Yellowstone Day 2
We drove into Yellowstone to Madison Junction and then headed down toward Old Faithful. There are several Geyser basins, Lower and Mid Geyser Basins, before you reach Old Faithful.
Each geyser basin is a little different and have different types of features. Some are very colorful, some not so much, some are boiling, and others not.
The landscape around the basins is also greatly affected by the heat and minerals from the water.
Lower Geyser Basin
The Lower Geyser Basin has 17 hot spring groups covering about 5 square miles. Some of them are not accessible by trail or boardwalk. The Fountain Paint Pot Loop Walk is a 1/2 mile walkway through a number of different features.
Midway Geyser Basin
You cross over the Firehole River to get to the Midway Geyser Basin. Like all of the rivers, it was raging. Wandering through Yellowstone's thermal areas, you'll see an amazing range of colors. The centers of the hot springs may be deep blue or blue-green or palest turquoise blue. The edges of the pools and their runoff channels will range from yellow through orange and red to brown, with lite and dark green here and there.
Videos show these much better than photos, so there are mainly videos here. They still don't really do justice to the beauty though.
Old Faithful
The next stop was the Old Faithful area. Old Faithful has never erupted "every hour on the hour" as you may have heard and the interval is increasing some over time. In 1870 it was recorded as 60 to 65 minutes but now it is around 90 to 100 minutes. However, the average height has remained the same over time varying from 106 to 184 feet.
We went into the Information Center and looked at displays while we were waiting for Old Faithful to blow. There are lots of benches to watch Old Faithful erupt, but not sure why I didn't take more pics. There was quite a crowd by the time she began to rumble.