What would a trip to Yellowstone National Park be without a stop at the Old Faithful Geyser? Located on the southwest corner of the Grand Loop Road in the Upper Geyser Basin, Old Faithful will give visitors a show about every hour to hour and a half. When you stop at the visitor center building near Old Faithful, they will have the next predicted time displayed.
Benches are set up around the boardwalk that goes by Old Faithful, so you can grab some food and relax while you wait, or you can walk around the boardwalks and see the other (less faithful?) geysers in the Upper Basin. There are 150 geysers right within the area near Old Faithful. As you look around, there are just tons of spots that the earth is letting out steam. As you walk around, you’re sure to see some of these geysers erupt.
If you sit by Old Faithful on one of the benches, as you wait for its big show, you’ll watch as its steady stream of steam pours from the ground. But then, the steam pouring out gets taller and taller and more water is in the air, and the crowd just might start cheering on Old Faithful’s show!
You can walk around the Upper Geyser Basin to check out the rest of the geysers in the area. Some are steaming pools, with water that looks so clear as you gaze into their depths. The colors within the pool are actually made up of thermophiles. Thermophiles are bacteria and other microorganisms that live in the water. Different organisms like different temperatures, so you’ll see them appear in different colors around the pools.
Everywhere you look in this area, it seems like the ground is steaming. And you’ll look over, and one of the holes will start shooting out water! It is such a unique place to visit!
While we were there, Castle Geyser put on quite the show for us! You could see it starting to erupt from across the basin… and it just kept going and going! I think it went off for at least 45 minutes! And we left before it was done! It was really quite impressive.
The area around Old Faithful has quite a few amenities. There are a few shops to buy souvenirs. There’s a gas station and store to get some supplies. A restaurant and a few of the hotels. We stayed at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge for a few days on the trip. You can’t beat the location! But it is rather, uh, primitive. No a/c (we were there in July so it was warm), no TVs, and so-so WiFi. The phone service in the park is limited around the most popular areas, and nil in most of the park! Definitely lets you focus your eyes outside so you can take in the scenery and spot some wildlife!
If you’d like to see the video of Old Faithful and Castle Geyser erupting, check out this our link to our YouTube channel.
Old Faithful is a must-see at Yellowstone National Park! Drop us a comment to let us know your favorite place at Yellowstone or the place you’d most like to see! Thanks for stopping by!
