Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
From the visitor center, follow the former main road past the east wing of Old Faithful Inn,
keeping Old Faithful Geyser on your right. After passing the inn's parking area and the side
trail to Chinese Spring, you'll see a large meadow on your right, where bison and elk can find
grass even in winter due to warming from hot springs.
West of the store and service station, you may see steam surprisingly close to the buildings.
The steam comes from the Myriad Group, where hundreds of hot springs have been counted,
including at least one historically interesting feature.
Round Geyser
erupted as high as 150
feet (46 m) in a few widely spaced years, with long dormancies in between. It rivaled the
height of Old Faithful itself. There's no public access to the area.
Castle Geyser is Yellowstone's largest regularly erupting cone-type geyser.
Castle Geyser*
is the first thermal feature you come to—about a half mile (0.8 km) from
the visitor center. This cone-type geyser erupts from the center of a large geyserite edifice that
looks very much like a crenelated medieval castle. Castle's cone is about 12 feet (4 m) high and
6 feet (2 m) in diameter. Major eruptions usually occur about 13 to 16 hours apart but with
longer intervals after minor eruptions.
Castle typically erupts explosively for 15 to 20 minutes in its water phase, spouting to as
high as 100 feet (30 m). Then 30 to 45 minutes of steam phase follow, accompanied by a thrill-
ing roar. Castle is changeable and has displayed other types of eruption patterns in the past.
