While visiting Yellowstone National Park this past July, Steven and I stayed a few nights in Gardiner, Montana, literally located one minute outside the park's northwest entrance. It was a great location if we were only visiting the park's northern sights but not so good when wanting to see Old Faithful and the park's other fabled sights a full 90-minute drive away located in the park's midsection! Five miles from the border were the town of Mammoth Hot Springs and the hotel of the same name.
Just a few steps from the hotel was the Upper Terraces Area and the Lower Terraces Area. Steven and I were so intent on heading to Old Faithful, though, we bypassed the terraces then as we intended to stop there later.
Seeing the buffalo along the side of the road was enough to make us stop and look at these amazing beasts.
When the buffalo began lumbering toward us, Steven cautioned me to be very careful as he knew how much I wanted to take photos.
North of Old Faithful was the Firestone River and Fountain Meadow.
There were hundreds of buffalo a little further on by the Geyser Basin. As you can imagine, too, there were a good number of cars parked by the side of the road gazing at the magnificent animals.
We heaved a huge sense of relief when we finally got to Old Faithful with literally two minutes to spare before it was due to erupt at 11:14! We were especially relieved when we found a sign that said that the next eruption likely wouldn't occur until 2:08! Talk about perfect timing and we'd had no idea ahead of time when it was likely to erupt!
I had to wonder how long these people had waited on that very warm July morning for Old Faithful to erupt.
It was almost comical spotting a buffalo slowly wander into view, lumbering toward Old Faithful! It paid absolutely no attention whatsoever to the geyser as it erupted.
Even though we'd seen Old Faithful a couple of times previously, it's not a sight one ever forgets or regrets seeing time and time again.
Thank goodness we waited until after the geyser had erupted to take this photo. How bummed we'd have been otherwise to miss seeing the geyser up close.
Old Faithful Geyser was just one of the geysers in the Upper Geyser Basin. Seeing this sign, we decided to make a beeline for Grand Geyser as that was projected to erupt about thirty minutes later.
About fifteen minutes later, there was still lots of steam rising from Old Faithful but the water had long since stopped.
This was the same buffalo who had wandered so close to the geyser a few minutes earlier. The park ranger was concerned with the buffalo's proximity to the many visitors and shooed everyone away from the seats and boardwalk.
In the distance was the Upper Geyser Basin where we and lots of other people were heading.
Castle Geyser:
And a view from walking around to the other side of Castle Geyser:
Hot springs are the most numerous type of thermal feature in Yellowstone. It was almost mindboggling to learn that more than 10,000 were scattered across the park's two million acres. Few, though, were as hot or as colorful as Crested Pool. At this elevation, the water temperatures often exceeded the boiling point and even reach 'superheated' temps of 202 degrees. The spring's intense blue color resulted when sunlight passes into the sping's clear waters. As blue is scattered the most from the rainbow of colors in the visible light, that's the color we saw.
Chimney Cone:
After we walked to the other side of the cone we came to South Scalloped Edge Spring. We didn't see any sign of North Scalloped Spring if it existed!
Churn Geyser:
I couldn't stop looking at the amazing colors of the Belgian Pool and then wonder where its name came from?
We saw a large crowd of people waiting when we arrived at Grand Geyser about a minute before the action began about noonish! There were lots and lots of steam and a few spurts of water but then nothing for a while. Patience was obviously required when taking in the marvels at Yellowstone! We were just relieved to get there before the 'show' began!
It was fun to spot just a few bubbles initially, then watch as they got more pronounced until a spray of water spurted after a considerable delay.
We had plenty of time to take in the sickly-looking trees and pretty wildflowers around the geyser while waiting for the eruption!
Our patience was rewarded when the grand Grand Geyser 'performed' for us all very suddenly.
I wish I had some sense of the geyser's height. Whatever it was, was very, very impressive as it reached well beyond the treetops in the distance!
We had been thrilled and in awe at the geyser but ever more so when two smaller geysers erupted beside the main one! They went on and on and on for about ten minutes!
While I had waited and waited in the center of the viewing area for Grand Geyser to show off, Steven had wandered over to the far left of the area to get another perspective. Here he was, the second from the right.
In case you were wondering, geysers are hot springs that erupt periodically and can be grouped into two types: cones like Old Faithful and fountains like Grand.
The main one 'died' even though the smaller geysers continued on. But, then much to our delight, the main erupted again with the same force as before for another eight minutes! It was just like an encore performance at the theater, an altogether unexpected bonus. We felt so incredibly fortunate that we had lucked out being there at the perfect time as the next eruption of Grand Geyser wasn't expected until 6:30 that night.
In every way imaginable, Grand Geyser gave us a far 'grander' show than Old Faithful. While Old Faithful normally erupts sixteen times a day, Grand Geyser only erupts just four times a day. That was why we counted ourselves incredibly lucky to see both, virtually right after each other that day.
If you love psychedelic colors, Yellowstone is the place to come. Just look at Penta Geyser!
North Goggles Geyser on the way back to Old Faithful parking lot:
The aptly named Ear Spring:
I loved the thin, smooth pebbles around Aurum Geyser. Latin for 'gold', Aurum was named for the color of iron oxide deposits lining the vent's rim. During the eruptions, which occur every 2-2.5 hours, water and steam rise beyond 20 feet in height but just for a minute long. It rarely erupted prior to an earthquake in 1983.
You can get a sense of the vast terrain around the geyser basin at the spectacular Doublet Pool.
In the distance was Old Faithful spouting off again.
Sponge Geyser:
Having always been used to an electric teakettle while growing up in my native Canada and still using one to this day, I could relate to Teakettle Spring!
Walking over Firehole River - the runoff from Old Faithful's eruptions - on the Upper Geyser Trail was the last we saw of that amazing section of Yellowstone National Park before driving further south in the park toward West Thumb and Grant Village.
Next post: Later in the day we tried hiking at Black Sand Basin north of Old Faithful but a buffalo in the middle of the trail decided for us we didn't really want to hike much that day!
Posted on Thanksgiving Day, November 26th, 2020 from another gloriously sunny day in Denver. We'd hoped to spend the holiday with some of our family in Chicago this year but Covid-19 had other plans as we just didn't feel it was either safe or 'right' for us to be with others right now. We are incredibly thankful for our healthy family including two new granddaughters born this year. Steven and I hope that you are surrounded by loved ones if not in person, then via zoom or phone calls, on this special holiday. We wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving.
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