On Tuesday, Aug, 27th we moved into a cabin behind Old Faithful Lodge. They are small but comfortable and give easy access to the upper geyser valley where many of the best geysers can be found. There are well over one hundred geysers in Yellowstone Park, the largest concentration of geothermal features in the world.
The Old Faithful Lodge, as its name implies is right in front of the most famous and most predictable geyser in the world. That's right, "Old Faithful" is the geyser that erupts regularly about every ninety minutes, give or take 10 minutes. Generally, it erupts about 90 to 110 feet in the air and has a duration of 90 seconds to three minutes.
As you can see the geyser draws huge crowds of visitors each time it erupts and the park rangers post the approximate time for each eruption in numerous places around the park complex, so visitors will know when to congregate on the boardwalks around the geyser to get the best viewpoint.
On Wednesday, Aug. 28, we spent the day trying to view as many of the big geysers in the upper geyser valley as possible since many of them are somewhat unpredictable.
First, we viewed Daisy geyser at the end of the upper geyser valley. Daisy as a bit smaller than Old Faithful but erupts regularly and draws a fairly large crowd considering it is nearly two miles away at the end of the valley.
From there, we walked across the valley to the other side and watched Riverside Geyser erupting. This geyser is placed on the side of the riverbank, as its name implies, and it erupts from 5 to 15 minutes each time, which is longer than many of the other geysers. It erupts approximately 75 to 90 feet in the air, making it a favorite among visitors to the park.
For the finale, we hiked up the valley toward Old Faithful to see Grand Geyser, one of the premier geysers in the park. Grand Geyser, when it erupts, can rise as high as 200 feet and lasts as much as 15 minutes. After Old Faithful, this is the geyser that draws the most crowds, even though it has a much longer wait-time and is less predictable.
Those are full-sized Lodge Pole Pine trees in the background, some are 90 feet tall and they are sitting on top of a ridge about 80 feet high above the geyser. The following pictures give you some perspective on how high this geyser really erupts.
As you can see, the water spout and steam clouds are far above the tree line.
It is very spectacular! When it ends the crowds usually erupt into applause out of habit for something they have observed that really stimulated them.
At the end of the day, Mom took some pictures of Old Faithful as the sun went down. I think you will like them.
Tomorrow we are leaving the park to head South into central Wyoming😉.
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