YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — Yellowstone National Park has more than 10,000 thermal features — of which 500 are geysers — but it seems its 4.1 million annual visitors fixate on only one.
During peak summer months, an estimated 2,000 people stuff into the stadium seating at Old Faithful as the park’s most predictable geyser spouts boiling water up to 17 stories high. Not 2,000 people per day, but 2,000 people per eruption. The geyser goes off every 60 to 110 minutes.
Coming to Yellowstone in Wyoming and not seeing its star attraction, however, is like traveling to Niagara and skipping the falls.
“Even though it’s crowded, it’s still well worth the visit,” said Taylor Phillips, founder of Jackson Hole Eco Tour Adventures. So strategize. Phillips takes clients to the end of Old Faithful Observation Trail, where crowds are smaller and there’s a “from above” view.
The second-floor rooftop deck of historic Old Faithful Inn has the same benefits and a nearby coffee bar. Or, reserve Room 150 in the Inn’s Old House and watch Old Faithful erupt through your window.
The best strategy of all? Visit during off-peak times before 9 a.m. or after 7 p.m. in summer, or any day and time in winter. An average February in Yellowstone gets 32,000 visitors; July’s average is 922,000.
With Old Faithful dutifully checked off, skip the single-file trudging around Upper Geyser Basin. Instead, drive about one hour (30 miles) north to Norris Geyser Basin. Here, visitors can see the same types of thermal features as around Old Faithful, enjoy some personal space and maybe catch an eruption of the unusually explosive Steamboat Geyser, the tallest active geyser in the world.
“With the adjacent, rich, riparian meadows, there’s typically better wildlife viewing,” Phillips said.
Norris is the hottest, most acidic, most changeable and most varied thermal area in Yellowstone, but gets about half the visitors Old Faithful draws. Start at the 88-year-old Norris Geyser Museum, which was constructed in a style known as National Park Service Rustic and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The 2.25 miles of raised boardwalks and trails leading from the museum pass fumaroles; geysers; hot springs; colorful pools; boiling mud; Echinus Geyser, the largest known acid-water gusher; and Green Dragon Spring, a sulfur-lined cave filled with emerald-green boiling water that generates so much steam it looks as if the cave is exhaling smoke.
Yes, seeing Steamboat erupt during your hike is unlikely: its eruptions vary between four days and 50 years apart. But, 2018 has been an extremely active year: Between March 15 and Oct. 8, it erupted 22 times, shooting water up to 345 feet in the air for between three and 75 minutes.
A handy tip: Download the Park Service’s “Yellowstone - Geysers” app, which predicts eruptions. And may the geyser gods be with you.
Old Faithful viewing
During Old Faithful’s peak tourist season, an estimated 2,000 people come to see the geyser go off. That’s 2,000 people per eruption. The geyser spews every 60 to 110 minutes.
Source: Staff report