Scott and I went to the Upper Geyser Basin on our way out of the park and hiked the basin. We walked around the back of Old Faithful and huddled under a tree to keep out of the rain while we waited for it to go off. It did not disappoint and was spectacular.
The basin around Old Faithful has a boardwalk over the fragile thermal crust so you can walk around and get pretty close to fumaroles, pools, and geysers. We were amused at the sign in many languages meant to scare you silly so you don’t walk onto the hot ground.
It was fascinating to see how many people were NOT deterred by the scary sign, even though it was obvious just by looking that the crust is VERY thin in many places and you would be boiled like a frog if you fell in. Whatever.
We were obedient tourists who stayed on the boardwalk. Also Scott, the geologist, has a healthy respect for geothermal features.
There were some fascinating geysers that pumped, bubbled, spouted, and gurgled. Because it was cool and overcast there was a fair amount of steam all over the place and it really looked amazing and otherworldly.
We were halfway to Morning Glory Pool when the rain started up again. Since we were in the middle of the basin, there was nowhere to go but onward, so we pressed on and made it, albeit totally drenched. Because of the cloud cover our picture isn’t too impressive and doesn’t show the great colors. It’s really a pretty blue in the deep part.
On the trail back to the car we were pretty much alone, came around a curve, and found a bison just standing by the trail next to a warm geyser. We approached quietly and I couldn’t resist the photo op. Scott says I was closer than the requisite 25 yards, but I never left the trail, so I felt justified. He kept his eye on it the whole time and was giving instructions for where I was supposed to run if it charged me. (See previous post on how out of shape I am and you’ll laugh yourself silly at the thought of me racing for the trees in front of a charging bison). Anyway, we got a good shot on my phone and I posted immediately to Facebook because the Old Faithful area has cell coverage. The wonders of technology!
We quietly headed off down the trail with the bison not deigning to acknowledge us, and farther on we were herded off the trail by rangers who were cordoning an area where a bison was eating. Scott tried to tell one of them that we had just passed a bison much closer to the trail than this one they were protecting, but he was being harassed by non-cooperative tourists and didn’t really get it, so we moved on. Hope nobody was trampled later.
