Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Beehive Geyser
erupts twice a day, up to 190ft through its 4ft-high cone-shaped
nozzle, and is the second- or third-tallest regularly active geyser in the park. Beehive has
an 'indicator' - a smaller vent that when active signals the main eruption.
Erupting every 20 minutes,
Plume
is one of the easiest geysers to catch. It's also one of
basin's youngest geysers, created by a steam explosion in 1922. Interestingly, its eruptions
seem to have different phases at night and day. Nearby
Anemone Geyser
erupts every 15
minutes or so.
Rangers lead 90-minute walks of Geyser Hill daily at 8:30am.
MAIN LOOP
Along the tarmac trail in front of the Old Faithful Inn is
Castle Geyser
, whose huge
cone, resembling a bleached sandcastle, attests to its status as the oldest geyser in the re-
gion, somewhere between 5000 and 15,000 years old (and built atop an even older
spring). Castle goes off every 13 hours or so and can be predicted to within two hours;
predicted times are posted by the geyser. The water eruption is followed by a noisy
30-minute steam phase, as the heat and steam energy long outlast the water supply.
Nearby 42ft-deep
Crested Pool
is almost constantly boiling. This is one of the best places
to get overviews of the basin.
The predictable
Daisy Geyser
lets loose at an angle up to 75ft every three hours or so
and can be predicted to within 45 minutes, except when nearby Splendid Geyser erupts.
Splendid is one of the largest in the region but erupts irregularly - apparently sometimes
triggered by a change in atmospheric pressure, which slightly reduces the pool's boiling
point. Don't confuse Daisy with the larger constantly splashing cone of
Comet Geyser
.
All three geysers are linked by underground chambers.
Grotto Geyser
erupts every eight hours for anywhere between one and 10 hours. The
cone takes its weird shape from trees that have been encased in the geyserite. Increased
activity in Grotto generally means less activity in Giant Geyser. The picturesque
River-
side Geyser
puts on an amazing show when a 75ft column of water arcs into the Firehole
River, often capped by a rainbow. Twenty-minute outpourings occur about every six
hours; water spilling over the cone signals an imminent eruption.
GEYSER-GAZING STRATEGIES
The first thing to do when you arrive at Old Faithful is to check the predicted geyser eruption times at the visitor
center and then plan your itinerary around these. Predictions are made for the region's six main geysers - Old Faith-
