’s he was quick to realize that the wild lands of the western United States stoked a fire in his heart as nothing else could. This realization led to a relocation to Flagstaff, Arizona, and he hasn’t looked back. He has spent the past several years guiding backpackers, hikers and photographers into the wild places of the American West such as Havasu Falls, Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone National Parks as well as in the Grand Staircase Escalante in southern Utah. In addition to backpacking and camping, his adventures include rock climbing, exploring the slot canyons of southern Utah, mountain biking, and bagging 14ers in Colorado’s San Juan Mountain Mountain Range. Kenton is a trail runner, a former pilot, newspaper photographer, and writer. Kenton looks forward to utilizing his years of guiding experience, combined with his passion and experience behind the lens to provide memorable and unforgettable experiences at the wild places we will visit together.