Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin

Old Faithful is a geyser in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park. The park has nearly 500 geysers, and this is one of six that its rangers currently predict. As of January 2025 its median interval was 102 minutes, give or take 10.

Our guide goes past the hub's summary to the prediction rule, the other predicted geysers, the walk along the basin, the village's seasons and the snowcoach. We checked the figures below on 30 October 2026 on the Park Service's Yellowstone pages and NOAA's climate normals. Hotel and snowcoach dates come from Yellowstone National Park Lodges, which runs the park's hotels.

How does the Park Service predict Old Faithful's next eruption?

The Park Service predicts each eruption from the length of the one before. A long eruption discharges more water and heat, so the geyser needs longer to recharge. The park's geyser table gives the next interval as 94 or 68 minutes, give or take 10.

A ranger worksheet puts the dividing line at three minutes. After an eruption shorter than three minutes, expect the next in about 68 minutes; after a longer one, in about 94. The hydrothermal page puts the accuracy at a 90 percent confidence rate within a 10-minute variation, the only accuracy figure the park prints.

Two more Park Service pages give the interval differently. The area page gives a median of 102 minutes, give or take 10, as of January 2025, with single intervals from 54 to 118 minutes. At that median the geyser erupts about 14 times in 24 hours, by our arithmetic. The hydrothermal page still gives an older range of 60 to 110 minutes.

The interval has grown by about 30 minutes in the last 30 years, in the Park Service's words. Before the Hebgen Lake earthquake of 1959 it averaged more than an hour. The park also names the 1983 Borah Peak earthquake and a 1998 earthquake near the geyser. Sometimes the average interval decreases, and the park says the geyser may stop erupting someday.

The 1870 Washburn Expedition named Old Faithful for its consistent performance. A park video adds that it never erupted at exact hourly intervals, as many believe.

How high does the column reach, seen from Observation Point?

Old Faithful's column averages 130 feet (40 m), and single eruptions run from 106 to more than 180 feet. The park's geyser table puts the top at 184 feet. An eruption lasts 1½ to 5 minutes and throws out 3,700 to 8,400 gallons (14,000 to 31,800 litres) of water. At the vent the water is 203°F (95.6°C).

Observation Point gives the view from above, the one in the photograph at the top of this page. From the Visitor Education Center, walk about 0.3 miles counter-clockwise along the boardwalk, then climb 0.5 miles of switchbacks. The Park Service rates the 1.6-mile round trip moderate, at one to three hours. Carrying on to Solitary Geyser adds 0.9 miles.

Which other geysers do Yellowstone's rangers predict?

Yellowstone's rangers predict five geysers besides Old Faithful: four in the Upper Geyser Basin and Great Fountain in the Lower Geyser Basin. The figures below are from the Park Service's geyser table, which says it was last updated in 2025.

The count varies between the park's own pages. The area page says "one of six" in its introduction. Further down, it says only five major geysers are predicted regularly: Castle, Grand, Daisy, Riverside and Old Faithful. The visitor centre's page counts Old Faithful plus five others. Great Fountain, outside the Upper Geyser Basin, is the difference.

Castle has frequent minor eruptions, and a second major eruption after a minor one comes about 14 hours 45 minutes later. Beehive, which reaches 150 feet and more, is not predicted: its intervals run from 22 to 36 hours to more than two weeks.

Where are the Upper Geyser Basin's predictions posted?

Old Faithful's next eruption time is posted at the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center, at the lodges and in the free NPS app. The Park Service also runs a recorded phone message with current predictions, and its geyser page links the Geyser Times website by name. A webcam streams Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin live, kept running by volunteers and a grant to Yellowstone Forever.

Predictions stop while the visitor centre is closed, which the Park Service puts at early November to mid-December and mid-March to mid-April. The last prediction made stays up until a new one replaces it, so read its date before trusting it. Outside the centre's hours, the park says staff use times posted online by geyser enthusiasts, and the webcam.

Which pools and geysers line the boardwalk to Morning Glory Pool?

The boardwalk to Morning Glory Pool runs north from the geyser past Punch Bowl Spring and the Daisy, Grotto, Riverside, and Fan and Mortar geysers. That is the order of the park's own tour. Morning Glory Pool comes next, and beyond it lie Biscuit Basin and its Sapphire Pool. The Park Service prints no distance for the walk, and the figures on hiking sites disagree, so we give none.

Morning Glory Pool was named in the 1880s for its likeness to the flower. The park blames tons of coins, trash, rocks and logs for the change in its colour as the pool cooled. Throwing anything into a thermal feature is against the park's rules, set out below.

Accessible walkways lead from every parking area to Old Faithful Geyser. The paved path from the Old Faithful Inn to the Lower General Store is accessible too. The medical clinic rents wheelchairs for a $300 deposit and $15 a day, and in 2026 it was open from 22 April to 27 October.

Why does the walk north stop short of Biscuit Basin?

Biscuit Basin, three miles north of the Old Faithful intersection by road, has been closed since a hydrothermal explosion on 23 July 2024. On 30 October 2026 the park's alerts still listed its parking lot, boardwalk and stretch of the Firehole River as closed until further notice. No Park Service page we read gave a reopening plan.

Mystic Falls Trail, a 2.4-mile round trip to a 70-foot waterfall, starts halfway round the Biscuit Basin boardwalk loop, inside the closed area. The trail's own page carries no closure note, and the lodge company's winter ski page still describes loops through Biscuit Basin. The alert is the Park Service's current word.

Black Sand Basin lies one mile north of the intersection by road and can also be reached on foot through the basin's trails. Midway Geyser Basin, with Grand Prismatic Spring, lies five and a half miles north by one Park Service page and six by another. Parking at Grand Prismatic is limited, the park says, especially from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fountain Paint Pot is eight or nine miles north, again depending on the page.

