The Blue Whale and Other Travel Tales: Old Faithful and Its Immediate Neighborhood

Old Faithful 8:30 p.m. Eruption (with Sun Starting to Set)

There are more than 10,000 hydrothermal features at Yellowstone. They are generally divided into categories: Geysers--Fountain and Cone; Hot springs; Fumaroles, Mudpots.

Of these, the most famous is the geyser Old Faithful. Old Faithful is located in the Upper Geyser Basin, where most of the world's active geysers are. This is one of the three largest geyser basins along the Firehole River. One must stay on the boardwalks to protect both the fragile crust and the visitors from possible burns. The Upper Geyser Basin's boardwalk trail are looped around various hydrothermal features. Pamphlets and signs designate the distance of each loop.

In this Basin, there are more than twenty named geysers; around named ten pools, and six or so named hot springs. Five of these geysers have fairly predictable eruptions (Rangers make the predictions and they are posted inside the resort buildings). Old Faithful currently erupts approximately every ninety minutes (plus or minus ten minutes). Castle, Grand, Daisy and Riverside are also predicted by Rangers. Other named geysers: Plume, Beehive, Spasmodic, Giantess, Turban. Old Faithful, although it is not the largest or the most regular in the park, erupts more frequently than the other large ones.

About twenty minutes before predicted eruptions, very large crowds gather. There are benches, but mostly it is SRO. We spent two nights in the Old Faithful Lodge Cabins, so we near enough and very blessed to have seen several eruptions. For several of ones toward evening, we sat on the porch of the Lodge. The first night we could see a whole row of chartreuse colored shirts, but could not read with the naked eye what it said. My camera lens brought it into focus. It was Troop 230. Since the group had both boys and girls, we were not sure if they were Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. They were trying to get the crowd to do a WAVE. With some success, the pre-show was almost as good as the eruption (well, not really...but it was fun to watch). I am assuming that the boys or girls who were not part of the "Troop" were siblings. They were not local. We saw them at a couple of other places over the next couple of days.

Troop 230 working on the pre-show

Our pre-show continued on the porch where we were with (as one of my friends says) "Princess Seating." There was a cute little chipmunk. He (or she) became engaged with a potato chip that had been dropped by a visitor. He was a show onto himself. Scampering back and forth every time some one moved. It took some time to consume that chip. He was fun to watch. This part of the pre-show lasted close fifteen minutes...just in time for Old Faithful to produce THE SHOW.

Pools have such names as Beauty, Doublet, Crested, Chromatic and Liberty; springs, Round, Orange, and Heart.

There is a lot of beautiful colors in the pools. These colors generally are formed by thermophiles. These are organisms that are primitive and like heat. Algae, bacteria, and archaca. Different groups of these life forms thrive in various temperatures, some much hotter than others; some prefer slightly cooler temperatures. Those around Old Faithful seem to prefer a maximum of 167 degrees (F). Many around the Park prefer much higher temperatures.

I walked Geyser Hill one evening after we had seen Old Faithful blow. I really wanted to follow the entire loop of trails, but it was getting late. So...

Anemone Geyser is a cone geyser. It erupts to about six feet. It was erupting when I first arrived. I did not have the camera ready. Missed the eruption pictures. The pamphlet "Old Faithful Area Trail Guide" states that if Anemone Geyser is empty one needs to wait a few minutes to see the stages of a typical eruption. The pool fills. Over-flows. Then bubbles rise. The next thing Anemone erupts. Water drains with a gurgling sound. Cycle is approximately 7-10 minutes late. I waited what I thought was quite a while. Nothing happened. I continue along the trail and turned to find it erupting again. Too little, too late, you silly thing.

Definitions and how they work: (from above mentioned pamphlet)

Geysers--Constrictions in the plumbing prevent water from circulating freely to the surface where heat would escape. The deepest water can exceed the surface boiling point 199 degrees (F). The surrounding pressure also increases with depth. Increased pressure exerted by the enormous weight of the overlying water prevents the deeper water from boiling. Bubbling upward, steam expands as it nears the top of the water column. At a critical point, the confined bubbles lift the water above and the geyser overflows. This decreases pressure on the system, and violet boiling results. Instantly, a huge volume of steam is a superheated mass. Eruption begins. In an eruption, water is expelled faster than it can enter the geyser's plumbing system. As the pressure gradually decreases, so does the heat. The eruption stops when the reservoir is exhausted--drained of water or heat.

Fountain-type geysers--water is shot out in various directions from the pool.

Cone-type geysers erupt in a concentrated jet of water, usually from a con formation.

Hot springs--although related to geysers, their underground systems are not constricted. Water circulates the surface where heat escapes through evaporation or runoff. The cooler water returned to the underground system, keeping it in equilibrium.

Fumaroles--vent steam. These are the hottest hydrothermals within the Park. Their underground systems reach down into the hot rock masses, but contain little water. Rain and melting snow, when drain into fumaroles, it is instantly converted to stream.

Mudpots--Most of the above items are neutral or alkaline. The mudpots are acidic. Within a limited water supply. Do you smell rotten eggs? Hydrogen sulfide. This rises from deep with the earth. This becomes the energy source for some of the microorganisms. The microorganisms help to convert the rotten egg smell to sulfuric acid which breaks down the rock into clay. Bubbles and plops. This comes from various gases escaping through the wet clay. The mudpots are general gray or tan-ish. Bubble, bubble, plop, plop!

THE SHOWS BEGINS

Our First Eruption of Old Faithful

(that We Witnessed)