Friday, September 8

Today I’m driving down to the Old Faithful area of the park.  Of course this is the one place everyone goes when visiting the park.  It was very busy!  Old Faithful was about to erupt as I arrive.

The Firehole River flows thru the Old Faithful Geyser Basin

The Old Faithful geyser is what first comes to mind when thinking of Yellowstone.  But there are so many geysers and other thermal features that it is an other-worldly landscape.  The range of colors is amazing.

I believe my favorite was Grand Geyser Pool.  This is actual three geysers that erupt together – Grand, Turban and Vent.  I was here at just the right time to see them.

Grand on left, then Turban and Vent geysers

A large part of observing a geyser eruption is the sound that they make.  The Grand Geyser eruption last nearly 15 minutes.  It was almost like watching a fireworks show.

After the Grand geyser eruption I walked to the end of the boardwalk, where the Morning Glory pool is located.  The colors in the pool are related to the pH of the water.  Morning Glory used to be a bright blue color.  Now it is mostly green with just a little blue color in the bottom.  The change was caused by people throwing objects into the pool, which changed the pH.  Very sad.

The Riverside geyser is back up the walk a few hundred yards and was nearing eruption.  This is one of the most predictable geysers here, erupting every 5.5 to 7.5 hours.  The waters reaches up to 75 feet high and the eruption lasts around 20 minutes.

As I drive back towards Norris I stop at the other geyser pools along the way.

One of the most beautiful features of the park is Grand Prismatic Spring.  There is a boardwalk out to the spring, but I choose to hike the trail that goes up a nearby ridge that overlooks the pool.

This was a long day, it is just at dusk when I arrive back to camp.