Geysers, geysers, everywhere! (day 15)

We left the trailer early to try and get a jump on the crowds at Old Faithful. Even though we’re staying in Yellowstone, and Old Faithful (obviously) is also in Yellowstone, they are separated by about an hour of driving., plus construction that can close the road for half an hour.

Old Faithful lived up to its namesake, blowing a plume of steam and water right on time. More interesting though are all of the other geysers in the area, some of which blow as you walk by them. I started calling the smaller ones “Little Belcher” geyser, although Juliet tells me they actually have proper names. There is so much gas being left off and sulfur smell in the air that you’d expect someone to be saying “Excuse me.”

There are lots of “Danger of Deadly Death” signs around to keep you on the path. Funny thing is though, there are piles of buffalo scat all over, often two feet from a big blue pool of boiling water. I wonder how they know where to step, since there isn’t boiled buffalo all over the place. I’d also think that a one ton buffalo would break through the thin crusty earth pretty easily.

It’s amazing how many geysers and mud pots there are in this section. We walked on about four miles of boardwalk and got “geysered-out.” So, we had (a mediocre buffet) lunch in Old Faithful Inn. This historic building is mostly built of timbers and is very atmospheric (some might say dark) inside.

We sat there for a while, Juliet reading, me using her cell phone (with a very good connection) to email and blog. It also turned out that we missed the day’s rain shower while sitting inside. Not bad timing at all.

We stopped by a few more mud pots and geysers on the way back to the campground. Juliet giggled as they plopped, spurted, and burped mud. I thought it was curious that a cold river (appropriately named the Hellfire) winds through this area.

Geysers right on the banks blow boiling water into the river and hot runoff pours into it from springs. On the one hand, I wish we could kayak it (it looks like a pretty easy Class II in most places) - but I fear it would dissolve the boats, or at least render them even more stinky than they already are.

More Yellowstone (but less geysers) tomorrow.

Tom