Old Faithful
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| Old Faithful |
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| fun time at Old Faithful |
-- Aaron
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| Castle Geyser eruption |
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| Old Faithful eruption |
Old Faithful is a truly wonderful geyser. Do you know why it has faithful in its name? The 677-year old geyser is one of the six geysers in Yellowstone that can be predicted! Along the way, we stopped at Biscuit Basin, Black Sand Basin, Fountain Paint Pots, and Midway Geyser Basin. Walking around the Old Faithful trail, and observing many other geysers was great experience. The Old Faithful Visitor Education Center had a model of Old Faithful which erupted in front of us! Old Faithful is wonderful.
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| "Bobby Socks" Trees Found near active thermal features, these lodgepole pine trees drowned in super-heated water. Silica penetrated the trees and hardened their bases. |
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| Clepsydra Geyser in Fountain Paint Pots |
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| fumarole in Fountain Paint Pots |
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| Red Spouter in Fountain Paint Pots |
Our first stop was Fountain Paint Pots. It has all of the park's four hydrothermal features: hot springs, geysers, mud pots, and fumaroles. Red Spouter is a muddy hot spring that looks like a geyser as it splashes water in the spring and early summer. During the late summer and fall, Red Spouter becomes like a bubbling mudpot, then a hissing fumarole (or maybe a steam machine). Celestine Pool is an example of a hot spring. Fountain Paint Pot is a mud pot which can make mud spray over the boardwalk rail. Spasm Geyser has a rotten egg stench. Fountain Paint Pots is a nice place to be at.
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| hot spring in Fountain Paint Pots |
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| Grand Prismatic Spring |
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| the enormous Excelsior Geyser Crater |
Grand Prismatic Spring
Midway Geyser Basin was our next exciting stop. We visited twice to explore the beauty. Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest spring in Yellowstone, which means it is also one of the largest in the world! Do you know why there are the primal colors? Let me tell you. The ribbon of color in and around the thermal features are usually form by thermophiles (heat loving organisms). These organism - algae, bacteria, and archaea - are primitive life forms that have inhabited earth for almost 4 billion years. Do you know how enormous Excelsior Geyser Crater was formed? It was created by a rare case of massive geyser eruptions. The huge Excelsior Geyser Crater still erupts, but rarely. Midway Geyser Basin is a beautiful place.
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| Midway geyser basin |
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| primal colors on edge of Grand Prismatic Spring |
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| Biscuit Basin |
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| Sapphire Pool in Biscuit Basin |
Jewel Geyser
Biscuit Basin is full of
awesome things. The basin received its name from lots of biscuit-shaped mineral
deposits. There used to be lots of "biscuits" but thanks to a 1959 earthquake, Sapphire Pool, which last erupted in 1991, frequently erupted, causing the mineral deposits to disappear. Luckily, the "biscuits" are growing back
gradually. Biscuit
Basin is an excellent place.
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| Black Sand Basin |
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| Black Sand Basin |
Sunset Lake
Black Sand Basin is a cool place. Emerald Pool is exactly like what its name suggests: an emerald-green color. Sunset Lake has lots of beautiful colors. Does the water seem lifeless? If you think yes, look again; thermophiles (heat-loving microorganisms that can live at up to 167 Fahrenheit), algae, and archaea create colors on the pools. I would love to go there again.
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| Emerald Pool |
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| one of the Old Faithful Trail's geyser |
ancient Castle Geyser
The Upper Geyser Basin, where Old Faithful is located, is home to most of the world's active geysers. Some of the geysers you can see along the way are Giantess Geyser, Teakettle Geyser, Aurum (Latin for gold) Geyser, and Sawmill Geyser. The magnificent Castle Geyser, thought to be between 5,000 and 15,000 years old, is the oldest geyser in Yellowstone. What makes this geyser unique is its shape: like a castle, that can shoot water almost 90 feet into the air. We were even lucky enough to see the 20 minute eruption of the ancient Castle Geyser that erupts only twice per day! Old Faithful erupted as high as the sky. It is the largest predictable geyser. Old Faithful is really sweet to watch.
Old Faithful Trail's hot spring
cool model of
Old Faithful eruption
Old Faithful eruption
A machine caught my attention in the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center, the cool model of Old Faithful eruption. It helped me understand how geysers work. There were many different parts to the model including a glass dome on the top to store all the water of the eruption, metal poles to support, and a long tube in the middle for water to travel through. A pressure gauge, a clock-shaped thermometer, a hot metal inside of a container heating the water, and a glass covering around everything except the poles and the glass dome made up the other parts. The pressure gauge and the temperature had to reach a specific number to make an eruption. The experience was really cool.
Old Faithful is a really special geyser. Biscuit Basin, Black Sand Basin, Fountain Paint Pots, and Midway Geyser Basin are all awesome. The Old Faithful Trail is full of surprises. A model of Old Faithful helped me understand geysers. Old Faithful is the best place to visit in Yellowstone.
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| Old Faithful Inn: National Historic Landmark |
Old Faithful
-- Gordon
Old Faithful
We drove in Old Faithful from the magnificent Yellowstone west entrance. Visiting all geysers along the way was fun.
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| stinky geyser smoke |
Station 1: Fountain Paint Pots!
Take a nice big sniff. EEW!!! It, smells like rotten eggs. That looks like it's made out of mud! Fountain Paint Pots is full of wonders.
Station 2: Old Faithful!
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| Old Faithful eruption |
Old Faithful is great, in some ways it's beautiful and fabulous. Quick, look, Old Faithful is erupting. What, erupting lava? No silly, it erupts boiling water every 40 minutes – what, that quick? It erupts boiling water every 40 to 100 minutes, I repeat again.
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| Grand Prismatic Spring |
Station 3: Midway Geyser Basin!
Look at all those hot springs at Midway Geyser Basin. Quick, take some pictures. They are very colorful. Even the wonderful-smelling colored smoke.
Yellowstone is a
PERFECT attraction. It is the best!!!
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| map of Old Faithful trails |
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