Colorado Cruiser: Yellowstone - Old Faithful, Pain Pots, Lower Grand Loop

Day 2 in Yellowstone

It rained again through part of the night but this time there was no wind, lightning, or thunder so the baby didn't wake up screaming. The rain stopped by 6:00 but the temperature this morning was in the high 30s. Very cold.

When I got up, Mike (Rex's oldest brother) was trying to light the fire, but the lighter wasn't working.

I pulled my striker and char cloth out of the trunk of the bike and made some fire with a couple of quick strikes. The striker throws sparks onto the char cloth. The char cloth catches the spark and begins to smolder without actually bursting into flame. Then put the char cloth on your kindling and gently blow until it gets so hot that fire erupts. It took about 20 seconds from strike to good fire and I think it's cool to be able to do that.

We got the fire going about the time Koren and Rex came out of the tent with Gideon. Or maybe they came out because the fire was going. Koren huddles next to the fire with Foxy trying to stay warm.

This morning we had breakfast burritos and they were warm and nice. Most people huddled over their burrito until it started to cool down before finally eating it, then getting another one and warming themselves all over again.

We left camp at 9:30 with plans to do Old Faithful and all the southern geyser valleys. Our tour guide app (Phil) recommended that we take the Firehole Canyon Road. It's a 2 mile loop along the Firehole river with a stop at some pretty falls where we caught up with one of Rex's sisters and her family. We also took the Firehole Lake drive and saw one of the geysers erupting. I wish they had more of these side roads because it's nice to slow down and cruise around such scenic spots.

We got to Old Faithful by 10:30 and easily found a parking spot. In fact we passed about 10 spots before finding one that we thought was close enough.

Koren and Rex put together their bike trailer stroller. It's a big wide baby trailer with a plastic cover which would keep Gideon warm. The outside temperature felt like it had dropped even lower than when we first got up. It felt like it was near freezing out with a strong wind blowing. So we tucked Gideon into his bubble of warmth. We all wanted to climb in with him.

We headed towards Old Faithful and the visitor's center, but as we got near, a flood of people came walking back toward us. We had just missed the geyser erupting. The next eruption would be nearly 90 minutes from now. So we walked around the visitor's center for a bit. We decided not to sit with the crowds waiting for Old Faithful to spew. Phil had suggested watching from Geyser Hill to get a wider view of the eruption.

We followed the path out past Old Faithful and across a small stream to the Upper Geyser Basin. The crowds that passed us from the last eruption must have headed into the buildings because there were only about 30 other people out in the basin with us. Just small groups wandered the walkways with us.

We followed the path clockwise past the different geysers and steam vents. We picked a bench with a good view to watch Old Faithful, but we still had nearly an hour, so we kept walking and taking pictures.

We started joking that poor Gideon wasn't visible in any of our photos because he was hidden in his little bubble of warmth stroller, so I took a closeup photo of him through the plastic cover.

As the predicted eruption time approached, we worked our way to our bench. We watched the crowds leave the buildings and fight over the benches surrounding the geyser. Even though it was very cold, the benches and walkways filled with people.

I setup my small tripod with my big cannon rebel camera on top and took a few pictures to make sure everything was ready. I wanted a good family with Old Faithful erupting behind us. It was about this time that I realized my camera was actually set to macro mode so my pictures probably weren't coming out right. Oh well, live and learn.

Old Faithful went off about 10 minutes ahead of the predicted time and I got my picture. It's hard to see the geyser stream because of all the steam billowing off of it, but I got what I wanted. We kept watching until the eruption finished, then headed for the cafeteria to warm up.

Sydnee and Beckham had made sandwiches back at camp so we weren't going to buy lunch at the cafeteria, but I did go in and buy hot chocolate for everyone. We grabbed a table to eat our lunch and warm back up. I love the beautiful rough log pillars throughout the lunch room and the windows with views of Old Faithful.

I remember back in the mid 1980s Nannette and I brought our kids to Yellowstone and had some similar weather. It was very cold and we came to the lunch room to warm up. We were sitting here eating when the geyser erupted and had to rush out to watch it.

When we finished eating we left and went to check out Old Faithful Lodge. Phil had told us we had to see it . . . really . . . you gotta go . . . I'm not kidding . . . It's great.

The lobby is so cool with all the rough log structure, massive fire place, railings, and chandeliers.

I was reminded of another memory. Back in the early 1970s, my family came to Idaho in the middle of the winter when Yellowstone is normally closed. But it's actually open to Snowmobiles. Another veterinarian friend of my father came with us bringing their Snowmobiles, borrowed and rented ones as well. We rode in from West Yellowstone and stayed the night in Old Faithful Lodge.

I remember that I stayed in a room on an upper floor with a view of Old Faithful. The first time it went off it was really cool. The second time it was neat. But after 18 hours of eruptions it became old hat. The second day of that trip we rode the lower portion of the grand loop and visited the Upper Falls, then exited back out West Yellowstone. Maybe I'll have to write a more detailed blog about that trip sometime.

Back to the current trip.

