Old Faithful and Surroundings
We spent most of the day here at Old Faithful, about 15 miles south of our campground. We hiked around Geyser Hill using a trail map that told about each named geyser, its period, what its eruptions look like, etc. In the distance we saw Castle Geyser erupting -- quite impressive. In the evening we took a ranger-led hike that started from Castle. It was in a period of blowing steam that follows its eruptions -- sounded like a huge chimney fire but wish I could come up with a more adequate description of the sound.
Geyser pools in general were everywhere, but all different and in constant change. Some were boiling furiously while others were just steaming, but generally, all were hot. I (Eric) asked a ranger if all the bubbling was the water boiling or if some of it was simply gas bubbles coming through the pool. The ranger said that many of the pools are boiling, but that several did have gases passing through. The smell at most of the pools was heavy with sulfur. At several of the "mud pots" hydrogen sulfide is consumed by micro organisms. A byproduct of this is sulfuric acid which dissolves the rock and creates the mud pot instead of a geyser pool.
After dinner, Ward finally got his wish--the campfire. I (Margaret) was too tired to stay up for it and went to bed even before dinner. I later heard that the s'mores were good. What else would they be?
