Yellowstone NP: Old Faithful Area, Wyoming - June 15th, 2021

For day two of three in Yellowstone National Park, we concentrated our time on the Old Faithful area. Old Faithful is the most popular spot in the park, but there is definitely a reason why. Although we thoroughly enjoyed our time exploring the area, we were exhausted by the end of the day.

Old Faithful is about an hour and a half drive from Mammoth Campground where we were camping. We got up early and were on the road before 7 am to maximize our time and have a better chance at finding parking spots. On the way, there was a wildlife traffic jam. There were a couple of bears off in the trees to the side of the road. After we passed them, Left Buddy (LB) pulled the van into a pullout and Right Buddy (RB) walked back to where the people were gathered taking pictures from the road. She managed to one not-very-good picture of one of the bears before the park ranger came along and asked everyone to return to their cars. Also along the way, we also stopped briefly at Roaring Mountain to snap a few pictures of the steaming, rocky mountainside. 

We arrived at the Old Faithful area just before 9 am. It reminded us of Disney World or the large amusement park called Cedar Point that we visited every summer as kids. The two lane highway turned into a four lane divided highway, with exit ramps over to Old Faithful. The parking lot is quite large and there were plenty of open spots for the taking. There is the historic Old Faithful Inn, the newer Old Faithful Lodge, the Snow Lodge, a large visitor center, two gas stations, several stores and gift shops, a post office, and the Art and Photography Center (we’re not quite sure what that is). Even though it seemed like there was not much traffic on the road to get there, the Old Faithful area was mobbed with people. There were lines everywhere because they were limiting how many people were in the buildings due to COVID. There was a line to get into the Visitor Center, there were lines to get into the stores, and there was a line to get to walk into the Old Faithful Inn to get a view of the gorgeous lobby.

Old Faithful had just erupted right before we arrived, so we had about an hour and a half before it was scheduled to go off again. We used that time to explore the boardwalks around the other thermal features in the area. After passing Castle Geyser, we headed down to the Grotto Geyser before turning around and heading back the other way. We were trying to time it so we could be up at the Observation Point when Old Faithful was scheduled to erupt again. Along the way, we noticed that there were some eruption prediction windows for some of the other geysers like Castle and Grand which were in the afternoon. We took note of the times and planned on returning. 

There were so many interesting things to see from the boardwalks. Each geyser, pool, and fumarole had its own character. The different water temperatures and thus different bacteria created different colors. There were so many different patterns and textures and forms. There were also a couple of bison relaxing among the geysers. As we worked our way back to Geyser Hill to take the trail up to Observation Point, we realized we were running short on time. When we left the boardwalk at Geyser Hill and started up the wooded trail towards Solitary Geyser, the trail sign said it was 0.6 miles to Observation Point. Our pace quickened even though the trail was steep. We skipped looking at Solitary Geyser and hustled on. However, RB could not resist stopping to take a picture of a quail standing on a log. LB was not happy. He does not like to rush or cut things close.

We made it to Observation Point before the eruption. There were about 40 people up there with us. We actually had to wait about 10 minutes before Old Faithful went off. It was an interesting point of view to watch Old Faithful from. The issue was that even though Old Faithful is pretty predictable and regular, the estimated time is a 20 minute window. We took the shorter trail, not by much, back down to Geyser Hill and back to Old Faithful. It was lunch time and we were hungry. Back at our van in the parking lot, we relaxed inside and enjoyed our meal. By this time the parking lot was pretty full. However, the lot is large enough and there are enough people are coming and going all the time that we don’t think anyone failed to find a parking spot. They may have spent some time searching for it though.

We were parked near the back of the lot, away from Old Faithful and close to the woods. There were picnic tables in the shade among the trees, but we had done enough walking that we didn’t feel like walking over to one. Everything is so much more convenient by eating in the van. There was also a vault toilet near the picnic area with no lines and no waiting. We took advantage of that after lunch.

