It was an unusually warm last September week, so we decided to spent a few days in Yellowstone National Park. As we drove from West Yellowstone to Madison, we saw a few bison, a swan and a few ducks and the colors of fall along the river. At the Madison Junction, we took the road toward Old Faithful and then a few miles down the road, took the
Firehole Canyon Drive. We stopped at a small parking area, walked across the road and took pictures of the Firehole Falls.
Firehole Falls is a waterfall on the Firehole River. The falls are located approximately .5 miles upstream from the confluence of the Firehole and Gibbon Rivers at Madison Junction. Firehole Falls has a drop of approximately 40 feet. The falls are located within Firehole Canyon on Firehole Canyon Drive, a one-way road that parallels the main Madison Junction to Old Faithful road. It is not known who actually named Firehole Falls, but members of the 1872 Hayden Survey took note of it.
Great Fountain Geyser
Next we went on the
Firehole Lake Drive, a series of hot springs, hot pools, and geysers are just off the side of a two-mile loop. We stopped and viewed the Great Fountain Geyser, which was to erupt sometime between 10:50 am and 2:50pm. We decided we would come back another time and wait to see this geyser. Other places we stopped on that drive were Hot Lake, Steady Geyser, and White Dome Geyser.
We then drove to the
Fairy Falls parking lot and began our five mile round-tip to Fairy Falls about 11:00 am. It is a very pleasant, easy hike to the falls, mostly flat the entire distance. The trail traverses behind the Midway Geyser Basin for 1 mile, then cuts up toward the Twin Buttes and Spray Geyser for 1.5 miles. It was a great day to be out hiking.
Fairy Falls
Fairy Falls in Yellowstone National Park is a very tall waterfall dropping 197 ft. off Madison Plateau on Fairy Creek. The water shoots off the cliff, plunging about one third of the way down until it strikes the rock, then cascading down to the bottom. A pool at the bottom looks inviting, but is very cold.
We then drove to the Old Faithful Inn and had lunch in the dining room. The Old Faithful Dining Room included a large stone fireplace adorned with an impressive original painting of the Geyser Basin. It was a great buffet consisting of: various soups, salmon, BBQ chicken with a nine grain bun, coleslaw, pasta salad, rice, cornbread, apple crisp and lemonade.
We visited the newly opened Yellowstone Education Center and then watched Old Faithful erupt. We were somewhat tired from our day’s activities, so we drove back to West Yellowstone and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and temperatures in the mid 70's at our trailer at Grizzle RV Park.
