We were vaguely aware that Yellowstone National Park is the oldest in the nation, and the first national park in the world, but the founding year (1872) still came as something of a surprise. As with much of the western USA, the original accommodations (1891 – Yellowstone Lake Hotel) were built by the railroads, but by the early 1900s Old Faithful Geyser had created the need for a major new facility at that location. In the modern era, there are two additional lodges (Snow Lodge, Old Faithful Lodge) arranged around the world’s most famous geyser.
The Inn’s seven story log lobby is just as impressive today as it was in 1904, and it is the central feature which entitles the Old Faithful Inn to claim its status as the crown jewel of our national park lodges. One guide book advises all visitors to the Old Faithful Geyser to “brave” the crowds and venture into the lobby of the Inn, no doubt in reference to conditions in the mid-summer.
USA - Wyoming - Yellowstone - Old Faithful Inn // Left: Hotel tour embarks from the lobby // Right: Unsurpassed log construction
The east wing of the hotel overlooks the famous geyser, and we paid the premium price for an east wing room despite realizing that we could easily be assigned to the wrong side of the building. Upon finding ourselves on the right side of the building, the surprise came in finding that a row of evergreen trees are planted between the hotel and Old Faithful, effectively blocking any view. Without doing any historical research, I would wager that planting the trees was the only way to maintain the peace in the face of a hotel full of people all requesting the same handful of rooms. There may be other qualitative reasons to prefer east wing rooms over those in the west wing, but do not pay the additional price with the expectation that you’ll be able to sit in your room and watch the geyser erupt.
Old Faithful itself is not quite the slave to the clock that you might imagine, with the official park brochure giving a range of 40 to 126 minutes between eruptions. Estimates of the geyser’s schedule are posted in the hotel, with the explanation that adjustments are made based on forest ranger observations of the interval and volume of recent events. We generally found that “faithful” meant within 10 minutes of the next estimate. Old Faithful is not the only show around, as you’ll see on the following page, with a series of boardwalks taking you on easy tours of equally beautiful phenomena within a very short distance. One concept for a Yellowstone visit would be to take a folding chair and a book and stake yourself out at some of the less frequent geyser performers, whose schedules are also estimated by some mysterious forest service process.
USA - Wyoming - Yellowstone National Park // Left: Storm clouds highlight the pure white steam of Old Faithful Geyser // Right: Bee Hive Geyser and the Old Faithful Inn
Our first full day in Yellowstone was spent on a tour of thermal features between Old Faithful and Mammoth Hot Springs, a very full day though only covering a distance of 50 miles. The following day was committed to a drive back to Yellowstone Lake and north to the “Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone”, a route which also included some interesting expressions of steam and hot water. Putting aside the chronology of what we saw on which day, the fumaroles, geysers, hot pools, etc. deserve their very own Page 3.
Yellowstone National Park – Page 1
Page 2 – You Are Here
Page 3 – Yellowstone Geysers and Such
Page 4 – Yellowstone Wildlife and Scenery
Page 5 – Travertine and Trees
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