Even when Yellowstone is not completely open, there are decisions to be made about where to go. On May 4th, I intended to head south towards Old Faithful in hopes of finding some baby bison, but the fog was so incredibly thick, I changed my plans and headed towards north in the hopes of finding a grizzly. I thought to myself as I neared Norris Geyser Basin that if Steamboat was erupting, I wouldn’t stop for it this time. It hadn’t erupted since March 30th, so I didn’t expect it to be erupting anyway. But as I drove through Elk Park there it was, the massive steam plume indicating Steamboat was indeed erupting. The temptation was too great and I parked in the parking lot and headed towards the world’s largest active geyser. I was the only person in the parking lot surprisingly, even though it was barely after sunrise, so I grabbed my bear spray and camera gear and walked down the trail. Everything was soaked from the eruption and there were marble sized chunks of rock along the icy boardwalk. I would later learn the eruption started at 4 am but even 2 to 3 hours later, it was still an impressive sight. This image was taken at approximately 7 am. For the second year in a row now Steamboat was started my summer season with an early morning eruption.