Yellowstone, Day 4

Wednesday, 8/15

When in Yellowstone, you HAVE to see Old Faithful.  On the way, we crossed the Continental Divide which seemed worth a photo opp.   Then we waited, along with a few hundred other people who sat shivering for almost a half hour on a large double half-circle of benches waiting for the Big Blow. 

Old Faithful

Ho hum. We gave it a B/B+.  The thermal features surrounding O.F. are pretty cool, and all view=able from very nice boardwalks.  So we saw a variety of really interesting multi-colored minor geysers, mud pots, and steaming cauldrons, some of which were like big mysterious blue-green eyes deep in the earth. 

Another geyser near Old Faithful

Next order of business was to go on a real hike, to see Fairy Falls. 

They were nice enough, but the best part was hiking a bit further to see the Imperial Geyser.  Now THAT was impressive!  Billowing steam and a veritable vortex of water shooting up to 4 feet high in twisting bursts every other second.  I'm not exaggerating here, it kept shooting up without pause (unlike O.F. with its ~95 minute blast schedule) and was a most joyful, exuberant, high-energy force of nature.  A+ to the Imperial Geyser. 

Imperial Geyser; note the bubbling pot at the beginning of this video

We returned at a brisk pace, past the pastel colored steam topping the Prismatic Pond, to our truck.

Pastel colored mist over Prismatic Pond

On the way home we took a cooling, cleansing dip in the Yellowstone Lake.  Even I submerged up to my shoulders in the bracingly cold water.  It was only 70 degrees out at that point, so I didn't stay in long…..felt afterwards as if we'd been to the sauna and  then done an ice-cold plunge.  Time for dinner and a relaxing evening.