Insight Vacations - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

On day 3 of our Insight Vacations "American Parks Trail" tour we arrived in Yellowstone National Park in the afternoon through the southern entrance to the park, and checked in at a fairly new lodge across the parking lot from the famous "Old Faithful Inn".  Within 30 minutes of our arrival, the Old Faithful geyser was expected to perform, so we rushed over to see it.  We were not disappointed - within the slated time it blew, and quite spectacularly - about 120 feet high and it lasted for much longer than we thought it would - maybe 5 minutes.

Old Faithful Geyser

We then had a two hour late afternoon tour of the Upper Geyser Baisin above the Old  Faithful geyser led by a very enthusiastic local guide.  He explained the geothermal field in that area which result from huge volcanic eruptions millions of years ago and showed us various hot pools, smaller geyers and steam blow holes.  You cannot step or fall off the wooden walkway or you risk falling into a geothermal pool to be burned to death in seconds.  The park's present central portion is a 30 x 45 mile caldera.  The magmatic heat powering those eruptions still powers the park's geysers, hot springs, fumaroles and mudpots today.

After that, he took us in to the Old Faithful Inn and gave a run down of the history of the establishment of the national park, the building of the Inn, the famous guests who stayed there, as well as the upgrading of the Inn recently for earthquake and fire.  The Inn was almost lost to fire a few years ago during the wild fires in Yellowstone.

Old Faithful Inn

Prior to arriving at the Old Faithful Inn on day 3, our tour went north of it to visit Midway Geyser Basin in the Madison area.



The hot steam in this area caused me to have breathing problems, not a surprise at this altitude.  So I didn't go to the top of the walkway.  There was still lots to see in the lower portion of the basin.

Yellowstone National Park was the world's first national park, and covers 2,219,789 acres - absolutely huge.  You could spend a week exploring it.  Some of the roads were closed due to snow, and others due to construction.  Saw lots of wildlife.