Yellowstone 2025: Old Faithful and a Grand Circuit

The previous post (here) recounted our morning activities on September 16th. Our next stop was the Old Faithful complex, where we arrived about noon. The Inn's exterior was impressive!

That bus is not us!

We had a little while to explore the astonishing interior,

and then had our lunch al fresco. The famous geyser "Old Faithful" is visible in this photo from our balcony perch.

We lingered and caught one of Old Faithful's eruptions. They last for several minutes; this video clip isn't that long.

Then we took to the paths to other features. Quite a few, there are! (Click on any image to enlarge.)

One of the first pots we encountered. You ain't seen nothing yet.

Iron and sulfur-rich waters flowed here.

What do we have here in these blue waters?

Let's zoom in and see ... bones!

Our explorations are taking us gradually away from the lodge.

Next, we reached the Anemone geyser.

There was interesting action here: at the eruption's end, all the water drains away.

This pool had translucent blue depths.

Further away stood the Castle geyser.

Zooming in:

Here's a video of the Castle geyser.

Next, the Spasmodic geyser. (Click on any image to enlarge.)

We waited a while at the Grand geyser, but it didn't make an appearance in the time we had. In this photo, Jack, one of our two Off the Beaten Path guides, is pointing out some features. (His missing hand is a quirk of taking a picture in panorama mode, where the photographer sweeps out the photo desired and the camera does the combining.)

Then it was time to move on: today we were engaged in a long loop from Canyon Village. You'll find Old Faithful in the bottom left corner of this map; at this point, we've completed almost half of the journey.

The route became mountainous; we even crossed the Continental Divide at 8,391 feet, or 2,556 meters. Needless to say, we were not zooming along! There was plenty to see, including some resting elk.

We arrived at the shores of Yellowstone Lake and had time to take a driving tour of a section of lakeshore. By now, the day's light had become more horizontal.

Our auto tour along the shore continued; later in the evening I took this photo of waterfowl cruising close to shore.

We had dinner at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. Our group broke into several separate tables, but the food was among the best we'd encountered. That makes up for a lot!

Needless to say, by the time we returned to our rooms at Canyon Village, it was lights-out almost immediately. Next, we'll head south to the Grand Teton National Park.