Tag Archives: geysers

Old Faithful Geyser Area

Old Faithful

Old Faithful is a must-see attraction at Yellowstone.

This morning and early afternoon was our last day at Yellowstone. We decided to spend it at the Old Faithful area. We enjoyed watching Old Faithful erupt, and then wandered around the boardwalk to look at the rest of the thermal features. We got to see a lot of other geysers give off minor eruptions, and got to see one other major eruption through the trees. We enjoyed seeing the morning glory pool, and learned that the color of the pool changes with the seasons as the temperature in the pool fluctuates. We also got to see Old Faithful erupt one more time, this time from a distance. It is always impressive to watch.

After the Old Faithful area we drove north to the mud pots area. We went for a walk along the boardwalk, which was covered in sulfurous steam. We enjoyed seeing the mud pots again, and listening to the “bloop” sound that the mud makes.

We then started our long drive back to Denver. It turned out to be longer than we anticipated, as there was a lot of construction along the back roads. Construction which closed one full lane of a two lane road, forcing traffic to take turns driving along the road, and waiting up to 30 minutes for the other line of cars to pass. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. However, we got back to Denver safely, and are already trying to figure out when we can make it back to Yellowstone and the Tetons.

Check out our photos from Old Faithful.

Norris and West Thumb at Yellowstone

Elk at Stream

Yellowstone is a good place to spot elk.

After the hike at the Tetons, we went to the West Thumb and Norris Geyser areas. West Thumb is a thermal area near an inlet to Yellowstone Lake. This area is really neat to walk through, because there are a lot of thermal pools. There are even several geyser cones in the lake.

We then went to Biscuit Basin, near the Old Faithful geyser area. This is a smaller area, with several large thermal pools. We also saw some buffalo alongside the road near this area. They were just relaxing, happily wandering through the grass, and pointedly ignoring the cars which stopped to gawk and take pictures.

We also went to the Mud Volcano area, where we got to see a lot of bubbling mud. While none of the mud was really flying this time, the thermal feature was definitely active, with a lot of mud bubbling and boiling.

On our way up to Norris Geyser Basin, we stopped along the side of the road to see two large bull elk. Their racks were very impressive, and it was amusing that one was calmly sitting in the middle of some trees, while the other was happily eating grass by a stream and posing by turning his head from side to side.

Once we made our way up to Norris, we took a quick hike around the geyser area. We were fortunate to be there for sunset, and managed to get some nice pictures of the sun, trees, and thermal features.

Here are our albums from the post: