Old Faithful geyser basin area

Friday afternoon - 1 July 2011

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We arrived in the Old Faithful village just before noon
and walked from one of the generously sized parking lots to the sidewalk ringing Old Faithful geyser,
and on to the Visitor Center. There we found that the next eruption of Old Faithful was expected momentarily,
so we walked outside and waited. There was a crowd and a festival atmosphere.

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Old Faithful from in front of the Visitor Center eruption imminent - - beginning to erupt.

Old Faithful in full eruption at 12:16 PM

the larger store in the Old Faithful area

Old Faithful Visitor Center

Old Faithful lodge - the older log structure - viewed from in front of the Visitor Center.

Old Faithful basin - west side.

After Old Faithful settled down we walked over to the old Lodge and had a look around inside.
The dining room looked posh. We decided to splurge and eat there.
It was not as expensive as anticipated and the lunch menu was much simpler than expected...
pre frozen and thawed hamburger patties... sigh... but the coffee was good.

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After lunch we discovered a free historical tour of the Lodge was forming and we tagged along.
The Lodge known by the locals as the House .
It has some 330 rooms and is open only part of the year, being closed during the winter.
Each year upon close down it is winterized... closed securely and all pipes drained.
The Lodge was built in 1903-1904. Local woodworkers worked all winter to have it finished by the 1904 visitor season.
The lumber and rock was gathered locally from area just outside the park.
It was illegal for railroads to build anything inside a national park.
A separate corporation was set up to build the Lodge and the money came from the railroads.
Railroad lines had been extended across the country some miles north of Yellowstone and to draw more customers the railroad wanted to offer a destination.

View from the west side of the geyser basin.
It is the largest log structure in the world.

Groups of men were sent out to find the crooked logs used in the construction.
They called it tortured wood and given weather and other mishaps that trees endure there was plenty available.

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A staircase - - The great fireplace
The chimney suffered during at least 2 major earthquakes but was rebuilt after each tembler.

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Furniture designed for the old Lodge.

One of the original rooms furnished as it was in the early 1900s
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One of the extentions to the Lodge.

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After the tour we visited the ice cream bar and then headed out to the sitting area above the entrance porch to eat it.

As luck would have it, It was just time to see the Old Faithful geyser erupt.

After this we walked around the geyser basin

West of the main Old Faithful geyser area Castle geyser was in continuous eruption with much steam and roaring.

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Some hot springs are quiet, aquamarine blue and deep.

Some go through cycles of filling and emptying.

Joseph is taking a picture of this small geyser.
Mona was talking with a lady who had been watching it for hours waiting for an eruption.
This geyser is very irregular and sometimes goes for over a day without spouting.
As luck would have it, Mona and Joseph were there only a few minutes and it went off.

We were on site long enough to see Old Faithful erupt a third time
This picture from the North with the Visitor Center and the Old Lodge in the background.

a bubbling hot spring

minerals and very special hot water algae growing in the water flowing from a hot spring

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Flowers growing on the hot ground off the boardwalk in the geyser basin

Ground squirrel on the boardwalk

As we made our way to the parking lot to leave we detoured through

The newer Old Faithful lodge

Inside the newer Old Faithful lodge

After a long day we drove back past the Madison campsite out of the Park to the town of West Yellowstone.
Here we got groceries, gas, and stopped by a Radio Shack for SD cards and a cable.
Then back to camp and supper and a short chat with the folks who were camped in an R-pod 151 model.
The evening ranger program was on wolves.
It included information on European wolf history as well as general information and information on their re-introduction to Yellowstone.

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