Old Faithful and Grand Geyser

On Monday, we took deep breaths, and braved the crowds at Old Faithful. It goes off ever 90 minutes or so, and we dutifully took our seats and waited with the crowd. It was great to see it, but we were ready to move on. We walked the geyser basin and got to see many of the famous hydrothermal features, as well as seeing the Riverside geyser go off. We had been told that the Grand Geyser was worth the wait, but it had a 4 hour window. After having passed it once, and realizing it had 2 hours to go, we decided to stick around and see if we could catch it. Some kids didn't make it (it was windy and COLD!), and DH took them back to the Lodge, but Mikaela, Abby and I stuck it out. In the meantime, an entire herd of Bison moved across the geyser area making people give up their seats to let them cross the boardwalk. Sure enough at the very end of its window, the Grand Geyser burst upwards in a spectacular show. As we left the Old Faithful area after dinner at the Lodge, we also saw the Castle Geyser do it's thing. The girls now know all about the four different kind of Hydrothermal features in Yellowstone, and what causes them.

PS There are a couple pictures with various people holding their noses: Most hydrothermal features are full of sulphur, which smells like rotten eggs. YUM.