The approach to Old Faithful came as a bit of a surprise, with a flyover, one way system, huge parking lots, three lodges and several shops and eateries.
The Old Faithful Inn, built in 1904, is an example of rustic architecture called Parkitecture where local materials are used wherever possible, and is now a listed building with a very impressive lobby. There are lots of decorative features, including these lights.
Old Faithful Lodge started in 1926 as a main building to serve a tent camp, but the tents were replaced by cabins, and ours has a retro feel with all mod cons, and there’s a general store too.
Old Faithful erupts faithfully, shooting up to 8,400 gallons of boiling water up to 184 ft high for several minutes roughly every 90 minutes, and we saw the last eruption before the light went – very spectacular – then went for a supper of chilli at the cafeteria. The best we can say of any of the food in the park is that it’s mediocre, but the chilli was actually pretty good.
Morning dawned and we took coffee and buns with us to stake out Great Fountain geyser which was predicted to erupt at 6.30am +- 2hrs.
Ok, it was a long shot, as it was 8.15, but we arrived and couldn’t tell if it had already erupted or not so we hung around till we’d finished our coffee, and watched White Dome Geyser erupt in the background.
Afterwards we walked round a trail to the Fountain Paint Pot …
…nd Red Spouter doing exactly that …
… and then onto Midway Geyser Basin with the stunning Grand Prismatic Spring …
… and Biscuit Basin with the Sapphire Pool …
… Mustard Spring …
… and Avoca Spring …
… together with ‘Bobby Sock Trees’ where white silicified parts of the pine trees look like they are wearing 1950s ankle socks.
We took the 3 mile Mystic Falls Trail which climbed up through the pines to an overlook where we got great views of the valley below with Old Faithful in the far distance …
… then passed the pretty Mystic Falls on the way down.
Late afternoon we watched Old Faithful perform again and then moved on to Castle Geyser.
While we waited, Chris spotted a coyote wandering through the undergrowth … amazing so close to the path.
Castle erupted for some 20 minutes with water and about the same again with a jet of steam – hugely impressive.
We’ve been so lucky with the weather – generally bright days with cool starts, warming up to around 25 some days with the sunshine, clouding a bit later and slightly chilly in the breeze, with maybe the odd shower and a couple of rainy nights. Bearing in mind that Yellowstone has seen almost 5 million visitors this year, and during the peak season the roads are like parking lots, I’m pleased we chose now.
We’ve spotted a few of the smaller inhabitants and here is our Critters Corner of Yellowstone including a chipmunk, gopher snake and a couple of squirrels!
Also, a number of people have lost their hats over the thermal fields – so spot that titfer!
This geyser watching is serious business. While Old Faithful might be pretty predictable, some of the others need far more patience. We began at Grand and waited an hour or so, but it really was worth it with a huge eruption lasting some 10 minutes, with Turban Geyser joining in to the left …
… and wandered back passed Morning Glory Pool.
The highlight of the afternoon was seeing Bill Bison visit the Emerald Pool at Black Sand Basin.
Next morning, Chris was amazed to see the Michelin man approaching …
only to discover that the company have installed an new Eco-friendly path made from recycled tyres from the Yellowstone buses. We walked up the new path, opened just this morning …
and saw our last eruption of Old Faithful before hitting the road.
We stopped at West Thumb Geyser Basin, overlooking Yellowstone Lake.
Apparently mountain men told of a geyser along an alpine lake where one could catch a trout, swing the pole around, dip it into the boiling pool, and cook the fish without taking if off the line. Early visitors did this at here at Fishing Cone … but no more!
We’ve had a great stay in Yellowstone but it’s now time to leave …
Grand Tetons here we come …
Off Travelling Together 