I took charge of Gideon and the stroller while the others went into the gift shop. The stroller is so big that it was a challenge crossing the lobby with all of the people but a little time and patience let me cross the lobby several times as I tried to keep Fox entertained. We worked our way around the lobby and down to the fireplace, then down several of the hallways. Any time I stopped for longer than about 30 seconds, Gideon let me know he was displeased so I'd start moving again.

Once they came out of the gift shop I told them I was going to take Gideon back to the car and get him ready to go. He was getting tired and grumpy, and so was I. Sydnee was also done shopping so she came with me.

On our way to the car I noticed that the parking lot was much more full than when we got here, and there were cars moving slowly up and down all of the aisles looking for parking spots. As soon as we got to the explorer, a car stopped and put on their turn signal indicating that they wanted our spot. I walked over and told them we weren't leaving right away and they gave me a very grumpy frown and moved on.

Sydnee buckled Gideon in and I started taking the stroller apart. I'd never done this stroller so it took a while, and every few seconds another car would pull up wanting our spot. I got tired of waving them off and just concentrated on the stroller. Finally I got it loaded in the back, then walked over to the current waiting car. It was a japenese family and I told them we weren't going to be leaving for 20 minutes or more. To my surprise they said that was OK with them and they'd wait for us.

They were blocking all the other cars in the aisle and people were starting to get really mad, so I suggested that they at least pull over to one side so cars could pass. The guy was hesitant to move because he said people had already cut him off from 2 other parking spots when he left too much room, but he eventually pulled over and cars started to pass him.

I went back to the car and radioed Koren to ask how long they were going to be. They were slowly moving through all of the giftshops and had 2 more to go. I stood by the car playing with Gideon while we waited. After 10 minutes one of the guys from the waiting car came by to see how long it would be and I told him another 10 minutes. He just stood there watching us.

When Koren and Rex returned we piled into the car. Rex pulled us out and the japanese guys got our parking spot.

Getting out of the parking lot took 10 minutes with the crush of cars, but eventually we turned north toward the other geyser basins. Koren really wanted to see the fountain paint pots, so we headed for the lower geyser basin. This parking lot was also packed with cars, but we got lucky and pulled right in behind a car as it pulled out.

Phil told us that we could see the 4 primary thermal features of Yellowstone all in this one area. Fumaroles, Geysers, Hot Springs, and Mudpots. Several of the Fumaroles were roaring so loud it was hard to talk. I loved this walk.

When we got back to the car, Rex said he wanted the back seat in the middle with his feet on the hump, and he wasn't kidding. He wanted to take a nap so he climbed in the back seat and I climbed in the driver's seat. We buckled Gideon back in and I think he was asleep before we pulled out of the parking lot.

It was close to 3:30 and dinner was going to be at 6:30. We looked over the map and decided that we could finish the whole of the southern loop in the 3 hours we had left, so we turned south.

Phil repeated allot of his information yet again, but I didn't mind because I kept hearing things that I hadn't understood the last time.

We turned toward West Thumb and saw Yellowstone Lake for the first time.

When we got to the Yellowstone Lake Lodge I asked Koren if she wanted to see where we stayed when she was a little girl, so I turned off toward the lodge. It's a beautiful lodge but we didn't stay there. Back behind the lodge is a series of small cabins and that's where we stayed.

We did have dinner at the Lodge one night. It's probably the fanciest place in the park. We were in the middle of our meal and needed extra butter, but the waiter seemed to be avoiding us. He could probably tell we were lowlife's. Little Koren stood up and snapped her fingers two times and yelled for the waiter to come over. He did, and we got our butter.

We stopped at a couple of other thermal features, but the adults in the car were all tired, so we booted Sydnee and Beckham out of the car with a camera and told them to go see the geysers. Beckham especially loved the Mud Volcano and the Black Dragon's Cauldron.

Not far past the mud volcano we hit a traffic jam. We stopped in our lane and tried peering around the car ahead of us trying to figure out what everyone was looking at but no one seemed to be out of their cars. After a minute or so I noticed that the oncoming traffic was actually moving slowly towards us, but weren't accelerating. They were moving very slowly.

I rolled my window down and stuck my head out to see what was going on and saw the cause of the jam walking down the oncoming lane right toward me. It was a big bull bison and he was just meandering down the road with a bunch of cars behind him. I grabbed Koren's cell phone and started videoing the bison.

We have watched several videos recently about just how dangerous the bison can be, so I felt no desire to jump out of the car to take a picture. But I did see the van ahead of us open their sliding door to take pictures. They kept the door open while the bison walked past them. Koren swears that the bison looked straight at us as it walked past, but I didn't see that because I was holding the camera.

Once the bison passed, the traffic jam (in our direction) cleared right up.

We gassed up at the Canyon Village then continued toward Norris and our campsite at Madison.

We made it back to camp in time for dinner which was a good thing, because dinner was Fry Bread and chili. It was a great meal.

I was heading home in the morning, so I packed up most of my gear.

Koren and Gideon huddled by the fire