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Day 78 - Yellowstone Old Faithul Geysers

See Old Faithful, Grand, Lion and Beehive geysers erupt in 60 seconds:  

This morning was one of the most exciting mornings of my trip. It started off when I decided to take a long solo hike through the geyser field, leaving at 630am. Mist was still covering this dense geyser field as I walked from geyser to hot spring (20% of the world's active geysers reside here in this one square mile area).  


Following a boardwalk, so not to get burned, I saw a man sitting on the boardwalk staring at an empty geyser hole. I asked him if he worked for the park service and he responded no-- he was an amateur geyser gazer-- he watched the geysers and recorded eruption times. He mentioned that we were quote "entering the window for Grand" -- geyser gazer speak for Grand geyser is about to go off. I walked a short ways to Grand and waited, one of a few at first and then one of a few dozen as a quick hour passed. The Geizer Gazer, Jim, instructed me on how to watch the pool to know when it may erupt, how geysers work and their approximate times between eruptions and he told me how to plan your day with their website (www.geysertimes.org) predictions. 

Grand geyser is the highest predictable active geyser in the world and is known for stunning shows. Being a fountain geyser not a cone geyser, the sprays jump out in all directions playfully reaching highs up to 150 feet. Nearby Turban and Vent go off when Grand does and Vent goes 60 feet up. The sun was just coming out of the clouds, the mist was lifting and the show was simply breath-taking. I was hooked. 


After Grand I walked down with another Geyser Gazer to Oblong, a big geyser with a difficult to predict eruption. I quickly left the gazer and moved on to see other geysers. I ran into Steve Lanny and Landon on a bike ride at Grotto. 


They biked on with a plan to meet me at Lion when it erupted in one hours time and I walked back on the non-biker boardwalk. Along the way I ran into Geizer Gazer Bob at Oblong. He was alone now and I decided to wait with him.   Fifteen minutes later Oblong erupted, a 40 foot spray sending 8,000 gallons of water into the nearby river over a crater-filled platform was special, but the thump thump thump that preceeded the eruption--a sonic boom deep underground as steam escaped faster than sound travels was epic. I then followed Bob to Lion, which roared before it exploded into the sky. Lanny and Landon came ten minutes after that eruption then I walked back to the Inn with them, luckily seeing Beehive erupt 200 feet (2nd highest in park!) into the air like a rocket along the way. 


We four boys took a historic bus ride guided tour of other geyser basins that afternoon, learning about park history, forest fires and geyser, hot spring and tamarole activity along the way. Our driver Blu was one of those 65 year olds who was impossibly fit and seemed to have adventured to every corner of the world in a single lifetime. The highlight of the tour to me was the Fountain Paintpots area, with its colorful hot springs, steaming muddy tamarole pots and constantly gushing geysers. 



Dinner back at the Inn was tasty and the evening highlighted again by an Old Faithful eruption-- this one at dusk and captured elegantly at it's start by yours truly. 

See Old Faithful, Grand, Lion and Beehive erupt in 60 seconds:  

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