To view the animated Gif, click here
The story behind the photo: Like the first photo, this is the second in a series of photos used in the animated GIF on the home page. The interesting thing about this photo is that I am not sure whether this is actually a photo taken of the geyser on the way back down or on the way up. I believe it is the way up based on the light of the image, but I am not entirely certain. When Old Faithful arises to a height anywhere from 120 to 180, it does so fairly regularly about every 80 minutes give or take 15 minutes. Huge crowds surround it generally getting angry that the geyser is not more regular, shooting their cameras many times prematurely every time the geyser happens to spit a little water into the air. It usually fails to live up to its hype, but let's be fair to it. It is the classical prototypical geyser, it rests at the very end of the Upper Geyser Basin. It never asked to be so famous. So, I love this geyser, even though it sometimes has the misfortune to be reduced into the entirety of the park. All of Yellowstone is not Old Faithful nor can Old Faithful ever hope to live up to such a lofty expectation, but Old Faithful is still something of a mystery that if kept in the proper perspective fulfills the wonder and the magic that is Yellowstone.
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