On Saturday we moved from Mammoth down to Old Faithful. In winter the only road that is open in the park is the road from Mammoth to Lamar meaning that the only way into the interior of the park is to take a snow coach. They are basically small 9 or 10 person buses with big aired down tires on them. I posted a picture of Ryan in front of our Norris Basin tour snow coach in the last post. The drive down to Old Faithful is maybe 50 total miles but the snow coach ride is very slow plus they make lots of stops to see animals and viewing spots along the way. Figure 4 hours to get from Mammoth to Old Faithful in the winter months.
I can't remember the name of the falls behind us in this photo but it was one of the better stops we made along the way. It's not the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, but cool in its own right for sure. The tour down included a stop at Madison Junction where they had heated bathrooms (the first we've used outside of our rooms and the hotel by the way) and a little store that sold hot chocolate and a few different snacks.
On our drive down we saw the swans that are known to live in the park (the first time we'd seen them on the trip) and we came upon a small herd of buffalo walking down the road that included this very small calf which they call a "red dog" meaning it was born so late in the season that it didn't have time to grow it's winter coat before the snow started to fall. Sadly he (or she) is not likely to make it through the winter because they are easy prey for the wolves and other predators. This one was falling behind the group, though not by far...so hopefully it'll be an easy winter and this little one will be thriving by spring.
Speaking of the weather here, I should touch on that for a moment. Two weeks ago in Illinois it was -10 for the high for a day or two. We had a total of three snow/cold days off school in less than a weeks time and it really got the entire group feeling like we needed to be fully prepared for cold cold cold and tons of snow here in Yellowstone. Turns out, it's one of the driest and most mild winters many can remember here. We learned that last year they had record snowfall which was great for suppressing the wild fires here over the summer. This year is a stark contrast. When we arrived on Wednesday there was probably less than 6 inches of snow on the ground. I think the whole group was a little sad that there wasn't feet and feet of snow to tromp through but honestly, I'm pretty happy for the temps in the mid 30's and even in the upper 40's later in the week before we leave. It did snow for us on Thursday night so it was fun to wake up and have the whole park coated in snow like a winter wonderland. Most of it melted by mid day, especially off of the trees and darker areas, but it was fun while it lasted. There is more snow down here at Old Faithful but nothing like they normally plan for. Everywhere you walk you can see the snow poles they use to mark the trails when they plow. Someone told us they typically have over 2 feet of snow now here. I'm guessing there is 8 inches in some of the deepest parts.
We finally arrived down at Old Faithful around noon on Saturday. We checked in and left our bags in the lobby and grabbed lunch at the grill before actually going to our rooms. We rented a cabin again here at Old Faithful, though this one doesn't include a hot tub. The cabins here are old too, but much more spacious then at Mammoth. We have two full sized beds and a small 4 person table in our room. There is no fridge but there wasn't one at Mammoth either and, believe it or not, it's cold enough to just put our cold stuff outside and it's stays cold - lol! The bathrooms are similar to Mammoth - small shower and toilet in one room and the bathroom sink is in the bedroom. Honestly, if we didn't have the camper and we were looking to come here with the family for a few days in the summer, the cabins would be a great option!
Similar to the afternoon we did the wildlife tour everyone was ready to move and explore a little bit after we get ourselves settled in our cabins so we decided to hike around the boardwalks here at Old Faithful. As we hiked around we came upon the Old Faithful Lookout trail which Ryan and I did with the kids two summers ago and loved. It's a short hike - only .5 miles, but 200 ft of climb in that short hike. Once you hit the trail head but it offers a great view of the geyser that's a little bit away from the crowds and higher up so you can really see it. When we came up to it we checked our watches and realized we had about 20 minutes before Old Faithful would erupt. We decided we could make it up in that time and set a really quick pace to make it. Turns out we had a solid 10-15 minutes once we got to the top before it erupted but we got some great views. You can see our view in the picture above this and, if you squint, you can see the small handful of people on the boardwalk. In the summer months that boardwalk would be a see of people. I should pull in a similar picture from 2021 summer so you could compare.
I had to post this picture to document my hat! Last Christmas I got a book of knitting patterns by Nancy Bates, a pattern designer who makes hat patterns for each of the National Parks. This pattern mimics Grand Prismatic here in Yellowstone. I made one for myself and one for Jenny. I was so excited when we got 4 comments and questions about the hats. People recognized that it was Grand Prismatic or that they were handmade and it really made my day. We can't visit Grand Prismatic in the winter, it sounds like the steam covers it up too much to actually be able to see so they don't even offer tours there...but this picture in the park seem slike close enough!
Sunday was a pretty open day for us at Old Faithful. We had a tour booked for the evening called Steam, Sounds and Stars where we hiked around the geysers at night. During the day we decided to do a 5 mile loop from the hotel out to Black Sand Basin. From Old Faithful you can take the boardwalk past tons of pools and geysers out to Black Sand. I saw a sign in the visitor center that said this area has 1/4 of the geysers in the entire world and that one small section here has the largest concentration of them in the world. Sadly, I have to admit that after awhile I sort of felt like...huh....another hot hole...cool...let's keep moving. The wonder almost drains off when you can see so many in such a short period of time.
Black Sand Pool (pictured above) is known for making a loud rumbling noise and a physical vibration you can feel if you sit still enough at the end of the pool for some time. We sat there for probably 20 minutes before we got cold and decided it was time to start moving again. While we saw the tell tale bubbles in the pool, I don't feel like anyone in the group actually felt the rumble the trail boasted of that felt like "a giant snoring underneath you". Maybe next time!
That afternoon Ryan decided to rent cross country skies and did a ski by himself that afternoon while I sat in the lodge and relaxed with an old fashioned. It was a lovely choice for BOTH of us...and much needed.
Monday evening we did a short tour called Steam, Stars and Soundscapes that involved three short hikes around the Old Faithful area after dark. There are lots of rules here at Yellowstone that help keep the park beautiful and natural. In the winter (and maybe all year long) they regulate the number of vehicles in the park by "sound events". We learned on one of our tours that the park allows 125 sound events each day. A sound event is a snow coach or a pack of 10 snowmobiles or even the trucks moving supplies and people across the park. It's meant to limit the impact of humans on this area. We also learned that all traffic has to be off the roads by 9pm. In the evenings they run two buses of the Sound/Steam/Stars tour meaning we were one of 25 total people out in the park after dark that night. Pretty cool when you think about it! The night was very cloudy so we couldn't see stars or the moon but exploring in the dark was still fun. We did a lot of listening with all the flashlights off. I think the group is pretty happy that we'd explored most of what we saw on the night tour during the day so we had a sense of what it really looked like. I think the tour would have been better if it had been clear with stars...but you can't control nature and we got what we got!
Tomorrow is our last day at Old Faithful and Jenny's birthday. We have one final tour planned to snowshoe to Lonestar Geyser and then we have dinner reservations to celebrate tomorrow evening. After that we head to Chico Hot Springs for 2 nights and then we're headed home. We're over half way through the trip but we still have lots of fun ahead. I'm looking forward to those hot springs!
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