Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Wild Animal Kingdom. This was happening at my feet. Sure, a mile away, but real and live in the frosted morning
air.
The elk cow was brave, resilient. The wolf was patient. An alpha female wearing a radio collar, she was not
young. Her fur was flecked with grey. She finally, decisively, snatched the carcass, likely taking it to feed the lit-
ter.
In moments, the onlookers packed up their spotting scopes. As the sky brightened, the regular traffic started
flowing, with people clueless to the dramas of the wild that had played out while they slept.
To join a wolf course, contact the
Yellowstone Institute
(
www.yellowstoneassociation.com
)
.
The Crow's Nest, a top-floor balcony where musicians once played for dancers in the
lobby below, is wonderful (but unused since 1959). Look also for the huge popcorn pop-
per and fire tools at the back of the fireplace. The 2nd-floor observation deck offers the
chance to enjoy fine views of Old Faithful geyser over a drink, and the lobby hosts occa-
sional talks by regional authors. Free 45-minute Historic Inn tours depart from the fire-
place at 9:30am, 11am, 2pm and 3:30pm.
OLD FAITHFUL
Erupting every 90 minutes or so to impatient (preliminary hand-clapping is not uncom-
mon) visitors' delight, Old Faithful spouts some 8000 gallons of water up to 180ft in the
air, though the last time we checked, the old salt was in need of a dose of Viagra. Water
temperature is normally 204°F and the steam is about 350°F. It's worth viewing the erup-
tion from several different locations - the geyserside seats, the upper-floor balcony of the
Old Faithful Inn and, our favorite, from a distance on Observation Hill.
Though it's neither the tallest nor the most predictable geyser in the park, Old Faithful
is the most frequently erupting big geyser in Yellowstone. For over 75 years the geyser
faithfully erupted every hour or so, one reason for the name the Washburn expedition gave
it in 1870. The average time between shows these days is 90 minutes and getting longer,
though this has historically varied between 45 and 110 minutes. The average eruption lasts
around four minutes. The longer the eruption, the longer the recovery time. Rangers cor-
rectly predict eruptions to within 10 minutes about 90% of the time. And no, Old Faithful
has never erupted on the hour.
After years of studying the geyser, we have our own method of calculating exactly
when an eruption of Old Faithful is imminent. Just count the number of bored people
seated around the geyser, the number of tourists is inversely proportional to the amount of
time left until the next eruption.
