Old Faithful Rests On Unstable Ground

It is neither the biggest geyser in Yellowstone National Park, nor the most dependable, but Old Faithful certainly is the park’s star attraction.

Millions of visitors come to this oldest of all national parks mostly to see Old Faithful, filling the Super Bowl-sized parking lot at the site, vying for reservations at the three hotels there and creating long lines at the food service facilities. So large are the crowds that rangers have trouble keeping them on the boardwalk that provides the best views.

But now this tried and true geyser is behaving a bit unfaithfully, evidently as a result of a swarm of earthquakes that shook the region earlier this summer.

Since about 700 tremors were recorded in a seven-hour period on July 6, Old Faithful has gotten the shakes. Its eruption schedule has become noticeably more erratic and the average time between its spoutings has lengthened.

“It used to average 77 minutes between eruptions,” said Rick Hutchinson, Yellowstone Park’s research geologist. “Now it’s over 80 minutes.”

That doesn’t sound like a huge difference. But in the 1960s the average interval was only 64 minutes - so the change in 30 years is substantial.

Does that mean that Old Faithful is, as a longtime Yellowstone concession worker put it, “about to crap out?”

“There’s no way of telling,” Hutchinson replied cautiously. “Like any other geyser, it won’t last forever. At some point, the rate of heat loss equals the rate supplied. Then the geyser quits.”

Still, Old Faithful likely has many more years of life. Hutchinson pointed out that the geyser has been functioning for more than 100 years and indicated he expected it to continue well beyond our lifetimes.

Even though the interval between its eruptions now often exceeds 90 minutes - rare before the July 6 earthquakes - Old Faithful is still a grand sight. The old geezer of a geyser is still a gusher.

Just before it erupts, Old Faithful sends up a few playful spurts - what geologists call “pre-play.” Then, whoosh! A white plume of steam and boiling water shoots up into the air, then another and another until the stream is almost continuous.

Hissing and boiling, the geyser continues erupting for 1-1/2 to 5 minutes, reaching as high as 180 feet and expelling as much as 8,400 gallons of water. On windy days, the height is lower because the wind blows off the top of the plume.

Exact times of the beginning and end of each eruption are recorded by a ranger at the Visitor Center two hundred yards away. Using tables developed by scientists, the rangers then post a predicted time for the next eruption.

“The longer the eruption, the longer the interval that follows, and vice versa,” said Hutchinson.

Predicted eruption times of five other major geysers in the Upper Geyser Basin also are posted at the Visitor Center. Daisy and Riverside go off fairly close to predicted times. Castle and Great Fountain erupt twice a day, each event lasting for about 50 minutes. But Grand, which has the tallest plume in the basin, is not consistently punctual; on the day I visited, it erupted five hours late, disappointing hundreds who had gathered to watch it.

The Upper Geyser Basin in which Old Faithful is situated has the largest concentration of geysers in the world, as well as a variety of other thermal features - boiling springs and bubbling mud pots, smoking fumaroles and odd rock formations deposited by the mineral-laden water. A boardwalk rings the entire thermal area.

Beehive Geyser doesn’t erupt frequently, but when it does it shoots a 180-foot plume from its narrow, nozzle-like cone. Anemone Geyser, on the other hand, goes off every 7 to 10 minutes, sending a blast of water 10 feet into the air. Lion geyser makes a deep roaring sound before it erupts, hence its name. Giantess doesn’t erupt very often - perhaps two to six times a year - but when it does it sends several violent bursts of steam and water to as high as 200 feet, shaking the ground around it.

Castle, with a distinctive large cone, is probably the oldest of all geysers in the park; it erupts about every 10 to 12 hours. Grotto’s weirdly shaped cone is worth seeing, but don’t expect to witness an eruption of Giant, one of the most powerful geysers in the park. It sends hundreds of thousands of gallons of water as high as 250 feet into the air but it goes off only about once a year.

For those who want to watch geysers, there’s no better place than the Old Faithful Inn. This marvelous old hotel, built of lodgepole pine and Douglas fir logs in 1904, has become a tourist attraction in its own right.

After an Old Faithful eruption, many visitors stroll over to the old hotel to admire its rustic structure and unusual decorations, or simply to get a respite from the summer sun. Most impressive is the seven-story lobby, with its tiers of balconies and 40-foot-high stone chimney tucked into one corner. Just under the ceiling, a small platform called the Crow’s Nest provides a dizzying view of the lobby floor 75 feet below. For safety reasons, it’s no longer open to the public, but sometimes the hotel relents: Not long ago, a couple was married there.

The inn also provides a good platform from which to watch Old Faithful perform. Guests can sit on chairs on the open porch atop the porte-cochere, or - if their quarters are so positioned - even watch the geyser from their own room.

Eight decades takes its toll on any building, so a couple of years ago the Yellowstone concessionaire, TW Recreational Services, began renovating the faithful old inn. All the rooms in the east and west wings - added in the 1920s - have been redone. Only the original rooms in the Old House (the main building) still do not have their own bathrooms.

Despite that, all rooms in the Old Faithful Inn are eagerly sought; reservations need to be made months in advance.

If you can’t get into the historic old hotel, there are two others in the Old Faithful area. One of them, the Snow Lodge, is already targeted for rebuilding and expansion. This lodge is the only one open at Old Faithful in the winter; access to the area at that time of year is only by snowmobile or by snow coach (a treaded vehicle that carries about six passengers in an enclosed cabin).

The third facility, the Old Faithful Lodge, is less costly than the others and has a cafeteria for quick meals. Its ice cream shop, incidentally, sells more than 3 million ice cream cones every summer.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO The Old Faithful area of Yellowstone National Park is in the southwest quadrant of the park, about 2-1/2 hours driving time north of Jackson, Wyo., on U.S. 89. That road is closed to cars from about Nov. 1 to April 30, when only snowmobiles and snow coaches are allowed entry.

Other thermal areas Among the more interesting thermal features besides Old Faithful are the Midway Geyser Basin, Lower Geyser Basin, the Firehole Lake Drive, Mammoth Hot Springs and West Thumb. Norris Geyser Basin rivals Old Faithful in its variety of thermal features. Among them are one of the park’s most regular geysers, Echinus, and Steamboat, the park’s largest geyser, which last erupted in 1991 but has been showing renewed activity since the tremors.

Other Yellowstone attractions Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, with spectacular views of the Upper and Lower Falls, near Canyon Village; viewing of large wildlife (moose, bison, elk and more rarely bears) is particularly good on the Hayden Valley road; fishing in the Yellowstone River and in Yellowstone Lake.

Accommodations A variety of accommodations, from campsites to old lodges, is found in the park. For information and reservations, call (307) 344-7311.

Park information Superintendent, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190; (307) 344-7381.