Will They Come Back?: Old Faithful

Daily Mileage=122; Trip Total=7678

Today we spent most of the day in Yellowstone around what is known as the Upper Geyser Basin. It's the geyser field where Old Faithful is located and it is also where the majority of the world's active geysers are. (By the way it was cloudy again most of the day but it wasn't raining or snowing so we were happy.) We decided that coming to Yellowstone and not seeing Old Faithful would be like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower. We were somewhat skeptical because we drove to the area the other day and the crowds reminded us of the Great Adventure parking lot on a summer day. Not to mention that we have seen some other fascinating geysers, so other than the notoriety, is it really that great?!? Well, we were wrong but more about that later.

When I say that we walked around this basin let me give you some sense of the size of the area. We started by the Old Faithful Inn, (which is another great old lodge that they are repairing) and of course is by Old Faithful, but we walked about 5 miles round trip. There are boardwalks all over, since the ground is very fragile and hot (although the bison don't seem to mind it since their "scat" a.k.a. poop is all around the place). Anyway, you walk around all different types of hydrothermal features. It's great and to some degree the others do upstage Old Faithful. The colors, shapes, gurgling, bubbling, steam, smell (yes, they do often smell like rotten eggs) and the eruptions (5 can actually be predicted) are amazing.

The surrounding area is forested with the Firehole River meandering through the field. There are even geysers and vent holes right on the river banks. It's like walking through a landscape on another planet. Some of the trees that are close to the geysers have become calcified. They are strange yet beautiful at the same time. They are just pure white.

Eruptions are not predictable but there are some geysers that are more regular than others. We, along with about 50 other people, tried to see Grand Geyser go off. The window was between 11AM and 1:30PM. Every 20 minutes or so, one of the surrounding cone vents would bubble slightly. According to the experts, that was a sign for Grand to erupt or not, as the case might be. If it didn't do it right away you had to wait another 20 minutes for the potential once again. Needless to say after about 1.5 hours (we would walk around in between) we finally gave up. We assume it went off after we left. The great thing is there are actually people who sit and wait for these eruptions. They time every movement and know all the details about how the geysers are acting. Their concentration and knowledge reminded me of those folks that track tornadoes! (It was good to have them around because you learned a lot.)

These are just a few of the features we saw today. This first one is Grotto Geyser which resembles a grotto and can erupt anywhere from 1.5 to 15 hours.

Whenever it wants.

Here are some pretty hot springs.

Here is Castle Geyser which erupts two times a day.

Here is Morning Glory Pool. It was more blue when first discovered but over the years people threw things into the pool, such as coins, cans,trash and it not only clogged the vents but is still changing the micro organisms thus, the color. Gee, isn't it surprising that people would do such stupid things!

In fact, I just have to share another favorite sign we've seen in the park. It makes it pretty clear along with warnings everywhere that you should stay on the boardwalk and that the area is fragile and hot. Not only did we see one girl jump off the boardwalk to get some sand/soil but we saw a few adults put their hands in the running water to see how hot it was. At one point some of us were looking for a human sacrifice to offer to the geyser so it would erupt. I thought some of these bright lights might b

e good candidates! Here's the sign. I love the kid's sneaker catching on fire (I only wish)!

Finally, here's Old Faithful which was well worth the wait. We saw it go off, now about every 90 minutes up from about 33 back in the 1950's. It can go as high 184 feet and looks spectacular when it does, even with all the people there! The park's motto is that Yellowstone is constantly changing and the change in timing is one of the ways it is. (It also made me wonder why we all want to be in an area, like the size of Yellowstone, that sits on moving magma as close as 3 to 8 feet below us? Doesn't sound too safe to me!!)

We then sadly left Yellowstone and headed south about 30 miles into Grand Teton National Park. Once again we were awestruck. It was over cast and drizzling but the beauty of the Tetons is incomparable. From my perspective, they are the best of the Rocky Mountains, (sorry Denver friends). They appear endless and craggy which gives them a surreal look against the wide open scenery and the Snake River. The snow on them was the icing on the cake (mountain so to speak)! We tried to get a photo to share and I agree with Rich that there should be some better ones over the next few days.

And, we finally saw our bear(s) three grizzlies as we drove through the park to Jackson where we are staying. We didn't stop because there was already a "wildlife jam" and figured we' would see them again. Here's a photo I took from the safety of my car as we drove by. I didn't even open the window, but you should know by now how I feel about the bears and personal space.