There was a lot of traffic getting off Hwy 191 and into the geyser area. It was crowded, but the traffic was not from volume. It was from people stopping to take pictures of a bison. There are signs all over the park telling you to pull off the road and not stop in the middle of traffic if you want a picture of an animal. But those signs mean nothing when people see one. They lose their mind like a kid at Christmas, showing complete disregard of all others around them and their own safety. We saw a guy walk within 10 feet of a bison and stick a huge camera in its face. Not smart. Bison can be quite ornery and pack a punch behind their 1,400+ pounds of body.
Bison near Old Faithful
Old Faithful is quite the attraction. There is a grocery store, restaurant, gift shop, visitor center and lodge built near the geyser. It's like a small city. Old Faithful erupts about every 60-90 minutes. There is an eruption estimation schedule inside the visitor's center that gives you an idea of when to watch. The visitor's center also had some great videos of tourists vs. animals and interesting displays that explain the geology of the area. It is really scary to see how much of Yellowstone sits within a caldera that is about 34 miles by 45 miles wide. There is still a lot of volcanic activity going on in the area, more than I ever dreamed. There's no lava flowing above the ground, but below ground, things are very active. I thought Old Faithful was the only geyser. It's the only one I had ever heard of. It is merely one of many throughout the park. This area is one of three within the caldera that is very active with hot springs, geysers and bubbling pools of escaping gases.
Sign in the visitor's center. There was a video playing next to this sign that showed an incident where this very thing happened. You can watch it here.
Firehole River
It was about 45 minutes until the next eruption so we decided to explore the other geysers and find a good viewing spot. There is a trail behind Old Faithful that curves around Geyser Hill, which is full of geysers and little springs. We walked part of the hill, then found a nice bench on the side of the hill that had a good view of Old Faithful. We waited about 30 minutes, then it blew up. It was much bigger than I expected and lasted much longer. It spewed for over five minutes. The only bad thing about it was that it was only a little above 40 degrees and most of the water turned into steam making it hard to see just how much water was coming out. I would like to see it again on a warm day, but I cannot imagine how many people would be there on a nice day in the summer.
First spring on the Geyser Hill Trail
Shannon on the Geyser Hill Trail
Video: Geyser Hill area
Old Faithful steaming between eruptions
Interesting mineral deposits around one of the springs
Hot, bubbling water
Old Faithful Lodge from Geyser Hill
Beehive Geyser
Some of the holes looked deep
Old Faithful starting to erupt...
...getting bigger...
...full blast...
...lots of steam.
Video: Old Faithful erupting
After Old Faithful finished, we continued on the Geyser Hill Trail, which is entirely a boardwalk. There were plenty of strange things coming out of the ground. Most were very hot, sometimes blowing out water at the boiling point. The gases made for stinky air to breath, but you get used to it after a while. At one point we saw a bison in the field on the other side of the Firehole River. People were all around it. The rangers had to set up post there just to keep people moving along and not irritating the bison too much. As a kid, I thought being a ranger at a big park like that would be a fun job. After actually going to the park as an adult, I see they do a lot of things that are not fun at all. Things like working the fee booth at the entrance and doing what I would call "idiot control." They are just tourist traffic cops, moving people along and dealing with the difficult people that can't follow the rules.
Teakettle Spring
Video: Bubbling springs
Sponge Geyser
Doublet Pool
Beach Spring
Bison across the river
One of the most amazing things about Geyser Hill was the amount of bison poop on the ground. It was literally everywhere. There must be a herd of them that grazes there at night. They tell you the ground is too unstable for you to step off the boardwalk, but those bison are walking their 1,400 pounds all over that place. I wonder if one has ever busted open a spring and gotten barbecued on the spot. I would like to be there for that. Bison are some tasty animals.
Castle Geyser in the distance
Bubbling spring near the Firehole River
Heart Spring with the Lion Geyser Group behind it.
The Lion Geyser Group shining in the sun.
Spasmodic Geyser
Video: Firehole River in motion
Crested Pool
Tortoise Shell Spring and Castle Geyser
Castle Geyser
Yeah we were not here when the Castle Geyser erupted.
On the walk back to the car we had some wildlife encounters. We saw the bison that had been causing all the commotion earlier. The crowd was gone now, but he was still grazing. We were keeping an eye on him as we walked away and nearly walked right up on another bison that was lying in the weeds. We also saw some scruffy ducks swimming in the river.
Still there
The one we almost walked right up to by accident
Ducks in the Firehole River
Scruffy duck
Video: Fighting the current while trying to clean up
Just a mile down the road was another geyser basin. We did not stop there as it was crowded and had no really special sites. A few more miles down the road took us to the Midway Geyser Basin. This place was full of geysers, springs and smoking craters. The view of the basin from the edge of the river was very cool with smoke and steam rising from the ground everywhere you looked. Some of the springs poured steaming hot water into the Firehole River.
Loved this view
Video: Springs unloading into the river
Further down the Firehole River
The trail around the main set of geysers and springs was again all boardwalk as the ground is unstable and the water is very hot. The Grand Prismatic Spring is a popular destination for park visitors due to its array of colors from bacterial and algae growth inside the warm water. Again, the cold air kept us from seeing all the colors. The steam cloud was pretty intense, but we did manage to see some orange and red colors near the boardwalk and caught a glimpse of a huge crater with dark blue water bubbling inside.
Grand Prismatic Spring
This is what most of our views looked like.
Occasionally the steam moved away enough for a quick peak at the spring.
Video: Grand Prismatic Spring
Hard to tell, but this is a deep crater of hot water.
Once back on the road, we followed the Firehole River. We saw some bison then headed into Firehole Canyon. There's a one-way road that takes you through the tight canyon along the river and past Firehole Falls. There is little parking at the falls so we had to park in a tiny pull-off at the base of the canyon wall. As we were getting back in the car, rocks were falling off the cliff. A few small pebbles hit the car and one actually went inside while I was trying to get in and get out of there.
Bison
Firehole Canyon
Firehole Falls
Video: Firehole Falls
Firehole Canyon is the western border of the main loop we were driving. We took a right onto Hwy 89 at the Madison Junction. There were some great views in this area. We overlooked huge forests of green pine trees and then got next to the Gibbon River. The river had a waterfall section called Gibbon Falls.
View near the Madison Junction
Gibbon River
Gibbon Falls
One of the few times you will see us do a selfie
The next stop and hike of the day came at the Artist Paintpots area. This is in the second area of the park that has a lot of geological activity going on under the ground. We passed a few small geysers just before and after the paintpots, but this area is more known for gurgling pools of colorful mud than spraying geysers. A short one-mile hike took us to a hillside covered with bubbling puddles. There were red ones with thin, brown mud gurgling, while others looked like freshly poured concrete with the occasional large gas bubble escaping the muck with a loud pop and the spray of small pieces of thick mud.
Hiking up to Paintpot Hill
Looking down on the Artists Paintpots area from Paintpot Hill
Video: Gurgling mud pots
Paintpot Hill Trail
More to come from Yellowstone in the third and final post from our day in the park.
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