Old Faithful - Upper Geyser Basin - Hot Springs on Waymarking.com

Old Faithful, perhaps the world's most famous hot spring was the first geyser in Yellowstone National Park to receive a name.

Old Faithful's eruptions shoot 3,700 - 8,400 gallons of boiling water to a height of 106 - 184 feet, lasting from 1-5 minutes. The intervals range from 65 - 92 minutes with 91 minutes being the average.

Bernd_das_Brot sitting on the Old Faithful sign, verifying our visit

Here is a short video of one of Old Faithful's eruptions, curtesy of Stromboli Online. Because of its predictability, Old Faithful is the most popular geyser around. But compared to everything else we found in this park, we actually didn’t really find it that impressive. We therefore created this waymark mainly to have a platform to introduce a couple of Yellowstone’s other marvels.

Upper Geyser Basin, the area in which Old Faithful is located, has the highest concentration of geysers in the world. We didn’t have enough time to visit this area, but we were lucky enough to take a picture of an eruption of Beehive Geyser, just north of Old Faithful. Click here to get the Parks Upper Geyser Basin Website. Here are Yellowstone's other hot spring areas:

Mammoth Hotsprings - Lower Terraces Heat, water, limestone, and rock fracture combine to create the terraces of the Mammoth Hot Springs area. The main mineral deposited here is travertine, usually a white rock; however the microorganisms and living bacteria create beautiful shades of oranges, pinks, yellows, greens, and browns. Click here, to get to the parks Mammoth Hot Springs Website.

Mammoth Hotsprings - Upper Terrace Mammoth Hot Springs is divided into two sections, the Lower Terraces, and the Upper Terracce Loop. The Mammoth Hot springs are constantly changing. As formations grow, water is forced to flow in different directions. The constant changes in water and mineral deposits create a living sculpture. Click here, to get to the parks Mammoth Hot Springs Website.

Beryl Spring Beryl Spring is located in the Gibbon Geyser Basin. It is one of the hottest springs in Yellowstone, averaging 196°F (91°C). It was named in 1883 for the blue-green color which is the color of the gemstone beryl.

Roaring Mountain A mountain side spotted with steam vents or fumaroles, and the fumaroles' vents are rimed with bright yellow, crystalline sulfur deposits. The leaching of sulfuric acid has produced the stark, barren environment.

Norris Geyser Basin Norris Geyser Basin is one of the hottest and most dynamic of Yellowstone’s hydrothermal areas. Many hot springs have temperatures above the boiling point (200°F) here. Water fluctuations and seismic activity changes featured daily. It is hard to imagine a setting more volatile (and more beautiful) than Norris.

Sulphur Caldron Sulphur Caldron is among the most acidic springs in the park with a pH of 1.3 (just shy of batery acid).

Mud Volcano Just across the street from Sulphur Caldron, the thermal features in the Mud Volcano area are primarily mud pots and steam vents because the area is situated on a parched water system with little water available.

Fountain Paint Pot A classical Mud Pot, probably the best example of a mud pot in all of Yellowstone. What you see here depends on what time of the year you visit. In early summer the mud is thin and watery, by late summer, the mud has become quite thick. Bubbling caused by steam changes as the mud thickens.

Black Sand Basin This group of hot springs is only a mile south of Old Faithful but it attracts a lot less visitors. That, and the amazing colors of this small collection of jewel-like geysers made it one of our favorites.

Firehole Lake Drive The turnoff onto the Firehole Lake Drive is only eight miles North of Old Faithful but most people are too busy to get there and miss out on this great loop leading to some really impressive features.