Day 4 - Yellowstone lower loop (half) including Old Faithful

Woke up to a clear bright morning so we had a quickie breakfast of cereal, took care of the essentials, packed a picnic lunch, gassed up and headed for the park gates.

The west entrance to Yellowstone runs next to the Madison River and is very pretty. Many old rock slides on the steep parts but the river was gorgeous. Traffic stops for any wildlife, including elk which, as Canucks, we are more than used to... but when I neglected to film one, I opted to drive so Tim could film to his little hearts content.

Our first stop was at Fountain Flat Drive. Connor got to check out his first geothermal phenomenon.

I love the name, Ojo Caliente!

Connor testing the waters where they entered the Firehole River (runoff from Ojo Caliente)

We could see a number of steam plumes a little way off in the distance so we decided to hike over and check them out. The paths were gravel and dirt but they looked well traveled so we ventured on. None of them were labeled but when we saw this one, we decided that we would call it "Sleeping Buffalo Spring"




The little burbling spring we decided to name....


 








Sleeping Buffalo!









It was pretty cool. Connor was just looking around and said, "Dad, what is that??"





Good job buddy for finding a lone buffalo in the middle of the geyser basin!

We eventually found our way back to the truck, we spent a good hour or better exploring the area, taking pictures and getting lost... kind of scary when the ground beneath you sounds hollow. Connor got a bit close to some of the unmarked springs which freaked me out but he survived.

Our next stop was at the Fountain Paint Pots. There were tonnes of people there and it looked like a lunar landscape. The geothermals at this location included bubbling mud "paint pots".




Bubbling mud!



Tim (clean shaven) shooting points of interest.

I find natures patterns fascinating. Here are designs created by single celled beings that grow in the hostile hot acid waters of the hot springs. Amazing!

Next stop was the Midway Geyser Basin. By this time it was around 1 ish and we were getting hungry but the place was crawling with people and there was only one picnic table we could see so we decided to check it out and move on for lunch. What a great decision!! I will let the pictures and their captions tell it for me...

I believe this is the Grand Prismatic Spring... so called for every colour available in it's waters. Again, these are the primitive life forms that can survive in temperatures above boiling!

I had to take a shot of this for Connor, his favourite colour is blue and he thought it was really pretty. This is Turquoise Spring.

You can see how the water from the springs and geysers trickles in to the Firehole River, I believe this is the Excelsior Hot Spring boiling over here.

Connor was getting impatient to see Old Faithful!

Well, by the time we were done with that, it was now 3 p.m. and I was getting downright cranky. I had a small Hawaiian Punch and we set off for Old Faithful. As it had been 15 years since Tim and I had been there, everything looked very different and we were a bit lost to begin with. It took us about 15 minutes to park and when we did, we were very near some picnic tables so the first order of business was lunch!! Once that was all cleaned up, we grabbed what we needed (sunscreen, water bottles, wallet but I forgot my camera!) and set off in search of the most Famous of All Geysers... Old Faithful.

They have built a new interpretive centre since we were there last, so we wandered in to check it out. Old Faithful was set to blow at 4:02 so we had about 40 minutes to kill. At 30 minutes prior to Old Faithful doing it's thing, they had a show in the interpretive centre so we decided to get in out of the sun and check that out. It was only supposed to be 16 minutes long after all...

Well wouldn't you know it, Old Faithful let loose early!! And we missed it! That was okay though, we had lots more to explore in the Upper Geyser Basin. We hiked around and took in all the other geysers, springs and fumeroles in the area and found great seats to watch Old Faithful. Tim and Connor went and grabbed some ice cream for the wait and before we knew it!! Old Faithful gave us the show of a lifetime. Connor was so excited! He thought it was so fantastic. As it was getting late, (5:30) and we had about an hour back to our campsite, we decided to call it a day and head back to camp. Tim drove since there were no scheduled stops and we arrived back in West Yellowstone a little worse for wear (due to late application of sunscreen, my shoulders are quite fried and I have a loonie sized blister on my left heel from the day previous, luckily I packed moleskin as I will need it tomorrow!) We had cajun chicken, light ceasar salad and rice for supper, followed by raisin oatmeal cookies, a campfire in a can (google it, it is the best invention ever!) and my sunburn was giving me the chills so we went in to the trailer and made popcorn for an evening snack (olive oil and sea salt over propane stove... so good!). It is now 11:30 and I am pooped and sore and ready for bed. Stay tuned for another day of adventure with the Filtz family!