We made it back to Old Faithful just in time to watch it erupt again. This time from the benches right in front of it. To us, it is more impressive being closer to it. Now it was time to catch the eruptions of some of the other geysers. We noticed a sign posted near the visitor center that listed several of the geysers and their estimated eruption times. Their time windows were much larger than Old Faithful’s. Instead of 20 minutes windows, they were more like an hour and a half or longer. 

The next scheduled one was Castle Geyser, so we started heading that way. Even though we had not entered the eruption time window yet, in the distance, we could see it was already erupting. Are we going to miss it? We quickened our pace again. It turned out that there was no need to hurry. The Castle Geyser erupts for about 20 minutes. We had plenty of time to watch it. When we walked around the other side of it, the wind blew the steam and water droplets on us. The steam was warm, but the water droplets were surprisingly cold. We were expecting it to be hot. Perhaps it felt cold because it evaporated so quickly off of our skin. 

The next geyser on the schedule was Riverside Geyser. We found a couple of empty spots on the ground to sit and wait. The geyser teased us a few times but finally erupted about 20 minutes later. The geyser is on the other side of the river and gushes out of two holes over and into the river. 

Riverside Geyser was just past the Grotto Geyser where we had turned around the first time. After the Riverside Geyser eruption was over, we continued on to the end of the boardwalk to Morning Glory. It was a colorful hot pool. Definitely worth going all the way to the end to see. 

By the time we returned to Grand Geyser on the way back, its predicted eruption window was just about to start, so we grabbed a couple of open spots on a bench to sit and wait. The window was an hour and a half long. About every 20 minutes, the geyser would tease us. It would spurt, some of the nearby holes would spurt and vent. We patiently waited, and waited, and waited. The park rangers kept reassuring us that the geyser always eventually erupts and that it was a spectacular sight. So we waited some more. There was a young boy seated with his family next to us. He kept one of the park rangers busy for about ten minutes or so asking all kinds of questions which the ranger would answer and explain which kept us entertained as well for a while. When the ranger moved on to talk to others, the boy’s sister, who was obviously embarrassed by her brother’s incessant questions, turned to her brother and said “geez, you are so chatty!”. The boy replied “What’s wrong with being curious?”. 

As we sat there waiting, we saw Old Faithful in the distance erupt not once but twice. After sitting in the full sun for an hour and forty minutes, ten minutes past the eruption window and still no eruption, we were hot and had sucked our water bottles dry. It was time to move on. We’ll have to save Grand Geyser for the next time we visit Yellowstone. We were impressed with all of the families with young children sitting there patiently waiting with us. We did not hear a single child whine, cry, or scream. Some children were busy working in their Junior Ranger booklets, others were talking about what they saw around them. We’re not sure our children would have been so well behaved for that long at those ages. 

Needing refreshment, we headed to the closest store. They did not have Coke or hand-dipped ice cream, but they did have a free water fill station. Since we then had water to refresh us, we waited in line to go into the historic Old Faithful Inn. The line moved fairly quickly and we were only in line about ten to fifteen minutes. The lobby of the Inn was not as large as RB had imagined, but it was still very impressive. The Inn was built in 1904. Its lobby is over 76 feet tall with a fireplace chimney made from 500 tons of rock. We were hoping to celebrate RB’s birthday by eating a meal in the Old Faithful Inn’s Dining Room, but they had not re-opened the Dining Room yet since the beginning of the pandemic. 

After touring the lobby of the Inn, we headed over to the grocery store, still in search of ice cream. We waited in line another ten to fifteen minutes to get into the store. Then we found out that the line for hand-dipped ice cream inside the store was another 40 minute wait. We decided we had spent enough of the day waiting for things. The wait for hand-dipped ice cream was not worth it that day.  Instead, we headed over to the freezer section of the store and picked out an ice cream bar for RB and an ice cream sandwich for LB.

