October 3rd, 2015
Facts about Old Faithful
Old Faithful erupts approximately every 91 minutes after an eruption lasting more than two and a half minutes and 65 minutes after an eruption lasting less than two and a half minutes. Recent research proves that the length of the intervals is increasing and scientists believe this may be due to earthquakes which are affecting subterranean water levels.
Cycling Stats
Start Point: Goose Lake Rec Site, Yellowstone NP, Wyoming, United States of America
Destination: Goose Lake Rec Site, Yellowstone NP, Wyoming, United States of America
32.4 km trip, 2:11 time, 36.5 km/h maximum speed, 14.8 km/h average speed
What happened…
Andrew writes:
We took our time getting ready today, which included a full pot of coffee. There was nothing to pack up though since we were going to do and out and back to Old Faithful and the surrounding area today. There is something like 150 geysers and springs within a square mile of OF.
It was surprising actually how tiring it all was. The area is so popular with other tourists, that we spent a lot of the day fighting traffic, jostling with everyone around us, trying to get into a good spot to take photos, struggling against the wind and the rain. Don’t get me wrong, the sight of steaming ground all around fills me with both a sense of dread, as well as curiosity. What is happening below me!? Is the “super volcano” going to erupt any minute? Yet, when Amanda asked if I wanted to skip going to another paint pot and just go back to camp, I leapt at the opportunity!
Thank goodness I did, because the rain let up for a bit and we were able to dry our drenched selves out. We sat beside the lake listening to old radio murder mysteries and soaking it all in. Across the lake from us, steam billows up from the Excelsior and Grand Prismatic pools, which when it gets dark enough will glow faintly.
Maybe the thing I was most disappointed about today though was that Jen and Michel failed to materialize. I’m sure they decided to heck with the weather and they just kept cycling south. I just hope that they’re ok and that we’ll meet again down the road somewhere, sometime.
I said brrr, it’s cold in here, it must be something in the atmosphere! I’m sitting out in the dying rays of the sun, as the mercury has dipped below zero. I got rained on all day today, so mostly I’m enjoying the feeling of being dry right now, despite the cold. They’re calling for snow tonight, and tomorrow, so we might just stay put rather than cycle 60 some-odd miles out of the park. We’ll see!
Amanda writes:
Today was kind of a rest day in that we didn’t have to tear down the tent. We were returning to our site after our Old Faithful tour. The Grand Prismatic spring is one of the most famous sites in Yellowstone. It is super cool to see but with the cold temperatures there was no opportunity for that amazing photo from our camera. Old Faithful blowing it’s load was pretty cool too, but after seeing all the others; it just seemed like another geyser. I guess the crowds never help much, we prefer the smaller sights.
It rained. It rained a lot. I don’t like the rain. We were soaked by the time we returned to camp and I had a hard time warming up again. When we were at Old Faithful we decided to book another night at the campsite just in case we got snowed in. Snow was forecasted so we figured why not. It was too bad that our cycling friends hadn’t arrived, but I hope for their sake they just tried to move past the shit weather. We went to bed with the idea if we woke up to snow and rain as forecasted we would stay and if it was dry; we’d ride.