Up and on the road by 6:22, we arrived at Upper Geyser Basin, better known as Old Faithful. I have seen Old Faithful before but had not hiked the Geyser Basin before. Old Faithful erupted just as we walked up! 7:35!
We stopped to find out when the various geysers were going to erupt, but it wasn’t going to get posted until 8:00. We got coffee and waited. Through the window of the lodge we saw Riverside, Daisy, and one other big geyser go off. We were pretty far away. About 8:10 they posted the eruption predictions - we had missed them all except the one at 2:00 p.m. I confess I didn’t know what the point of hiking the basin was if we missed all the eruptions, but we did, and I was not disappointed.
We saw a few minor eruptions, and then we walked up on the seating for Grand Geyser. We planned to keep going but noticed there were some older people seated there who seemed to all know each other and some had pads of paper and radios. We decided to wait. Old Faithful went off a second time about 9:00 and we saw it through the trees. We saw a sign that said Grand Geyser would erupt between NOW and 9:15, and it was not yet 9:15! 9:15 came and went. We heard the older people talking about all the conditions being right. We waited another couple of minutes and one of the ladies said, “Get your cameras ready.” I did. We were not disappointed.
I wish I could describe to you the spiritual experience the eruption of this geyser was. The water sprayed higher and higher in the air, the steam cloud grew and billowed, and the sun shone on it all and made it shine. It was magnificent! Tuhb is not the most spoken word on our trip - wow is, and John heard it a lot. We applauded as the water subsided, and the woman next to us said, “The conditions are right - let’s have a bonus!” Sure enough, it started again, and this time the water went even higher - probably as high as 200 feet. The eruption took a long time, and the longer it went the more I just sensed a feeling of beauty, peace and love. I can’t explain it. I just know I had church. I cried.
We continued on and saw the Giant which was gurgling water. We saw the Grotto going off and it was pretty cool. It had formed around some trees so there were holes and pieces that stuck up, and the water splashed and played around it. Rocket was next to it and it seemed to bubble and want to erupt but it didn’t.
We headed to Daisy Geyser, and waited there for a while. We got there a bit early from the posted time so John laid down on the bench and I saw a bald eagle! Just as I was trying to take the picture of the eagle, Daisy went off! John was trying to get my attention and I finally did notice the geyser. It went in a diagonal direction, about 75 feet in the air. Wow, it was cool. As we left the area, there were people who asked if it had gone off, and we had to disappoint them.
After Daisy we went to Morning Glory Pool. It was beautiful! Last time John saw it, so many people had thrown trash in it that it had lost its color. The color is because of bacteria that grow at certain temperatures. This time most of the color was back!
As we headed back we saw Castle geyser try to spit and bubble but we knew it wasn’t going to go off for another two hours. Along the way we saw Spiteful geyser and many others. As we were finishing our hike, it was time to see Old Faithful’s 4th eruption since we arrived. People stood still. The entire area was silent except for the gurgling of the water. Then it happened! I watched the geyser and I watched the large crowd that had gathered for it. I could sense the feeling of awe in the large group. As it finished, excited chatter took the place of the rushing sound of water.
We stopped at the Visitor’s center and I changed into shorts from jeans. It was in the 40’s when we arrived and by this time it was in the 80’s.
We headed to Midway Geyser Basin where Excelsior geyser and Grand Prismatic Spring are located. We had lunch by the car and grabbed a bottle of water for the hike. John accidentally threw the $10 water bottle away instead of his trash! In a bear-proof trash can! We tried several ways of getting it out, even lifting the heavy trash can lid but the can was pretty empty and the bottle was pretty far down. I went back to the car to get my hiking stick and we tried to use that to get it out. No luck. We opened the lid again and I was able to snag it with the stick and pull it out. It was crazy dirty gross! But, we got it back. We asked a bus driver for some tissues to clean it off. That wasn’t going to cut it. Then we noticed we were by a river and went and washed it off in the water. Yay!
The Excelsior geyser and Grand Prismatic Spring were not the way I rememberd them. I seriously do NOT remember colored steam coming off them and don’t really remember steam at all coming off them. John and I had a lively discussion about steam and the Grand Prismatic Spring. We are going to ask some Ranger Boy. I have never seen blue, green, yellow and red steam, but now I have! Wow, was it beautiful.
Next stop, Lower Geyser Basin, which is where the Fountain Paint Pots are. I do not remember seeing these. We had two geysers going off, one on either side, at the same time here! I couldn’t decide where to look! It was very exciting. We also saw brown and red mud bubbling and then we saw a geyser that erupts continuously. Below it was a puddle of green and blue water.
Next we drove to Gibbon Falls and hiked the 600 feet to see it. It’s a smaller waterfall but wide and striking. There was a fly fisherman at the bottom of the falls. I love waterfalls and John knows it. He made sure we stopped to see this one. We are skipping Fairy falls this time though - he wants to make sure I have a reason to want to come back.
Thirsty, sticky, hot and tired, we headed back to the Canyon area for a soda. John had ice cream, and I had a taste or two. I asked Ranger Boy about Grand Prismatic Spring and he said if it was a hot enough day there would not be much steam. Ha! We were both right.
Uncle Tom’s trail was next. This is a “strenuous” hike of 500 feet down to the bottom of the Lower Falls. On the way, we spotted a bull Elk grazing. At the bottom, you can see all the yellows, reds, oranges, greens and blues of the canyon, river and waterfall. As always, what goes down must go back up. I was proud of how well I handed the hike.
At the parking lot, that bull elk was grazing and people were everywhere. Wow.
We went in search of a picnic spot and found a perfect one. There were 22 canadian geese on the river and the table was riverside. However, it started raining so we went on in search of a dryer spot or someplace to see wildlife. We parked at the Mud Volcano but it started pouring.
When the rain died down we went and looked at the Mud Volcanoe, the Black Cauldron, the Sour Lake, and a whole lot more. These are mostly all new and had changed a lot since the last time John was here. We even saw several openings in the parking lot! Okay, you tell me… if you are holding an umbrella, and open it, and it just breaks, are you at fault?
As soon as we decided to eat at the cafeteria instead of cooking, it stopped raining. That’s okay, the salad bar and chili were good. By the way, thanks, Tom for letting us know about LeBron, your favorite player!
Tomorrow - more Yellowstone!
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