Day 13--9/5/14 The great geyser basin-Old Faithful

As we left the Lake Yellowstone Hotel this morning we said goodbye to the bison in the parking lot.

We followed the Grand Loop road again toward Old Faithful. Along the way we visited several of the many basins in the park to view their pools, geysers, and mudpots. Our first stop was at Fountain Paint Pot where there are four types of hydrothermal features--geysers, hot springs, fumaroles, and mudpots--all in one place. 

The next basin was Midway where we walked the boardwalk to the famous and very colorful Grand Prismatic Spring. 

At Biscuit Basin our favorite was the Black Opal Spring. 

We also stopped at Black Sand Basin where the highlight was Emerald Pool. 

We then arrived at Old Faithful Inn where we were lucky to be able to check in at noon. After lunch we explored the Old Faithful Basin. It was impressive as to just how large this basin is because we walked the 3-mile loop down to the Riverside Geyser and still didn't see it all. We were fortunate to catch the Riverside Geyser erupting (for 20 minutes) since it only erupts every 6 hours.  We were also able to view two eruptions of Old Faithful.