5 October 2016
There is no accounting for the stupidity of humans – especially me. I knew I had not explored Biscuit Basin, so on the way to hike Observation Point at Old Faithful, I stopped in at Biscuit Basin. It looked no more than a boardwalk, but as I got about halfway around, it said Mystic Fall. Well, you know me and water falls! It was only 0.5 miles! Then as I got to the path, it said Overlook 0.7 miles. I stupidly started off without water, without the pack, and most importantly, without the bear spray.
Fortunately, there were two hikers in front of me and I figured they would greet the bear first. All in all, I met 6 hikers on the trail and only one had water and it wasn’t me and none had bear spray. It was like we were out for a Sunday stroll.
In any case, in spite of my stupidity, I’m glad I made the hike which was a little over 3.8 miles round trip at an elevation of around 8,000 feet. From the observation point, you could see the entire lower geyser basin, including Old Faithful. It was a pretty awesome vista.
It was also a steep climb of over 500 feet vertical to get here. Thank goodness for switchbacks!
I left the observation point and followed the trail upward thinking this was an overlook to the fall. Wrong! It was a loop trail to the fall with various view points of the fall as you hiked ever downward. Mystic Fall is spectacular with a drop of 70 feet into the creek below. Every switchback had a better and better view.
Previous to the Biscuit Basin hike, I walked Fountain Paintpots. It’s a total boardwalk hike and we had a surprise visitor at the paint pots.
Eventually, I made my way to the Old Faithful Inn, had a quick lunch and started out for Observation Point, this time with pack, water, and bear spray!
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I was in luck, Old Faithful was to erupt in about 20 minutes after reaching the summit. I needed a rest anyway and so waited with a Chinese family and a mother and daughter from a Indiana. This time, Old Faithful was about 15 minutes late with numerous false eruptions which usually means a pretty powerful “real” eruption. It proved to be true; this eruption was the tallest I’ve ever seen.
A bonus to the hike was a few minutes after Old Faithful blew, Beehive erupted. It is my favorite geyser in the park and the force of the eruption reminds me of a firehouse under great pressure. You could also hear the eruption from Observation Point.
I then decided to call it a day and head back to West Yellowstone. The trip was interrupted several times for bison crossing the road.
I made it back around 4 pm and hurried to launder clothes. This makes the third time I’ve washed clothes this trip and unless I get really messy, it’ll probably be my last.
Tomorrow is a 12 plus hour drive to Estes Park, Colorado and Rocky amountain National Park.
