The Ambitious Traveler: Yellowstone Trip Days 5

Day 5: Monday July 12^th, 2010 : Old Faithful Area

Old Faithful Village: Geyser Boardwalk and Hike Map

5:30 p.m. Dinner at Old Faithful Inn $30, Menu

Hotel: Old Faithful Snow Lodge

This day was wonderful! We started out with a hike up to lookout point, or something like that to see Old Faithful go off. This was well worth the effort, the hike was short although somewhat steep, but it gave a great perspective of Old Faithful, and all of her adoring fans. After this, we all saw the Geyser basin in the Old Faithful area. Some of our group rented bikes instead of geyser-gazing, but they ended up returning them early, citing a lack "places to go without people in the way."

We also did the tour of the Lodge this day - I think it was at 3:00 or so, and still had time to visit the Hamilton store which was very cool. The older contingent of our group was very pleased to have a day fairly hiking-free, and we all enjoyed a nice dinner at the Old Faithful Lodge dining room. After dinner, we sat on the porch of the lodge and looked at some of our pictures from the day. Once the bar near the porch closed down, we went back to the cabins to play cards. A very nice, relaxing day in Yellowstone!

Old Faithful Lodge in the background

thar she blows!

adoring fans

so pretty!

Dan found it helpful to point and say, "Mandy, take a picture" every 5 feet or so.

Debbie Smith and Joey - BFFs

inside the Old Faithful Lodge

Old Faithful Lodge and its namesake

Day 6: Tuesday July 13^th, 2010 : Leave Old Faithful Area, Hayden and Lamar Valley, come to Canyons area in the evening

Lamar and Hayden Valley

Explore Fishing Bridge and Lake Village Area

7:15 p.m. Scenicruiser: Lake Queen II Departs Bridge Bay Marina at 7:15. One Hour Ride $15.55 per person – Boat Tour of Yellowstone Lake

Hotel: Canyon Lodge and Cabins 1-866-GEYSERLAND (866-439-7375) or 307-344-7311

On Day 6, we started out going back to Grand Prismatic Spring. Unfortunately, with all of the steam coming off of the vernal pool, we could barely see anything! The temperatures in these pools and springs are exceptionally hot - the bacteria that thrive in these temperatures are what cause the gorgeous coloring. But, if it's real cold and windy, the steam just blows all over the place. After the spring, we drove towards the lake, and took in Fishing Bridge (that you can't actually fish off of) as well as some of Hayden Valley. We did a short hike to Natural Bridge and saw the most sulfurous geysers in the park... it smelled horrendous!

At night we checked into the Canyon Cabins, which were pretty outdated and in need of repair. The food options were very limited! I don't recommend that people stay in this region if they go to the park - the Lake Yellowstone Hotel and Cabins are only 30 minutes away, and they offer much better accommodations. We did not end up taking the boat tour, because it was such a windy night and the water was incredibly choppy, but I imagine that it would be a nice adventure on a better day.