Feeling revived, we walked the loop around Geyser Hill, the last of the remaining boardwalk that we had not visited yet. While we were up on Geyser Hill, Old Faithful erupted again. So we sat down and watched for the third time, from a third different angle. 

It was now dinner time and we had done enough walking for the day. RB tracked our mileage using the AllTrails app on her phone. We had gone a total of 13.1 miles with an elevation gain of 617 feet in six and a half hours. We counted this as hike #20 of our 52 Hike Challenge.

Back at our Red Tail Lodge (what we call our camper van), we prepared dinner and ate again in the parking lot. That is definitely an advantage of traveling in a camper van. We have everything with us all the time. There is no need to think ahead and pack up food for the day, or try to predict where we will be at meal times, or what clothing we’ll need for the day like rain jackets or switching from jeans to shorts in the heat of the day.

After we washed up our dinner dishes, we left the Old Faithful area and started heading back north to Mammoth. We still had one more place we wanted to visit that day on the way back, Grand Prismatic Spring. The parking lot for Grand Prismatic Spring looked full when we passed it that morning before 9 am. We were hoping by waiting until after dinner, the crowds might lighten up. We noticed that the Old Faithful area started clearing out at about 5 pm.

There are two ways to see Grand Prismatic Spring. One is to park in the parking lot (or along the road if no spots are available) and walk the lollipop boardwalk that takes you right up to the spring. The other is to stop at the Fairy Falls Trailhead parking lot to the south and hike about three quarters of a mile up to the overlook. We wanted to do both.

Since we were coming from the south heading north, we stopped at the Fairy Falls Trailhead first. There were several open parking spots in the lot. Despite having already walked over 13 miles that day, we hiked up to the overlook at a pretty fast pace. It was already 6:45 pm and we weren’t sure how long it would be before the sun would be low enough in the sky to put the Grand Prismatic Spring in shadow. The view from the overlook was just as pretty as the pictures we had seen. The Spring has a wonderful rainbow of colors that were spread out below us in their full glory. The center of the spring is a wonderful blue. The edges of the spring transition from blue to green, to yellow to orange to brown. Breathtaking.

By the time we got back to the trailhead, it was about 7:15 pm. Was there still enough sunlight left to see the Grand Prismatic up close? We hustled over to the Grand Prismatic parking lot to find out. As we approached the turn for the parking lot, we noticed there were still cars parked alongside the road about a quarter of a mile from the lot. Surely there are now empty spots in the parking lot at 7:30 pm. Nope! It was during our second circle around the parking lot when we were able to grab a spot as someone was leaving. And yes, there was still enough sunlight left for us to enjoy the Spring up close.

Despite the signs warning people of high winds and to hang on to their hats, there was an amazing number of hats littered around the thermal area. The group in front of us counted 29 hats and they weren’t all the way around the boardwalk yet. As you get closer to the spring, you can feel the warmth of the steam and smell the sulphur in the air. You can see details that were not obvious from the overlook. However, you cannot see the colors as well up close as you can from the overlook. We definitely recommend visiting Grand Prismatic both ways, up close and from the overlook, as they each have something to add to the experience.

OK, now we were done and ready to head back to the campground. As we approached Madison Junction, we ran into a traffic jam. We were stuck in a long line of cars that were barely moving for almost an hour. Once we passed the three way stop signs at Madison Junction, the road was clear again. Almost all the cars were turning west at Madison Junction to head out the west entrance of Yellowstone Park. What caused the traffic jam? Was it just the shear volume of traffic trying to get to West Yellowstone? Or was there some wildlife or accident that closed down the road for a short while? Or both? We’ll never know for sure. 

It was about 10 pm by the time we got back to the campground. The day still reminded us of a full day at an amusement park. A day filled with lots of walking, lots of people, and lots of waiting in lines. Getting home late and exhausted, but having really enjoyed the day. Only we’ll take a day in Yellowstone over a day in an amusement park every time.

Check out our related video: Yellowstone NP: Old Faithful Area, Wyoming

(RB)