Not So Faithful

Old Faithful is easily the most tourist-laden section of Yellowstone; it is literally the only natural artifact in the park that warrants it own exit off of the Grand Loop. It is also the only area that features a full parking lot, shopping, complete eating facilities, and the singular bubble of cell phone service in all of Yellowstone (as evidenced by the two-liner I posted a couple days ago before we started catching up).

Old Faithful's eruptions are such a park draw that predicted eruption times are posted on TV screens within and without the buildings surrounding the geyser so that people may plan their day accordingly. Our eruption was scheduled for 12:24, so after grabbing a quick lunch of bbq pulled pork (delicious), we settled down on the massive boardwalk ring surrounding Old Faithful to wait.

When the geyser is inactive, small plumes of steam continue to billow out of the ground like a science fair volcano, and we sat staring at this for quite a while. Let me share with you a secret: Old Faithful is no longer the fountain to set your clock to. Eruptions still occur about every 90 minutes on average, but we watched three false starts with water sputtering weakly skyward while the clock ticked past 12:40.

Finally the eruption began, and after the miniature geysers we had seen littered about the park, it was an impressive sight to see. A gushing stream of boiling water, the ground exhaled a steaming river for a solid 2 1/2 minutes before finally collapsing back into an innocuous mound once again. Old Faithful was a solid conclusion to our tour of Yellowstone, though for the throngs of tourists who had clearly travelled considerable distances just for the famous geyser, I would heartily submit some of the park's lesser known but arguably more captivating locales for consideration.



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