To the south-east, the Lone Star trailhead and Kepler Cascades sit 3.5 miles from the Old Faithful overpass. The walk or bike ride to Lone Star Geyser is 4.8 miles there and back. The geyser erupts about every three hours, to 30 to 45 feet, and is not on the predicted list.

What does 36 CFR §7.13(j) mean on the geyser boardwalks?

Leaving a boardwalk or a designated trail in a hydrothermal area breaks 36 CFR §7.13(j). The park cites that federal regulation in its list of prohibited acts. The ground around a geyser may look solid, the Park Service warns, but it can be a thin crust over superheated water. More than 20 people have died from burns after entering or falling into Yellowstone's hot springs.

The same list bans swimming in hot springs, under §7.13(m), and throwing anything into a thermal feature, under §2.1(a)(3). Drones are banned too, and smoking is prohibited in geyser basins and on trails. Pets may not go on the boardwalks or into thermal areas, even on a lead, carried in arms, in a pushchair or in a backpack.

Even the runoff from a thermal feature can be extremely hot, so do not touch it. The park's advice for anyone who feels sick in a geyser basin is to leave the area at once. Keep children close and stop them running on the boardwalks.

The boardwalks and parking lots around Old Faithful are grizzly and black bear country too, in the park's words. The distances from wildlife that the hub guide gives apply here as on any backcountry trail.

Which services in the Old Faithful village open in which weeks?

The village around the geyser runs on short seasons, and most of it shuts by mid-October. The dates below are from the Park Service's operating table for 2026, which says they can change without notice and leaves out daily hours.

The Visitor Education Center's daily opening hours appear on no Park Service page we read, for summer or winter. The centre holds exhibits on geysers, hot springs, mudpots and fumaroles, a Young Scientist room and films. Rangers give evening programmes there in summer and in winter.

In 2026 the Snow Lodge's rooms closed after 24 October and its Obsidian Dining Room after 25 October. Its Geyser Grill and gift shop are listed to 31 October. For the last four weeks of the road season, and all winter, there is no bear spray rental at the village.

The Old Faithful Inn was built over the winter of 1903 to 1904 to a design by Robert C. Reamer. The Park Service gives it nearly 700 feet of length, seven storeys, a 65-foot lobby ceiling and 327 rooms.

The lodge company says the Inn has no internet service. There is no campground in the area. The three places to sleep within walking distance of the geyser, with their 2027 dates, are in our guide to where to stay in Yellowstone.

How long is the drive to the Upper Geyser Basin from each entrance?

The drive to the Upper Geyser Basin takes 65 to 75 minutes from the West Entrance, the closest, by the Park Service's times. From the Northeast Entrance, the farthest, it takes 210 to 220 minutes. The times below add up the park's average drive times between junctions, with no stops. The miles come from our own routing between the park's published coordinates.

The speed limit in Yellowstone is 45 mph unless posted otherwise, and the park warns that its average times may be significantly longer. Our routing ignores seasonal closures. In 2026 the road from the West Entrance opened on 17 April and the South Entrance road through West Thumb on 8 May. The last day for ordinary cars was 31 October.

The geyser has no fee of its own beyond the park entrance: $35 a car for seven days. Yellowstone is one of the parks that add $100 for each non-resident aged 16 or over. An America the Beautiful pass, $250 for non-residents, removes that surcharge. No vehicle reservation is needed. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors has the arithmetic. The Yellowstone and Grand Teton road trip links the geyser basins to Grand Teton by the South Entrance.

How cold does it get at 7,351 feet in the geyser village?

The geyser village, at 7,351 feet, gets a low at or below freezing on 3.5 days of an average July and 7.2 days of August, by NOAA's station there. Its 1991–2020 normals give a January low of 1.1°F and 197 inches of snow a year.

NOAA marks the temperature normals Standard, from 24 or more years of record. Spring and autumn snowfall is Provisional, from 10 or more years with gaps. December is the snowiest month, at 45 inches. A July afternoon averages about 37°F warmer than the dawn before it, so bring a warm layer for an early eruption.

The table in our guide to the best time to visit Yellowstone comes from another station in the park. It reads warmer, so the two should not be mixed.

How does the snowcoach from Mammoth reach the geysers in winter?

The snowcoach from Mammoth runs twice a day between Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and Old Faithful Snow Lodge, booked separately in each direction. The lodge company that runs it requires a night in Mammoth before the ride. The Snow Lodge is open from 16 December 2026 to early March 2027.

The Park Service lists only three ways into the geyser basin in winter: a guided snowmobile tour, a guided snowcoach, or its Non-Commercially Guided Snowmobile Access Program. Cars cannot reach it. Its winter shuttle from Bozeman's airport runs to Mammoth only, from 15 December 2026 to 7 March 2027. A one-way seat costs $110.81 for an adult and $55.41 for a child, taxes and fees included. Pets other than service dogs are not allowed on its buses or snowcoaches.

Oversnow travel begins on 15 December 2026, weather permitting. The groomed road from Madison to the geyser has no closing date of its own. The park keeps the West, South and East entrances and all remaining groomed roads open to 15 March 2027, so expect the last tours by mid-March.

The Snow Lodge's closing date differs by two days between sources. Its operator says 7 March, while the Park Service's table ends the rooms on 5 March, so treat early March as the end. Non-commercial snowmobile permits cost $40 a day plus a $6 application fee. They come from a lottery held from 1 to 31 August, with up to four groups a day.

In winter the visitor centre reopens on 15 December with no end date published, and a warming yurt opens the same day. Our guide to where to stay in Yellowstone covers the only other winter hotel, at Mammoth.