Driving north, the clouds disappeared, the sun began sinking, and we played tag with the Continental Divide several times, crossing to the east, then back to the west, then to the east again, driving through the monotonous lodgepole forest. Dropping slightly, we come down into a basin with large areas clear of trees. In the middle of this is Old Faithful Lodge, an impressive pile of National Park Gothic. Old Faithful, the "town" (hey, it has a post office!) is arranged in a semicircle around Old Faithful, the geyser. It is quiet as we drive up. There is a clock, of sorts, in the Lodge, that shows the estimated time to the next eruption. We have about half an hour to go... the viewing platform is empty when we arrive, but it begins to fill up with people.
We could hike around to some of the other geysers in the area, some of which are spitting fitfully, but we stay put and get ice cream. Eventually, the geyser does that thing that it does:
And after about a minute or two, it gradually dies down.
O.K., back in the car!
Posted by David Fleck at 18 March 2007 09:17 PM
No fart jokes? I feel cheated.
Posted by: Jonathan on March 18, 2007 11:01 PM
Just out of curiosity -- is Old Faithful as faithful as it once was? I seem to recall reading that after an earthquake, or something similar, a few years ago, it became less regular in its eruptions.
Posted by: Jim Miller on March 19, 2007 05:16 PM
J-
Hey, I'm trying to keep the tone elevated, you know?
J.M-
according to Wikipedia,
With an error of 10 minutes, Old Faithful will erupt 65 minutes after an eruption lasting less than 2.5 minutes or 92 minutes after an eruption lasting more than 2.5 minutes.The time between eruptions has increased over the last century, but it has become more, not less, regular.
Posted by: David Fleck on March 20, 2007 07:28 AM