We went to bed to clear, bright, star-lit skies and awoke to clouds and fog. The entire geyser basin was shrouded in thick fog. We went to breakfast, hoping the fog would lift before we headed out to the geyser basin. When the Visitor Center opened, we checked the prediction times, but only Old Faithful and Daisy were predicted for the morning. We decided to go back to the cabin and get our packs ready to go for the afternoon. We were just beginning to make soup for lunch, when we heard Beehive indicator called on the radio. We looked at each other as if to say, “Do we have enough time to get out there?” It was Beehive, so of course we would try. We slammed into our boots, grabbed coats and cameras, and were out the door before you could say Beehive. Apparently, whoever called the indicator must have caught it just as it started. We made it with plenty of time to spare.

We learned that Old Faithful was predicted to erupt in 10 minutes, so we stayed to watch it. The sun poured through the clouds just as the eruption started, adding sparkling highlights to the water. After it was over, we heard comments like “Was that it?” and “I waited all this time for that?” from some of the spectators. I really don’t know what they were looking for.

We went back to the cabin to finish making our soup and then headed out toward Riverside. On the way out, we passed Krazy Karen returning from Fan and Mortar. She said she couldn’t find the marker there, but wasn’t sure whether it had erupted or not. As we went by Oblong, we looked at it a good long time, since it seemed close to an eruption. We eventually gave up on it and continued on down to Riverside.

It was extremely warm – probably in the high twenties, but with the sun, it seemed a lot warmer than that. By the time we got to Riverside, we were sweating from just walking. Riverside was in overflow when we got there. Lew stayed to watch for the eruption, while I made a quick trip down to the pit toilet. I was never so glad to be using a cold pit toilet as I was today. I checked Fan and Mortar as I went by, but couldn’t decide whether it had erupted or not. I couldn’t find the marker either.

We watched Riverside spurt and play. We saw a good shot of steam off in the distance and speculated whether it was Oblong. As we waited, we heard one of the rangers from the Visitor Center over the radio say that Oblong had erupted, the marker was gone from Fan and Mortar, so it had erupted in the last 24 hours, and Riverside was in overflow. Shortly after that Riverside erupted about 30 minutes before the predicted time.

The ranger came by Riverside and said Daisy was expected to erupt shortly, so we dropped the idea of eating our soup, and rushed up to Daisy to get there just as the eruption started. As we were walking up to Daisy, the ranger said Grand looked strange. She continued on to Grand, while we watched Daisy. In a few minutes, we heard her call over the radio that Grand was post eruption. She guessed that it had gone shortly after Riverside started. That was 4 hours before the predicted time.

Since nothing else was expected to erupt until after dark, we called it a day. Lew had to make a refreshing stop back at the Morning Glory pit toilet. I stayed at the benches across from Giant. A couple with a European accent stopped and asked me to take their photo with Giant in the background. I was happy to help them out. Another gazer stopped to say she just came by Fan and Mortar and saw a Lower Mortar Minor. Lew soon returned and just as we got started we heard a Lion initial called over the radio. Oh well, another one we wouldn’t get to see. As we walked along the bicycle path, we noticed an area where both skiers and snowshoers had gone off trail, down along the Firehole River near the spot where the runoff has created a colorful spillway on the opposite side of the river. The ranger who used to put up the crossed poles over these illegal paths is no longer at Old Faithful, so I doubt anything will be done about them.

Near Castle, we saw Old Faithful going off. We stopped for a rest at Castle. Even though it was not ready to erupt, Castle was steaming and spitting. The steam rose up and took on a pink hue as it caught the light from the setting sun. When we got down near the Lower Hams, we heard something totally unexpected – an elk bugling. A cow elk answered with that little grunting call that they make. The chorus went on for a few minutes. We got back to the cabin, ate our lunch soup for supper, and called it a day.