We’re in Hot Water – Sat., Aug. 4

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming:

Today’s plan: Old Faithful Volkswalk in the Upper Geyser Basin, 15K (9.3 mi.—We added a 4K option to the 10K walk and explored side trails to some of the other features).

Fishing Bridge RV Park to Old Faithful is a one-hour drive on 45 mph roads. There wasn’t much traffic at 9:30 a.m. When we arrived at the Upper Geyser Basin, home of Old Faithful, we had a ten-minute wait to see Old Faithful erupt. Great way to start our day.

Old Faithful viewing area.

Old Faithful fountaining.

Suntan lotion was back at the 5er, so first stop was the General Store to buy a new tube. Then we sat on a rocking bench in front of the store and applied our lotion.

At 11:15 a.m., we took a paved trail to Castle Geyser, which was predicted to have only minor eruptions today. From there we continued on the boardwalk to Grand Geyser. It looked like Grand Geyser was going to erupt soon. Many people sat on the benches surrounding Grand, Vent and Turban Geysers waiting for the action. The possible eruption time was predicted between 9:45 a.m. and 1:45 p.m. We decided to continue walking as we didn’t want to sit around waiting for the geyser to go off.

We walked 50 yards farther down the boardwalk when Bob turned around and Grand Geyser was going off! We high-tailed it back and watched a spectacular show highlighted by Grand Geysers huge eruption and Turban Geyser’s smaller sideshow. Major geyser #2 under our belts. Good timing so far.

Grand Geyser from where we turned around to look.

Grand Geyser.

Vent, Turban and Grand Geyser.

Grand Geyser.

The Upper Geyser Basin, Biscuit Basin and Observation Point were the areas covered in our Volkswalk. From a distance, we watched Daisy Geyser fountain. A number of lesser geysers showed their stuff as well.

Morning Glory Pool

Firehole River.

Beauty Pool.

Boardwalk toward Firehole River.

Firehole River with steaming vents.

 

Hiking from Old Faithful area to Biscuit Basin.

 

Don't you think this looks like ET?

 

Trail to Observation Point.

Solitary Geyser.

View from Observation Point.

Beggar.

Today’s walk was predominantly on boardwalks, forested and paved trails. We chose to end our walk with a hike up to Solitary Geyser and Observation Point, the highest place on our walk. When we finished we lumbered back to Old Faithful Lodge for some huckleberry/raspberry frozen yogurt cones. Mmmmmmm.

The last free tour of Old Faithful Inn for the day was at 3:30 p.m. so we made our way over to the Inn. The historic tour lasted 45 minutes. 

The gigantic, 500-ton, rhyolite stone fireplace in the lobby was damaged in a 7.5 earthquake a number of years ago. The earthquake rolled diagonally through the hotel lobby and twisted the fireplace 1-1/2 degrees off plumb. The brick lining of the fireplace collapsed inside two of the four flues which made it so only one of the four fireplaces could be lit. This year, the fireplace underwent a major repair from April until now. They expect to re-light all four fireplaces in a grand ceremony on August 17, 2012. On the tour, we also were able to view one of the older, upgraded guest rooms. 

 

Old Faithful Inn.

Interior lobby of Old Faithful Inn.

Rhyolite fireplace.

Interior staircase.

 

Original door on Old Faithful Inn.

My feet were aching, so we went to the Visitor Center (where I stamped my National Parks Passport book) and we sat down in the auditorium to watch the end of a movie. Ahhhh. Felt good to sit.  

This is the new (since our visit eight years ago) Old Faithful Inn Visitor Center. State of the art!

Meanwhile, Park Rangers were announcing Beehive Geyser was to erupt within 15 minutes. It’s higher and more powerful than Old Faithful, but only erupts once a day. They don’t know what time it will erupt until its small companion geyser starts erupting. So much for watching the educational video. I coaxed my tired feet to move the quarter mile to watch Beehive Geyser. It was a good way to end our day at Upper Geyser Basin.

Beehive Geyser.

Beehive Geyser.

On the way back to the parking area, we stopped at the General Store to buy lettuce, tomato and cheddar cheese to make tostadas for dinner tonight. We found our car in the huge parking lot and headed back to the 5er.

When we unpacked the truck and settled in, Bob says, “Do you want to go for a bike ride around the RV park?”

“No,” I replied, “I’m going to rest now.”

The man doesn’t know when to sit down and relax. (I love you honey, but please take a time out now and then.)

When he returned, we made our tostadas, Bob did the dishes, I vacuumed and it’s blog time. For Bob, it’s Free Cell time.

Wildlife: one elk, two white pelicans, ground squirrels.

Since the blog is finished for tonight, I’m off to read in bed.

Good night.