Woke up and proceeded to eat at McDonald’s (again). We entered the park with the intention of starting with Old Faithful, the famous geyser for which Yellowstone is so well known. Finally found a parking space (though Old Faithful was quite crowded it wasn’t too bad, and the rest of the park hasn’t had the nightmarish traffic I’ve heard about either) and parked our butts on some benches surrounding the geyser — being careful not to sit downwind so that steam from the eruption would not obscure the water.
The predicted time was 12:37 PM so we didn’t have long to wait as we arrived just before noon. Old Faithful used to have a shorter interval between eruptions but events like the 7.5 magnitude 1959 quake are believed to have lengthened it. It is still quite predictable, however, and spews water 100 to 180 feet in the air for between one and a half and five minutes. Because the eruption length dictates the following interval it is impossible to predict more than one eruption in advance.
At 12:42 PM Old Faithful erupted, only five minutes off the estimate (the Rangers always give a +/- 10 minutes on all of their predictions). It was quite beautiful but a bit short in duration. It was neat to see the water jetting up and then just as one burst started to falter another would rise. Unfortunately because the seating is so far from the geyser you don’t get to hear it very well nor get wet — it kind of mutes the whole “power of nature” effect.
Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Old Faithful sits in a basin, called the Upper Geyser Basin, of many thermal features. Not only are there numerous geysers but also springs and hot pools. A series of boardwalks (some with railings, most not), roads, and trails allow fairly easy access to the sights. It is quite an awesome sight to look across the mostly treeless expanse (mostly treeless due to the thermal features, of course) of low hills and see colorful pools and plumes of steam rising.
Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
We had originally intended to walk around a small loop near Old Faithful and move on to other things — a half mile at most. I kind of caught Geyser Obsession, however, and I kept adding to the route in order to see more and more sights — in total we walked probably two to three miles.
A particular highlight was Sawmill Geyser, a relatively minor geyser. What made it stand out, however, was that we were standing about six feet away from it when it erupted and though the eruption is only about 10 feet high it sprayed water (and that rotten egg smell) all over us.
Sawmill Geyser, YNP, Wyoming
In addition to Sawmill Geyser we also saw several other geysers but sadly none erupted while we were there. We saw Grand, Daisy, and Castle among many others. Some of the geysers are connected with other geysers or hot pools and the like making eruption times harder to predict. Those relationships, however, will often lead to interesting predictors — a hot pool draining may indicate an eruption by a connected geyser is imminent, for instance. Another case is one geyser not erupting unless another one is erupting though it is not always the case that they will both erupt.
Addison was particularly impressed by Castle’s cone (and name, though he kept referring to it as a glacier rather than a geyser). What is interesting about Castle is that it has such a large sinter cone indicating that it is quite old, much older than the relatively young Old Faithful. Castle also regularly tosses water up five feet or so in between eruptions which make it a bit fun to see at all times.
Castle Geyser, YNP, Wyoming
Also of note were the many hot pools in the basin. I love the variety: different sizes, depths, colors, bubbling, steam, you name it. We read about one pool in particular, Morning Glory, that has gotten cooler (and more green and brown as explained in yesterday’s entry) because of people tossing in coins and such — it blocks the vents and despite the Rangers’ best efforts to fetch as many objects as possible many still can’t be retrieved. People can be such pigs at times. Compare the photo below with those in the above link — the blue is all gone. Some people have taken to calling Morning Glory by another name: Fading Glory. While I understand that part of the allure of Yellowstone is that it is in a constant state of change it is sad when that change is caused by humans and their recklessness.
Morning Glory Pool, YNP, Wyoming
Following is a shot of another particularly beautiful pool, aptly named Beauty Pool. It is linked to nearby Chromatic Spring. When one is full and beautiful the other has less water in it and doesn’t have that “pop” that the other one has.
Beauty Pool, YNP, Wyoming
By the time we finished the walk it was well after 3 PM and the kids and Michelle were very tired. Rather than risk a mutiny we headed to the Old Faithful Inn and made dinner reservations for the earliest slot, 4:30 PM. In the meantime we got some ice cream (yeah, great lunch there!) at the inn.
Old Faithful Inn, YNP, Wyoming
The inn is beautiful! It was built in 1904 and has an amazing lobby that almost looks like Hogwarts in terms of multiple floors and such. It is almost entirely built of logs other than the giant stone fireplace which had many chairs in which to sink into and relax. Above the third floor was a complex system of wooden log walkways and such called the Crow’s Nest. Back in the day an orchestra would play up there while people below danced. The 1959 earthquake put a stop to that, however, as the supports were deemed unsound.
Old Faithful Inn lobby, YNP, Wyoming
Time came for dinner — served in a really grand dining hall. We were waited on by a guy from Lexington, Kentucky who had lived in Ocean Isle for a while. Talk about a small world! Michelle had the Pork Osso Buco which turned out to be superb — the pork just fell off the bone. She also had the vegetables of the day which included such odd ones as rutabagas. I had fettuccine with blackened chicken that was very good.
Old Faithful Inn dining hall, YNP, Wyoming
After our early dinner we headed to the Black Sand Basin and checked out some of the thermal sights there. Honestly they weren’t as impressive as the ones near Old Faithful nor, we were to soon find out, those of Midway Geyser Basin. We headed to the latter, to see two of the most incredible thermal features to date: Excelsior Geyser and the Grand Prismatic Spring.
Excelsior Geyser dumps 4,000 gallons of water per minute into the nearby river via a spectacular rivulet discharging steam as it goes. It also occupies a crater — formed during a particularly violent eruption in the past. A constant cloud of steam plays across the surface of the geyser, occasionally clearing to allow viewing of the blue waters within.
Excelsior Geyser, YNP, Wyoming
Up from Excelsior is the Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest of its kind in America at a diameter of 300 feet. As with Excelsior steam clouds constantly play upon its surface and the only truly great photos can be obtained from above — my photo simply doesn’t do it justice.
Grand Prismatic Spring, YNP, Wyoming
Piled into the car and headed back to the hotel. Michelle and I went and got groceries while the kids watched some TV in the hotel for a few minutes. Michelle also did some laundry at the gas station a few blocks away — that should take care of laundry for the rest of the trip.
Route for July 15, 2010