Yellowstone - Day 3

"FIREHOLE FALLS

Firehole Falls is a 40 foot waterfall amidst 800-foot thick lava flows forming the canyon walls.

FIREHOLE SWIMMING AREA

Lots of people headed down the steps to the swimming area - too many people!  And "firehole" is misleading as the area is NOT a hot springs!

Can you spot the swimmers on the rocks?

Firehole River further upstream.

FOUNTAIN FLAT DRIVE

Should have been called "BUFFALO FLAT DRIVE" the first day we drove through the area!  It was a perfect day for buffalo watching.  These two young bulls acted just like a couple of teenage boys - they jostled each other for the best grass as they walked along!

Here they are still pushing to be first!  They kept it up all the way to the road, literally looked both ways, crossed the road, and then resumed their "fighting" when they got to the other side!

So many buffalo...

Everywhere we looked we could see more bison.

This bull continued on across the river.

Mother and calf.

Firehole River

Another cow and calf.

Big bull resting in a buffalo wallow.

A buffalo wallow is a natural topographical depression in the flat prairie that holds water or run-off.

I had never seen so many buffalo at one time; we returned the next day and not a bison in sight!

We BRAKE for BUFFALO!

FIREHOLE LAKE DRIVE

Another trip to check out White Dome - no activity.

We did get to watch this comical coyote try to catch his prey, he jumped several times before he was successful!

LOWER GEYSER BASIN

Near Celestine Pool

Lodgepole pines

The boardwalk loop, Fountain Paint Pot Trail, has many geothermal features including hot pools, erupting geysers, fumaroles, and mudpots.  Notice the geysers in the distance.

Clepsydra Geyser nearly continuously erupts to 45 feet.  Clepsydra derived from the Greek word for water clock.  Before the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake it erupted every 3 minutes - like clockwork.

MUDPOTS

Fountain Paint Pot

MIDWAY GEYSER BASIN

Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest natural hot springs in the United States at about 360 feet in diameter and third largest in the world.

Overflow area

A blistering hot 160°!

Run-off area on the backside of spring.

UPPER GEYSER BASIN

Jewel geyser is named for the beads of pearly sinter (formed from silica) around the geyser's vent as seen in this picture.

Rusty coral?  Actually it's bacteria, orange colored from the carotenoids that protect the bacteria from the harsh light of Yellowstone's summer sun.

POOL at FAIRY FALLS

BISCUIT BASIN

See the hot springs bubbling up at the rivers' edge?

We crossed the Continental Divide three different times inside the park with elevations of 8262 feet at Craig Pass, 8391 feet, and at 7988 feet.

Impressive mule deer is almost invisible in the tall grass.

Old Faithful & Old Faithful Inn

Madison River

We walked out in this amazingly clear river!

WAITING FOR OLD FAITHFUL

People are beginning to gather on the boardwalk.

Starting to steam... Old Faithful erupts 17 times a day or about every 60 to 110 minutes.  

Wow, how high is that?  Old Faithful averages approximately 130 feet.

It doesn't disappoint!

I thought these lights were so cool!   Scott and I headed inside the Old Faithful Lodge to check eruption times, sit on the porch, and have an ice cream cone - ah, perfect!

OLD FAITHFUL INN

We parked the trailer and spent one night at Old Faithful Inn.  Checked that off my bucket list and yes, it was everything I hoped it would be.  Nothing short of amazing!

Old Faithful Inn was designed and built by Robert Reamer, a 29 year-old architect from Ohio.  His goal was to bring the outdoors in by creating a forest indoors!  The log cribbing around the chimney flue is awesome!

Just look at that stack of Lincoln logs!

We sat on the porch roof and had drinks and visited with two men from Texas while waiting for Old Faithful, very relaxing...  The gabled dormer windows can be seen from the four-story lobby.  

View of geyser basin from the porch roof.

Tour bus parked and ready for tourists, geysers steaming in the distance.

INSIDE OLD FAITHFUL INN

Front door - Blacksmith George Colpitts forged the hardware for all the doors, fireplace tools, and the clock frame on site.

Door bell...

The key hangs behind the front door; originally the last guest in locked the door!

Steam radiator underneath the windows and only about 10 inches high.  When Old Faithful Inn first opened in the spring of 1904, it boasted electric lights and steam heat!

Yep, that's me relaxing in the lobby - waiting for Scott to register us for the night.

Crow's Nest.  We were allowed on the second and third floors but no higher.  The windows are the gabled dormers seen from the outside earlier.  Architect Robert Reamer purposefully off-set the windows and made them various sizes to give the feel of light streaming through the forest trees.

Reamer used local materials to recreate a forest indoors; the lobby measures 76 feet, 6 inches high.  It is considered the largest log building in the world!  The lodge pole pine, including twisted supports, was cut 4 miles south of the site.  He had men whose only job was to scour the woods for matching twisted supports.

Another view of mismatched windows, the light was really beautiful on the lobby floor as the sun went down in the evening.

Burl newel post.

Ceiling in the lobby.

Old light fixture.

500 tons of rhyolite rock was quarried 5 miles away to build the massive lobby chimney.  The fireplace is 16 feet square at the base with a fireplace on each face and a flue at each corner.

Ironwork clock on the north face.

Fireplace screen and tools forged by George Colpitts.

Scott listening to our guide who just happened to be from Salem, Oregon!

We could look through a large window to the dining room below from the second floor, where we later had dinner.  Musicians played here on the second floor and the music drifted to the dining room and lobby below.

In days gone by, at the end of the window sill, musicians would carve their names.  

Radiator in the hallway outside our room.

Door number...

I loved the art on the walls of our room - just what I wanted it to be like!

Our window looking out to a steaming Old Faithful.  We were lucky to have a view between the trees; some rooms the view is obscured by trees!

The outside of the building was under construction so we also had a view of the equipment!

Front entrance to Old Faithful Inn; on arrival we walked in the back door and didn't pull the trailer through this area.  Much too congested!

ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS OF "OLD HOUSE"

Construction of the original 140 rooms, today called "Old House",  took 13 months to complete.  This is the deck off the gift shop.

Viewing porch.

Window detail.

Lanterns along the walkways outside.

HAMILTON'S STORE

Hamilton's Store is a great stop for lunch, groceries, sundries, and souvenirs.  Very fun place to browse!

We were here on the last day of the season so all the porch furniture had already been put away. 

Burl knots.