Old Faithful - 2026

 

Old Faithful just started to erupt as I was walking up to the Visitor's Center.

Always interesting to watch these eruptions...they are all so different yet the same.  The eruption starts, it goes higher and higher and higher, then it settles down and starts lowering and lowering.  The stream of hot water goes from 100 to 200 feet high, expelling 3,500 to 8,000 gallons of water.  All of this happens withing a 2-5 minute time period.  These eruptions take place about 20 times each day, within an interval of around 60-90 minutes.

 

I needed to go to the Visitor's Center to pick up another Jr. Ranger booklet for my Granddaughter Addie.  They also had a "Jr. Scientist" booklet too, so I think I have four, perhaps five of these now. 

As we headed back to West Yellowstone and on to Henry's Lake, we had traffic issues as we got to Biscuit Basin, Midway Geyser Basin, which includes the Grand Prismatic Spring, and the Fountain Paint Pot areas.  The worst was Midway Basin...where cars were trying to pull out and pull into various parking lots and parking areas along the roadway.

The traffic thinned as soon as we passed Midway Geyser Basin, and there are many views along the way.

One side road I would highly recommend is the Firehole Canyon Drive, just a mile or two from Madison Campground.  Autos, vans and small Class C's can make this drive, larger units will not do well.

 

This two mile one-way side road will bring you out onto the main highway.  It is a seldom used side road, compared to others, and is one of the nicer side roads in Yellowstone.

Another side road is found as you get close to the West Entrance.  It is called Riverside Drive.  It follows the main highway, and is a two-way road.  It gives you a chance to slow way down, since few take this route, and see the Madison River and the areas on the other side of the river.  

It took us just under 4 hours from when we left Henry's Lake, to when we got back. We encountered no rain along our route...but today (Saturday) we have been drenched.  Other than a trip to get Propane and a store down in Island Park, we have stayed close to Frome Park.  Doubt I will do a blog Sunday, but we do intend to move Monday to the Southwest side of the Tetons, and on Tuesday we will visit the Tetons again.