May 22, 2019 Day 4

Four and a Half Old Faithfuls – Yellowstone 3

Woke up this morning to again find the car and the roofs covered with snow. We had breakfast in the cabin. From the cooler, yogurt, blueberries, tomatoes and an orange.

We walked over to the Visitor Center, a relatively new $27 million building and on the way mailed a letter at the Yellowstone Post Office and stopped for some coffee at the cafeteria. The next Old Faithful explosion was not for 20 minutes, so we watched a movie in the education center and briefly viewed the exhibits. It was not nearly as good as the movies I have seen in other National Park Visitor centers. This one devoted a lot of time to safety, staying on the boardwalks to avoid getting burned alive or eaten by acid. One should not need a movie to warn you not to stick your hands or feet into boiling water. Not too much about the origins or characteristics of hydrothermals, but that was covered in the exhibits. We sat next to an older (fewer and fewer meet that description, but I was assured that they were older than me.) couple from Kansas City who commenting unfavorably about the weather and who felt that their vacation was disappearing into traffic tie-ups on the park’s roads.

The Upper Geyser Basin has the largest concentration of geysers in the world, although the word geyser is of Icelandic origin.  Old Faithful is not the largest geyser in the area, but it is the most regular, although over the past 150 years since it has been known to Europeans its average interval between eruptions has lengthened. It erupts about every 90 minutes, spews out between 3700 and 8400 gallons of boiling water and reaches a height of 106 to 184 feet. Also lots of steam that from the wrong viewing sight can obscure the water plumes. Our eruption occurred just as scheduled. It lasted a few minutes and had pretty good height that seemed to be on the lower end of those scales. However, there was a lot of steam that obstructed our view from outside the Visitor’s Center. Even though I had seen it twice in the past 6 years, it still was awesome.

We then headed out for Geyser Hill which has several large geysers. Only Plume geyser erupted during our walk, but many were bubbling and loudly hissing. The Lion Group has four geysers, and all were noisily hissing steam. The Doublet Pool has lots of colorful edges and border ornamentation. In this area I first saw a three-year-old, Liam, with a green knit cap and his family whose paths we crossed for the rest of the day. He wanted to know when the next blast would be. He was a very good sport and kept up all day seemingly without complaint. Maybe he will become a geologist.

While my spouse returned to the Visitor’s center to answer natures call, I went on a trail up into the woods into a lodgepole forest. Lots of snow on the ground.  It was largely uphill to the Solitary Geyser, which bubbled and hissed a lot, but did not provide the promised every 7-minute eruption. Liam was there. Then more uphill hiking to the Observation Point, in total about a 200 ft increase in elevation, which afforded an expansive view of the Old Faithful area. By now it was time for another Old Faithful eruption and while this one was late, the higher vantage point offered a better view. Liam was there.

On Geyser Hill

Lion Group

Of Faithful from Obsevation Point

After hiking back down I met up with my spouse and we went into the Old Faithful Inn. This is a magnificent wooden structure, with a four-story lobby, a massive stone fireplace and mezzanines with live music and lots of chairs. It is best described as rustic beauty, but there is no internet. That is supposedly by the choice of the guests. We declined the lunch buffet at the Inn but made dinner reservations there. Instead we ate lunch, good bowls of chilli, at the cafeteria in the Lodge. Travelling from the Lodge to the Inn we saw our third Faithful eruption.

Old Faithful eruption

After lunch we returned to the Inn for a guided tour. The tour guide was a 32-year hotel (Xanterra, it of copywriting the name Ahwahnee infamy) employee who works in the HR office during the off-season. Her 45-minute tour was interesting, very informative and spoken in a loud and clear voice. The original part of the Inn, known as the Old House, was completed in 1904 at a cost of $140,000, The railroad financed it, but was unable to get permission to run a line into the park. Train passengers who wanted to visit the park had to disembark at Gardiner MT and ride a coach into the park. A five-day trip around the park including meals and lodging cost $50. Additional days at a park hotel cost $4/day.  Wings constructed in the 1920s increased the room capacity to 319 and the hotel boasts a 100% occupancy rate notwithstanding the very high rates and the absence of private baths in most of the rooms in the Old House. To compensate, the public bathrooms in the Old House have showers. We toured a vacant room in the Old House. It had the original furniture and was small, but tastefully decorated and well maintained.Reservations got the room back at 4:30 for a late arriving guest.

After the tour we returned to our room, but along the way we saw the fourth Faithful eruption, this time from the porch at the Lodge.

We picked up our car and drove a short distance north to the Black Sand Basin. This had several splendid and colorful hot springs that were usually enveloped in steam. At the edge of the basin was Cliff Geyser. This erupted frequently and violently spraying hot water in all directions. Liam was there.

Cliff Geyser

After that we drove an additional short distance north to Biscuit Basin. There we saw Sapphire Lake which had a beautiful blue color and several geysers. As occurred during the prior late afternoons, it began to snow, and the temperature dropped.

We returned to our room for a brief rest and then headed out to the Inn for dinner. By now it was hailing. Small ice balls were bouncing off our clothes as we walked. Not as bad as the snow which tended to melt into the clothes. Along the way we saw the beginning of our fifth Faithful eruption, but we did not pause to watch all of it.

The restaurant ambiance was nice, and our food was good. Too much prime rib for me. I cannot comfortable eat that much any more. When we were departing all the chairs in the lobby and the mezzanine were occupied. Turns out when there are no TV or internet people come out and mingle.