Skip to main content

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:  

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 51 - Canyonlands Needles Pt 3

A deep connection to the nature surrounding you comes from the solitude of solo travel, but sometimes it is nice to have a companion!  I ran into David, a retired telecom exec from Canada a few days ago on the Syncline Loop trail at Canyonlands Island in the Sky. Then I ran into him again halfway through my Chesler Park hike two days ago, then again later in the hike, finishing the last two miles together.  David hiked his favorite trail, the Peekaboo trail yesterday, and said I could join him, but my heart was set on confluence trail, so we hiked separately. We did share a campsite though and exchanged travel stories. David was 55 and had retired at 50 from a high-level international job with Nortel and was now traveling full-time. We instantly bonded over our solo travel style. He outclassed me by leagues. He had trekked one month in Nepal, then another month in India, then some months in Asia. He had hiked and skied and adventured all over the western U.S.  and Canada....
1 comment
Read more

Day 40 Escalante Hole-in-the-Rock Road

I woke up late following a lovely slumber in a REAL bed-- such a luxury. I stayed in bed reading my maps and guidebooks, trying to put a plan together for the next months travels. I decided I would spend two more weeks in Utah and add on two weeks in western Colorado instead of spending all four weeks in Utah-- I was starting to tire of the desert and Colorado seemed like a good mix of backcountry beauty and civilization proper.  The last must do in Escalante was Coyote Gulch, so I read and reread the route description in my guidebook and went to the visitor center to get my permit. I was going to do a loop down Hurricane Wash to Coyote Gulch to the Escalante River and then up Crack-in-the-Wall overland back to my car. Permit in hand, I lingered by the Outfitters wifi emailing and blogging and then drove out Hole-in-the-rock road forty miles to my trailhead. The road was dirt but well graded in most parts. A high-clearance vehicle was recommended for the last five miles but my Dodg...
Post a Comment
Read more

Days 89 and 90 - Waterton

I started my journey north to Canada today. My plan was to head to Waterton Lakes, just north of Glacier, then to Calgary, then the Canadian Rockies parks of Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Glacier and a few others, then to Vancouver and finally to Seattle, all over the next several weeks. But first I needed the Internet!  I drove south out of Many Glacier to a place I remembered having cell reception.  I did some emailing and calling back home, did some research for my Canada trip and watched the final three episodes of Game of Thrones--wow, the final two episodes were sensational. This rainy, dreary day was perfect for such activities. I then drove into Canada late in the evening and to a campground set in the cloudy mountains at Waterton.  The weather cleared a bit the next day and I was able to do some hiking around this scenic alpine lakes district.  Waterton Lakes district from a high hill called Bear's Hump: The chipmunks at Bear's Bump were very interested in the conten...
Post a Comment
Read more