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I have been visiting Old Faithful almost every year since I was conceived. Which was in 1989. My family has been going since much longer than that.

What I’m getting at here is that Old Faithful is OLD and super FAITHFUL!

We always stay in West Yellowstone, Montana and enter through the West Gate.

It is about 45 minutes from the west gate entrance to the Old Faithful Geyser Basin, assuming people are obeying the Yellowstone National Park safety and traffic rules.

However, if people are not following safety and traffic rules, it can take up to 3+ hours to get there. No matter which way you try to go. Plan to go early. Earlier than seems reasonable on vacation. Or stay late. A moonlit eruption is quite a treat.

To read more about traffic and safety rules, click HERE

Old Faithful Geyser Basin is on the South Loop of the park.

On that loop, you can see the Grand Prismatic (the Midway Geyser Basin), Biscuit Basin, Kepler Cascades, Yellowstone Lake, Mud Volcano, The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Artist Paintpots and many more small things along the way.

But this article solely focuses on The Old Faithful Geyser Basin.

Some tourists think the geysers are on a timer and that there is a ranger that is pushing a button to cause an eruption. That is not the case. The rangers there can predict when they will erupt and even then, it’s not a sure thing.

However, this geyser is named because of how reliably it erupts. According to Geyser Times and the Yellowstone National Park page Old faithful erupts every 90 minutes, +/- 30 minutes.

For your trip, plan ample time to sit and wait.

Fortunately, this geyser basin has a ton of other geysers that are easily viewed from a beautiful boardwalk. If patience isn’t your virtue, explore the other geysers while you wait. You’ll still have a view of Old Faithful. Also, in the visitors center, you can see the current eruption time predictions.

While you are in the geyser basin, please, please, please under no circumstance, should you leave the marked path. It could lead to your death.

I was a volunteer ranger in that basin for a summer

I learned a lot about the fragility of the ground. One of the the accidents that sticks out to me is about a bison. In 2015 or so, a bison fell through the crust into a hidden geyser. The bison literally disintegrated in the acidic water. All that was left a year later was a tiny piece of bone.

If you want to learn more about the importance of sticking to trails, click HERE. There is also a book on it called, Death in Yellowstone. I would buy it if I were you. It’s a good read.

Old Faithful will BLOW YOUR MIND!

No matter how often I see it erupt, I never tire of the site. In 2016 I lived in West Yellowstone and went to Old Faithful once a week, and every time, it was a new experience.

I promise you, it will impress you. The smell of sulfur water, lodge pole pine, and general nature mixed together with the erupting water is a truly humbling experience.

I would suggest not photographing it.

To fully appreciate this phenomenon, put everything aside and just be present. Everyone around you will be watching it through a screen and won’t have truly experienced anything.

Let yourself have a unique experience with nature. You won’t regret it. As long as you get a picture of the sign, people will know you were there 🙂

I hope you love your time at the Old Faithful Geyser Basin as much as generations of my family has. And I implore you and those you are traveling with to Leave No Trace.

Happy Travels!

And please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns 🙂