The Events of Wednesday, July 28, 2010

How much would any normal person sacrifice for a good parking spot? 15 minutes of sleep? How about an hour of rest? At 5:45 this morning, we started moving from our campsite in Colter Bay in the Grand Tetons National Park, determined to make it into Yellowstone’s Lower Geyser Basin before the masses. When we parked at 7:30, we were one of the 10 or 20 cars in the Old Faithful Geyser parking lot. After enjoying breakfast in the RV, we noticed that we were now joined by nearly a thousand other vehicles. If we had left half an hour later, we would have had to park a mile away with all the other RVs.

 As we entered the area, we learned that the next eruption of Old Faithful was to be at 10:18. As we wandered around, we met Ranger Ron, who was about to lead a walk to an observation point. While on the walk, we observed a huge bison bull wade across the Firepot River and come within 6 feet of the bridge we were on. After hearing some freaky stories of aggressive bison, I wanted to leave quickly. Ranger Ron was very informed on all the history of the Yellowstone area and was quite skilled at pointing out endemic (native) plants like the fragile Sulfur Buckwheat. He also taught us how to discern between firs, spruces, and Pinus contortus, or the Lodgepole Pine. At 10:21, we watched the short eruption of the world’s most watched geyser, Old Faithful.

Old Faithful has two different types of eruptions – a long and a short. If the time of the eruption is less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds, there is 60 minutes until the next eruption, give or take 10 minutes. If it is longer, the next eruption will occur 93 minutes later, again with the 20 minute window. Since the eruption lasted only a minute and a half, we were able to predict that the next eruption would occur within 10 minutes of 11:21. As we hiked through the many pools and geysers of the Lower Basin, we saw Old Faithful’s eruption, which was 7 minutes later than predicted, but still within its 20 minute range. We walked back to the RV for lunch.

After a delicious lunch of sandwiches, we came back to view the Visitors Center. There, we learned that the next eruption of Old Faithful was scheduled for 2:49. We went out to the packed viewing deck to see it. However, it was almost an hour later when it erupted. As we found out later, the 2:49 eruption had really occurred at 2:31, which was completely unexpected. The subsequent eruption was predicted at 3:31, but went late at 3:45. We realized that Old Faithful’s faithfulness falters at times. In the heat of the afternoon, we went on a walk on an exposed boardwalk all throughout the Geyser Basins with only a pint of water. Almost to the far point of the loop, we watched the eruption of the Oblong Geyser, where water reached heights of about 75 feet. Later, we watched the fantastic eruption of the Riverside Geyser. It typically erupts every 2 or 3 hours, and we were in the right place at the right time. We observed a huge eruption complete with mist, steam, and double rainbows. Almost disappointingly, we had to leave before the 20 minute eruption was complete.

Once back to the RV, we drove along the Grand Loop Drive until we found the perfect dinner spot, complete with elk cows and calves grazing and romping in the meadow across the road. Later on the drive back, we stopped so Dad could get pictures of the picturesque Yellowstone sunset. The sky had turned stormy and the sun was setting through the clouds. The sky was a sea of color—rich rose, soft orange and pink—accented by a beautiful rainbow. By the time we got to our RV Park an hour later, the beauty had turned into rain. After getting registered and setting up camp, we all fell fast asleep to the sound of pattering raindrops on the top of the RV.