First time to Old Faithful

On Monday, Jillian, Meg, and I paid a visit to Old Faithful. It’s about 40 miles away, but with the park speed limits, it takes an hour to get there. The geysers were really neat and the view of the mountains was still incredible. I was a little underwhelmed by the location as a whole, though. For one, their EDR (employee dining room) was in the basement of another building and it grossed me out. Being Xanterra employees, we can eat at any EDR owned by Xanterra in the park. They were running out of food when we arrived (it was near the end of the food serving time) and the tables were dirty. I’m thinking (and hoping) the presence of so many minerals and chemicals in the air from the geysers gave me this impression of everything being dirty and that everything wasn’t actually that gross. Perhaps, if I worked here, my impression would change.

After dinner, we stopped by a public seminar type thing on the way to see the main geyser area. The topic of the presentation was whether or not to place more cell phone towers around the park. I don’t really have a strong opinion on this yet, but I’m leaning against the idea. I think it’s essential for the park to remain as wild as possible. One argument for the towers is that they would increase safety for those who wish to hike alone and, also, getting help in emergencies would be easier. But, there are ways to do both of these without cell phones. First, tell others where you intend to go, when you intend to return and stick to both of these. Also, there is not one recorded bear attack on a group of more than four people. Second, be wary of the wildlife and bring the correct supplies. It is a comfort, however, to know you have the ability to call help if you need it.

Since we missed the explosion of Old Faithful while at dinner, we had another hour or so to wait for the next one. So, we took a walk around the other geysers and hot springs. When we returned to OF, we met a few other employees from Lake and we sat with them. There are benches set up right in front of the geyser to make viewing easy. According to Jillian, OF didn’t explode quite as high as usual or as long as usual. None the less, I still thought it was cool! We did get a little water on us from the condensation of the steam as it drifted over. After watching this, we took a longer walk along the boardwalk around the geysers. This included a stop at the lodge. The lodge was really interesting. It’s all wood on the inside. The ceiling looks like it is completely made of logs. It’s basically a giant wood cabin. I tried to take a picture, but the lighting was soft, so the quality isn’t great. We walked around some more outside, saw some awesome colors in the springs, made fun of their seemingly off the wall names, and took some more pictures.

On our way home (Jillian was driving), we stopped to see the Kepler Falls. I didn’t take any pictures because it was getting dark. In total, these falls probably drop several hundred feet through a fairly skinny track with rocks and tall pine trees on either side. Needless to say, they’re quite impressive and beautiful. We’ve decided that we’ll definitely be returning to Old Faithful and the Kepler Falls and will be spending a lot more time at each.

Yesterday, it was overcast, cold, foggy, and it rained a little in the evening. Despite the weather, Jillian, I, my suitemates, and a friend down the hall (Angie) went for a walk along the lake shore. There are so many cool rocks there! Sadly, we can only take pictures (and I didn’t bring my camera), so no mementos came out of that expedition. In the evening, J. and I watched Leap Year with our suitemates and some Ukrainian students who live down the hall. The next morning, I woke up late (I’m not working today) and attempted to go running…and all I can say is that people aren’t exaggerating when they say altitude training is difficult. I ran for about 5 minutes and felt pretty light headed, took a small walking break and then ran (very slowly) for another 15. I saw no bears or bison (or anything except birds) and stuck close to the hotel grounds.

More later. Shalom!